College Sports: Colorado's Barnett steps down

after all the off the field turmoil in gary Barnett's Colorado football program all it took were three whuppins to get him out, this guy should have been gone years ago, this is the kind of coach that college football doesn't need

news.yahoo.com...

I saw a headline yesterday that said he was fired. The second paragraph in that article says that they came to a mutual agreement, a $3 million settlement.

Ii wonder if my employer would be that good to me if I embarrassed them the way he did Colorado athletics?

Colorado's athletic director was pleased with the school's progress in the search for a new football coach Friday, a day after severing ties with Gary Barnett and putting himself on the clock to save this year's recruiting class.

In the meantime, Bohn tabbed Barnett's defensive coordinator, Mike Hankwitz, to coach the team against Clemson in the Champs Sports Bowl on Dec. 27.

source

CBS Sportsline

The University of Colorado was one of few major football programs at a university which had a fairly prestigious academic reputation in a fairly upscale university community. It will not have the prestige again for a long time, and may NEVER have it, for two reasons:

(1) The outrageous things which happened there on Barnett's watch, from recruiting HIGH SCHOOL boys with lap dances, strippers and supposedly prostitutes, to sexual harassment and threats against women, especially that female placekicker, on a level which could/should have cost the university a fortune; and

(2) The fact the university did not IMMEDIATELY fire him when those outrages came to light. This was, after all, a coach whose reputation was built on his taking perennially horrible Northwestern and turning them into contenders, only to have it later learned those teams shaved points. That was NOTHING compared to what happened at Colorado, of course. This guy is coaching's "Creature from the Dark Lagoon."

And to work a favorite theme of this site's into the picture:

When Burnette's goons got into a major bowl, a year or two ago, gutless ESPN interviewed him on the sideline and asked how it felt to accomplish this after all he and his players had been through. ("Gee, Mr. Manson, how does it feel to believe the Beatles wrote four songs on the White Album about you, after all you and your disciples have been through...?") And repeatedly I heard Barnett talk about "ALL THE CRAP" he, or his team, had been through.

If I were the parent of one of those 16- or 17- year old recruits, I would sue him for a bundle. If I were that female placekicker, I would sue him, the harassing players involved and the whole athletic department for an eight-digit sum. Unfortunately, she only wanted to be a kicker--just as Lisa Olson only wanted to be a sports reporter--and so she let it go.

But what a FINE institution of higher learning. What FINE priorities. What FINE timing in firing Barnett. And what a REALLY FINE coach. If he goes somewhere else, and some player or co-ed winds up physically violated in some serious way, I hope he AND THE UNIVERSITY get sued for 8-digit sums. I'm a criminal lawyer and couldn't help, but I'd sure help them find top-line attorneys, free of charge.

B.H.N.

i realize that i am not only old but still have some old fashioned ideals as well so here goes....

coaches are role models, despite the pressure from fans, alumni, and the media to win they are molding young peoples lives, the atheletes they are dealing with are after all still kids just out of high school, despite the favorable treatment, thousands of adoring fans and the lure of millions of dollars being thrown at them these kids are still "adults in training"

some of them will go on to "the show" live a fabulous lifestyle, and be handed everything that they could ever dream of, of these lucky few some will use their fame and wealth for good causes and be leaders in their communities, some will squander their fame and fortune and will fall from grace and be forgotten, the direction they will go will be determined by many factors, values instilled by their families growing up, outside influences, but also the men and women who have coached them during their formative years. what message are the Gary Barnetts' of this world sending? i believe that every coach/teacher contract should have a "character clause" no 3 million dollar payouts, that these coaches should be above reproach, a person to be looked up at and respected, not an accomplis (sp)

i can remember every coach that i ever played for, i wish that i had the chance to go back and thank each and every one of them, if nothing else they tought me that results=effort+preperation, and that hard work isn't a dirty word

Barnett did play a part in this and should accept some of the blace. but the pressures that are put on coaches now days supersedes morals and values in many cases. in other cases alumni and boosters carry out these favors. (not totally i am sure but some of the time unbeknownst to the coach. coaches are rolemodels and they do have quiet the impact on athletes at any level. i too am very appriciative of the lessons i learned from many of my coaches.

WRONG.

Pressures do not "supersede morals and values." EVER.

I am a criminal appeals attorney who is at the top of my profession in California. I represent inmates my state wants to kill--i.e., condemned inmates residing in San Quentin's Death Row. Also, because I have won two cases which were literally national news (non-capital homicides), I've been hired privately at nice rates to do private appeals (as opposed to far less lucrative state-paid cases).

The first thing I tell every potential client is, "You need to know that I am NOT an attorney who does everything possible to win a case. I am an officer of the court first and foremost, and an advocate second, and that is how I do my job. So I will not do any sleazy thing I can to win."

I've never made 5% of what Barnett makes. Criminal appeals, even on a private basis, don't pay what most legal work pays, even when you're very well known in the field. Now, I could make 2 or 3 times as much as I do by being a dirtbag, like MANY lawyers on both sides of the fence are (mostly prosecutors, in my experience, but many defense lawyers, too). But I'm not going to do it, because it means more to me to know I'm clean and represent my profession and its system properly. And when I retire, and when I die, I'll have the great pleasure of knowing I did the job ethically.

NOW... If I can do that, Mr. $3,000,000 per year sure as hell can. Are you telling us that after 2 years of making that much money, he and his family are not set for life?? If not, then what on earth kind of aristocratic standards of living do they have?

And as much as I hate Bobby Knight, I doubt he ever had sexual assailants, point shavers, etc., on his teams. Ditto Woody Hayes, a man I really despised, but who I genuinely believe would have not only thrown such players off his team, but had them arrested.

I guess I should add that I've told people who wanted to hire me, "If you want someone who'll engage in unethical behavior and endanger his/her law license, you've called the wrong number." Maybe at some universities coaches are EXPECTED to endanger their jobs, or even their freedom, in exchange for the big bucks. If so, the A.D.'s and/or University Presidents need to go down, hard.

But the idea Barnett was under pressure to win is no excuse for transgressions 10% the size of his. I'd like to see the Colorado Attorney General investigate the extent, if any, to which Barnett was guilty of crimes for his involvement (including aiding and abetting, and/or conspiring) in the moral corruption of these high school students and the various other crimes at Colorado and Northwestern. If his guilt cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, so be it, but I'd sure like them to take a good, hard look at it.

B.H.N.

i agree. in my mind and it seems in yours as well, winning at all costs is unethical. what i meant was that (right or wrong) these coaches must win or else. just ask tyrone willingham. (sorry, spelling questionable)
as a result some coaches that may not normally advocate immorale practices turn the other cheek or i'm sure sometimes hop on board and participate in the criminal behavior.
i do not contend that this in any way justifies these actions. i am simply saying that the pressures are a factor and in many cases play a big role in coaches decision making