Will Kirk Ferentz still be Iowa's head coach in August, 2009?

[OCBucksFan]

Originally Posted by OSUsushichic

If running around the town naked is wrong...

How you doin?

[BB73]

An interesting article in the Des Moines Register. It's interesting because it does NOT include the names of head football coach Kirk Ferentz or athletic director Gary Barta.

Iowa board to meet over school's response to reported assault
By Erin Jordan, Des Moines Register

Iowa Board of Regents President David Miles said he is shocked University of Iowa officials did not tell regents about letters they received from the mother of a U of I student who alleges she was sexually assaulted by U of I athletes last fall.

The board will meet Tuesday afternoon in Iowa City to discuss in an open meeting the U of I's response to the reported assault and the reasons why the mother's letters were not disclosed to the regents during an earlier investigation of how the incident was handled.

"I was shocked," Miles said about learning the U of I had not told the regents about the letters, the first of which was received in November.
"The existence of the letter was not revealed to the board when it was investigating this incident. This is obviously a pertinent document. The university did not do itself any favors by not providing this document," Miles said.

The mother alleges in her first letter, sent to U of I officials Nov. 19, that the university did not adequately support or communicate with the victim and her family and tried to keep the allegations within the athletic department. Court records say the victim, a student-athlete, was intoxicated Oct. 14 when she met U of I football players Jevon Pugh and Abe Satterfield, who took her to an unoccupied room in Hillcrest Residence Hall.

She was later sexually assaulted by Satterfield and teammate Cedric Everson, according to court documents.

The mother last week provided the Iowa City Press-Citizen with a copy of the letter she sent to the university. The mother sent a second letter to U of I President Sally Mason on May 16, regents confirmed.

Cont'd ...

[Dryden]

From the Hawkeye Blog site 'Black Heart Gold Pants'

INTO THE LIGHT - Black Heart Gold Pants

To: Sally Mason, UI President, Gary Barta, UI AD, Fred Mims, UI Associate AD, Betsy Altmaier, representative on the Presidential Committee of Athletics, and Kirk Ferentz, UI Head Football Coach.

This must have been a long nightmare for all of you. We don't envy any of you, nor do we know what it's like to be in your position. Further, we do not hold you responsible for what happened to that young woman. This isn't about that. This is about everything after. From the moment the victim personally relayed the incident to you, until now, you've done the wrong thing, every step of the way.

How any of you can look yourself in the mirror is unfathomable. You're supposed to be leaders. You're supposed to be educators. You're supposed to be a family. Yet when you had an opportunity to do the right thing, you did the wrong thing. You didn't look out for the victim. You didn't look out for her family. You didn't even look out for the players involved. You just tried to cover it up and make it all go away. You thought suspensions and transfers would suffice in lieu of actual punishment. But that's over now. No more cover up. No more denials. No more "no comments". No more disingenuous prepared statements. It's time to do the right thing.

Here's the new plan: Resign, all of you. That's non-negotiable. We trusted you with our children and you betrayed us. You've shamed the state of Iowa, the university, the athletic department, the fans, and yourselves. Every day you continue to be employed at the University of Iowa is a day that the UI tells the world that at this school, integrity takes a back seat to PR at all costs. This isn't a football issue, this is a human issue. All of you need to start over, elsewhere, and preferably not in a profession that leaves the well-being of young adults as part of your responsibilities. You don't have to admit that you did anything wrong, just that you're ready to do something right.

Next, you need to cooperate with the investigation and do everything in your power to see that justice is properly served. The truth works best in situations like this - try it. If given the opportunity to go back to that October day when you first heard of the assault, I'm sure all of you would do things differently, but you can't do that. No one associated with this incident is ever going to feel good about it, but the first step to making things better is in your hands, so let's all move forward and start by putting the best interests of that young woman first. Nothing else matters.

The Staff of BHGP

[Muck]

Originally Posted by Dryden

INTO THE LIGHT - Black Heart Gold Pants

Ouch

[BB73]

At the Big Ten kickoff luncheon on Friday, when Ferentz was at the podium he thanked AD Gary Barta and asked him to stand up and acknowledge the crowd. A couple of other coaches had done something similar, but it seemed oddly ironic given the situation at Iowa.

Dodd weighs in on the Iowa issue, and questions the appropriateness of Barta and Ferentz meeting with the alleged victim's family (which was at the family's request).

tOSU's AD Gene Smith is quoted in this article, stating he he wouldn't have himself or anybody in the athletic department meet with the victim's family after an alleged sexual assault.

sportsline

CHICAGO -- The good news, depending on your view of Iowa football, is that Kirk Ferentz's job is probably safe.

The same can't be said for Iowa president Sally Mason, general counsel Marc Mills and athletic director Gary Barta. Someone is -- or some people are -- going down in the wake of a scandal that looks like Iowa officials have -- at best -- botched a rape investigation.

At worst, there has been a cover up since last fall, when two Iowa football players allegedly sexually assaulted a female Iowa student-athlete.

Those, in order, are the names of Iowa officials accountable during a widening scandal. Mason has admitted to withholding documents from the board of regents. Mills leaned on hard-to-decipher student privacy laws as a reason for not turning over letters written to the university by the accuser's mother. Barta is Ferentz's boss so -- we're just assuming here -- the guillotine will be dulled enough before it gets to the head football coach.

Take this all in context: Since April 2007, 18 Iowa players have had scrapes with the law. A skeptic might suggest the state's highest-paid employee (Ferentz) is cutting some recruiting corners trying to improve a program that has slipped to the second division of the Big Ten.

Cont'd ...