On February 10, 2001, under tremendous pressure from the UVM board of trustees, President Ramaley resigned. Her resignation was tied to budgetary woes at UVM, as well as her handling of the hazing situation. The university suffered from the scandal. According to David Nestor, the vice president for student affairs, there was an estimated 5 percent decline in Vermont students enrolling at the university in the following year. The Vermont legislature passed a law prohibiting hazing. The university committed to holding workshops on hazing for all student-athletes, and got involved with the NCAA to develop a policy on hazing.
NOTRE DAME HIRES, THEN FIRES, GEORGE O'LEARY IN RESUME DEBACLE
When George O'Leary was named to fill the opening as head football coach at Notre Dame in 2001, he had twice been honored as Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year. He had even been national coach of the year in 2000. He had earned those awards. Unfortunately, he also laid claim to having a master's degree and three years of college playing experience at the University of New Hampshire. Those were distinctions he had not earned. The falsifications on his resume were revealed within days of him accepting the job at Notre Dame. He had attended New Hampshire for two years and never played a game. He later took two graduate courses at Stony Brook in New York, but was far from a degree. He resigned five days after accepting what he had considered a dream job.
The inaccuracies had resided on O'Leary's resume for decades, stemming from his attempts to break into the extremely competitive world of coaching.
Once the information was included on his resume, it seemed to take on a life of its own, following him from job to job and never being omitted. They were finally uncovered when a reporter sought to contact some of O'Leary's old teammates for comments regarding his acceptance of the Notre Dame position. The ordeal sparked a national debate about credential fraud. Coaches across the country scrambled to update their biographies, clearing up any potential inaccuracies. At Georgia Tech, which had been embarrassed by the O'Leary scandal, a new assistant football coach was forced to resign when he admitted that he had not played football and baseball at Florida State as his profile suggested. Another Georgia Tech coach listed a master's degree, which he was really six credits short of earning. He was allowed to keep his job because an oversight committee determined he had worked diligently to correct the information.
Like there is for so many good football coaches, there was a safety net in place to limit the devastation of O'Leary's fall. He apologized, resigned without a fight, and then moved on to the NFL's Minnesota Vikings where he was a defensive line coach and then defensive coordinator over two seasons. The Vikings' head coach, Mike Tice, had been a high school quarterback under O'Leary. From there he moved back into college football as head coach for the struggling program at Central Florida. To his credit, O'Leary quickly turned the program around, snapping a seventeen-game losing streak (the longest in the nation at the time), and then leading the team to a postseason appearance in 2005. He earned the Conference USA Coach of the Year Award in the process.
While coaching the Vikings, O'Leary addressed the issue thusly, ''I made a stupid, stupid mistake, and I paid a dear price for it. My mother used to say, in her Irish Catholic way, 'God never closes one door unless he opens another.' I said to her, 'Well, he slammed this one pretty good, Mom.''62
SALT LAKE CITY BRIBES WAY TO OLYMPIC GAMES
The Olympic Games have faced, and survived, a wide variety of scandals since reemerging in 1896. Most notable have been political boycotts, cheating by participants and judges, and performance-enhancing drug use. But none threatened the future of the Games like the Salt Lake City bid scandal. The power to determine which potential host city will win the right to the Games, and the economic windfall that comes with it, lies in the hands of 115 people.
The scandal revealed that some of the 115 voters could be, and were, bought.
Marc Holder, who was the longest-serving member of the International Olympic Committee, levied the charge that votes were bought and sold. He did not, however, place the blame on the potential host cites. Rather, he asserted that the cities were blackmailed by unscrupulous International Olympic Committee (IOC) members. ''For us, Salt Lake City was a victim of blackmail and not a villain. The real villains are the agents who put the cities in awkward positions using blackmail.''63 He claimed that one agent told the bid cities that no city had won the games in fifteen years without his help.
An independent investigation of the Salt Lake bid reported, among other things, that one IOC member from the Republic of Congo received over $250,000, that the children of IOC members were enrolled at the University of Utah, with the bid committee paying the bills (although there were no records of a scholarship fund ever recorded), and that apartments and other living expenses were paid for the children of IOC members. The list went on to a tune of over $800,000 in illicit payments in cash, educational, medical, and travel expenses to fourteen IOC members. Salt Lake City was granted the games in an unprecedented first ballot vote in 1995.
The investigation into how Salt Lake City secured the Olympic bid revealed that this was no isolated incident. IOC members had been showered with gifts when Atlanta sought the Summer Olympics bid for 1996. Charlie Battle, who was senior vice president of international relations for the Atlanta Committee, admitted that the $200 gift limit set by the IOC was completely ignored. He said that as Atlanta pushed for the bid, his committee showered IOC members with gifts including golf clubs, trips, and even a bulldog for a Cuban official who had mentioned that he had always wanted one. Battle expressed that he felt no regrets, and that the culture of soliciting an Olympic bid supported lavish gift giving and entertainment.
As Nagano was vying for the 1998 Winter Games, Japanese corporations contributed $20 million toward the construction of an Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was a pet project for IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch. Nagano was granted the Games, outmaneuvering Salt Lake City, which many felt had a stronger bid. Perhaps those who dreamed of a Salt Lake Games learned from the experience and applied the lesson in its successful bid.
In the wake of the scandal, the IOC voted new measures into place to restore the public's faith in the system. Among the measures were: banning IOC members from accepting expense-paid trips to bid cities; reducing the age limit for members from eighty to seventy; changing membership from life terms to a reelection process; and restricting the terms that future IOC presidents could serve. Regardless of these changes, allegations of various forms of cheating occurred in subsequent games as well. The stakes are simply too high, it seems.
ALABAMA FIRES MIKE PRICE BEFORE HE COACHES A GAME
In May 2003 Alabama fired head football coach Mike Price before he ever coached a game for the Crimson Tide. Price had coached Washington State for fourteen seasons, amassing an 83-77 record with five bowl appearances, prior to accepting the high-profile Alabama position. He coached Alabama through spring practice before an unfortunate night in April when Price became heavily intoxicated at a topless bar in Pensacola, Florida. Media accounts of the night's events varied, and rumors circulated the Alabama campus almost immediately. The common thread of the stories was that Price drank heavily, showered dancers with money, and took women back to his hotel room.
Price claimed he was blindsided by his firing. A week after the incident he met with Alabama athletic director Mal Moore, president Robert Witt, and sports information director Larry White. He said, ''I was told to go on being the head coach and fulfill my head coach duties as the coach at Alabama. I went to banquets, was recruiting, and played a golf tournament.''64 Even when Price was called to attend a board meeting, he believed his job was safe. He prepared an apology, but was never allowed to deliver it. As he waited outside the boardroom for several hours, his fate at Alabama was sealed. As President Witt left the meeting, he told Price, ''People like you and me don't get second chances,'' and then he walked to a press conference and announced Price's firing.65 Price learned he was fired at
the same time as the assembled media members. A faculty panel denied an appeal, rejecting his request for a hearing.
Price sued the school, claiming he had been assured he would not be fired and that he would have an opportunity to tell his side of the story. The suit was dismissed because he had never signed his seven-year, $10 million contract.
Days after the firing, Sports Illustrated ran a story on Price's night at the topless club. The story claimed he had sex with two women in his hotel room.
Price responded by suing the author, Don Yaeger, and Time, Inc., which owns Sports Illustrated. He sought $20 million, claiming he was defamed and slandered by the story. He admitted he had been heavily intoxicated, but denied that he had sex with anyone. Although Sports Illustrated stated that it stood behind the story, the case was settled after the courts denied the magazine the right to protect its confidential sources. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Alabama law protected newspapers and broadcast news, but not magazines.
After the settlement was reached, Price called a news conference at which he claimed to feel vindicated, and through a media release he called it a ''great victory.'' Time believed his comments violated the terms of the agreement and sought to have a court dismiss the charges, thereby throwing out the settlement. The settlement had allowed each side to make only limited public comments about the deal. The sides later agreed to a second settlement.
Price was hired to coach at the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) in December 2003. UTEP president Diana Natalicio said, ''We know Mike Price is a man who has been humbled by a highly public mistake. He paid dearly for that grievous error in judgment, and all of us believe he has earned the opportunity to restart his career.''66 Price said, ''When something you love has been taken away, it really hurts. It hurt so much that now I know that coaching was my true calling.''67 He immediately turned around the Miners' program, posting an 8-4 record his first year, earning a national ranking during the season, and leading the team to a bowl game. The team won eight more games and again played in a bowl in his second year. The Miners had posted three consecutive two-win seasons before Price was hired. As was clear from other scandals, it seems those involved in sport get more second (and third, and fourth, etc.) chances than does the average Joe. But, this type of case has drawn attention to the issue of moral turpitude, and whether athletes and coaches can and should be punished for activities that, although not necessary unlawful, prompt negative attention.
BARTMAN INTERFERES WITH FOUL BALL, CUBS LOSE
On October 13, 2003, the Chicago Cubs were five outs away from advancing to the club's first World Series since 1945. It was Game 6 of the National League Championships and the Cubs were ahead three games to two in the series with the Florida Marlins and led 3-0 in the game's eighth inning. Cubs' pitching ace, Mark Prior, had only given up four hits in the game and was making it look effortless. It seemed nothing could stop the Cubs. Then, Marlins second baseman Luis Castillo hit what would become one of the most famous foul balls in Major League Baseball history.
As the ball headed down the left field line bound for the stands, Cubs outfielder Moises Alou raced toward the wall, intent on making a dramatic catch.
As the ball descended into the fans, each hoping to catch a souvenir, Alou reached the pinnacle of his leap, glove outstretched. Coming between Alou's glove and the ball were the hands of longtime Cubs fan Steve Bartman. As the ball disappeared into the seats, Alou reacted angrily, as did the Cubs faithful.
The twenty-six-year-old financial analyst was showered with abusive taunts, spit, peanuts, and beer. Fearing that he would be attacked, security escorted him out of the ballpark. He pulled his jacket over his face as he left. The Cubs proceeded to implode, allowing eight runs in the inning and losing the game. In the final game of the series, the Marlins pounded Cubs starter Kerry Wood, scoring seven runs in the first six innings. The Marlins moved on to the World Series. The Cubs were left to wonder what could have been.
The morning after Game 6, Bartman released a statement saying, ''I had my eyes glued on the approaching ball the entire time and was so caught up in the moment that I did not even see Moises Alou, much less that he may have had a play. Had I thought for one second that the ball was playable, or had I seen Alou approaching, I would have done whatever I could to get out of the way and give Alou a chance to make the catch.'' And with that, Bartman tried to move on.68 Unfortunately, Cubs fans were not prepared to let that happen. Bartman received threatening phone calls, and police had to be stationed outside his house. For days, news crews camped out on his lawn, which was shown on television, raising concerns for his safety. Media helicopters circled overhead, hoping to catch a glimpse of the man who, unfairly, had become Chicago's public enemy number one. Bartman literally had to go into hiding. As the media blitz continued, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig called Bartman to offer his support. The Cubs organization and former Cubs star Rick Sutcliffe publicly expressed support for the unfortunate fan. Two days after Game 6, the Chicago Sun-Times named Bartman on its Web site and other media outlets followed suit. Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley blasted the media, expressing that it would be to blame if a deranged fan hurt the young man. Asked about a society that would vilify a fan, he responded, ''What does it say about you media people? Don't worry about society. What about you? You would not print your editor's name, address and telephone number.… You'd be fired tomorrow.''69
Florida Marlins fans sent gifts to Bartman. He dedicated them all to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation because he was a big fan of Ron Santo, a former Cubs player afflicted with diabetes. Santo was thrilled that Bartman and others used the mishap to draw attention to the disease and said, ''I feel bad for Bartman. He was not the reason we lost that ballgame.''70 As weeks passed, the Bartman story would not die. Halloween followed the event by mere weeks and Bartman's ensemble was a popular costume, replete with Cubs hat, sweatshirt, earphones, and glasses. Saturday Night Live did a Bartman skit. Online auction site eBay featured a variety of themed items, most of which could only be described as anti-Bartman, such as a mock-up photo of him holding a torch to the Hindenberg.
Contrary to popular belief, Bartman did not leave the stadium with the ball. It was picked up by Jim Staruck, a lawyer who had been seated behind Bartman. Staruck auctioned off the ball. It went for $113,824.16 to Harry Caray's restaurant. After paying auction fees, Staruck collected about $90,000 in pre-tax dollars, which he planned to dedicate to his child's education. Staruck gave none of the windfall to charity.
The restaurant planned a demolition of the ball and hired Oscar-winning special effects coordinator Michael Lantieri to make sure the ball was destroyed in spectacular and safe fashion. The ball was drilled and packed with enough explosives to launch it at 8,000 feet per second. It was blown apart inside a transparent and bulletproof box. The event was covered live by MSNBC, CNN and ESPN. It was billed as a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and Harry Caray's donated thousands of dollars. Over $1 million in cash and in-kind gifts and corporate donations went to the charity because of the event.
After the ball was exploded, some of the remains were purchased by Hallowed Ground, a company that makes specialty T-shirts to commemorate events. The company used a patented process to put finely ground bits of the ball into a silk-screening ink for Bartman Ball shirts. A portion of the proceeds from each sale was donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
One year later, Moises Alou said that he did not blame Bartman; ''I don't blame the fan. Everybody wants a souvenir. There's no manual that says how you should act when a foul ball is coming your way.''71 By the 2004 season, the ushers at Wrigley Field could identify the seat with a quick glance at a ticket and identified it as ''the Bartman seat.'' At least eleven Cubs stickers adorned the Bartman seat, like flowers placed on a gravesite.
BASKETBALL COACH PARTIES WITH RIVALS' STUDENTS AFTER LOSS
Larry Eustachy was the successful and popular c
oach at Iowa State University from 1998 to 2003, leading the team to an appearance in the Elite Eight in 2000. His coaching reign ended when, after a loss against the Missouri Tigers in 2003, he appeared at a fraternity party at a Columbia, Missouri, apartment complex. Still wearing the black mock turtleneck that he coached in, Eustachy was photographed by a University of Missouri student while he drank a can of beer and kissed young women on the cheeks and was kissed by them in return. The story prompted widespread discussion by sports columnists on the topic of coaching behavior and the lack of role models in sports.
One week after the embarrassing photos appeared in the Des Moines Register, Eustachy resigned amid stories that this was not the only party he attended and that there was an emerging pattern of behavior. Photos of the coach at a Manhattan, Kansas, party emerged from the night of a 2002 loss to the Wildcats. He initially vowed to fight for his job, but in the end determined that he would be best served by stepping down and seeking help for his alcohol dependency. He also focused on mending fences with his wife and two sons.
He turned down an offer to join an NBA coaching staff, which came days after his resignation.
Eustachy was paid $1.1 million per year, making him the highest-paid state employee in Iowa. He had been voted Big 12 coach of the year in 2000 and 2001 after his team claimed the league titles. He added the Associated Press national coach of the year award in 2000. During Eustachy's five years at Iowa State, he compiled a 101-59 record and boasted a 260-145 record over thirteen seasons as a head coach. But his record of success would not be enough to save his job. The Iowa State basketball program was already feeling the heat from an assistant coach, Randy Brown, who had been charged with having child pornography on his work computer, and from two players being charged with alcohol-related offenses. The photos were more than the university community could stand. Iowa State athletic director Bruce Van De Velde said the event brought ''profound embarrassment'' to the school. Van De Velde suspended the coach and recommended that he be fired. On the same day, Eustachy admitted he had an alcohol addiction.
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