Opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, not necessarily those of The All Out Sports Network.
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The wolves have come out.
Many voices in the media, such as Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports, Nancy Armour of USA Today and Rick Bozich of WDRB and WDRB.com, have begun howling for Rick Pitino’s head, based on partial confirmation of allegations contained in Katina Powell’s book Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen. Some say the coach should resign, others that the University of Louisville should fire him, but they all agree he must go.
For all those rushing to judgment, I have this question:
Does anyone here remember the Duke University men’s lacrosse scandal?
In 2006, the Blue Devil men’s lacrosse team held an off-campus party at which two strippers performed. One of them subsequently accused three players of raping her. By the time indictments were handed down, one of the three had graduated, but the university suspended the other two, forfeited two lacrosse games, fired the coach and cancelled the rest of the season. Durham District Attorney Mike Difong prosecuted the case with vigor, even in the face of growing questions about the accuser’s credibility and truthfulness.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper took over the case in January 2007 after the state bar association filed ethics charges against Difong for withholding exculpatory evidence and making inflammatory statements about the case. Cooper moved to dismiss the case in April 2007, saying, “We believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges.”
From the Duke Office of News & Communication website:
“In dismissing the charges and stating the attack never occurred, Cooper spoke of a ‘rush to accuse’ and said ‘there were many points in this case where caution would have served justice better than bravado.’ In one of the many similar judgments made about how the news media covered the case, columnist David Broder described ‘a painful exercise in journalistic excess.'”
The same may be occurring here. Both U of L and the NCAA have launched investigations, and law enforcement has initiated a criminal probe; all are in their early stages. It may take months, even a year or more, before any findings are reached. Difong eventually was disbarred over his handling of the Duke case; some of the basis for the howling in the U of L matter may very well suffer similar discrediting.
An admission here: I attended the University of Louisville, and have cheered for the Cardinals for more than 50 years. That notwithstanding, I believe we should withhold judgment until all the facts are presented, taking the Duke lacrosse case as a cautionary tale. For once, getting it quickly should take a back seat to getting it right.
The Fat Lady has not yet sung.
