Something going on at Texas?

[18.99s]

Another Texas coach (football) confesses:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1512 ... th-student

However, in this case it's not specified whether the student was an athlete, and the university has already disciplined him years ago.

[guru]

Another Texas coach (football) confesses:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1512 ... th-student

However, in this case it's not specified whether the student was an athlete, and the university has already disciplined him years ago.

It was a student, and though the two situations are not identical, it makes you wonder how things would have been handled with Kearney had she not voluntarily resigned.

That said, Applewhite far from out of thw woods. From ESPN -

While Dodds and Applewhite both said in their statements that the matter had been dealt with, Texas has called a special meeting of the board of regents for Sunday at 1:45 p.m. ET.

"We are first and foremost concerned with the safety, health and well-being of our students on all 15 UT campuses and wherever they travel under the auspices of our institutions," the board said in a statement. "As a result, it was with great disappointment and sadness that we learned a short time ago about the reprimand given in February of 2009 to one of the assistant football coaches employed by UT Austin for inappropriate conduct during the football team's trip to the Fiesta Bowl in January 2009."

The agenda for the Sunday meeting states there will be a personnel matters discussion, as well as a "discussion regarding legal issues concerning individual athletic personnel" and a "discussion regarding legal issues related to inappropriate relations between employees and students."

[18.99s]

It was a student, ...

Did you mean "non-athlete"? It's well established that the individual was a student.

[guru]

I dont think it matters if she was an athlete or not. Obviously the woman wasn't a football player under Applewhite's purview, while Kearney was involved with an athlete she coached(an important, and key, distinction).

[18.99s]

I dont think it matters if she was an athlete or not.

I think it matters. A college athlete (especially one on a scholarship) is much more vulnerable to coercion and authoritative influence by a coach than a non-athlete student would be, even if that coach is of a different sport. There's still more influence compared to students who don't fall under the jurisdiction of the athletic department in any way.

[Pego]

I dont think it matters if she was an athlete or not. Obviously the woman wasn't a football player under Applewhite's purview, while Kearney was involved with an athlete she coached(an important, and key, distinction).

Are you sure "a woman" was specified? I looked for it, but could not see any gender reference.

[guru]

I dont think it matters if she was an athlete or not. Obviously the woman wasn't a football player under Applewhite's purview, while Kearney was involved with an athlete she coached(an important, and key, distinction).

Are you sure "a woman" was specified? I looked for it, but could not see any gender reference.

It's a fair assumption, considering Applewhite is married. Regardless, it's not a football player(if it was, I guarantee you someone would have dug this up and put it out a long time ago).

[Coachtheboyd]

Most university policies state that one cannot have a relationship with someone in which they have power over. As in coach/athlete, professor/student, or advisor/advised etc..

[18.99s]

Most university policies state that one cannot have a relationship with someone in which they have power over. As in coach/athlete, professor/student, or advisor/advised etc..

Yes, but with this football coach it was apparently a nonathlete student, so that power relationship just wasn't there. This guy wasn't a megacoach with influence outside of the athletic department, like Joe Paterno. As long as he reported it in a timely manner and the student was an adult and not an athlete or employee of the athletic department, the university should stay out of it and leave them alone.

[Cooter Brown]

Are you sure "a woman" was specified? I looked for it, but could not see any gender reference.

I'm sure her name and pic will be plastered everywhere by tomorrow. She was a student athletic trainer with the football team and is currently a trainer at another college now.

[26mi235]

Story on the Headlines: " The Kearney Case: Reckoning For Texas Athletics?" has an indication where things might be going. Her team is probably looking at all of the cases the have come up and maybe even digging up new ones, that involved different choices being made. There was also some indication that political dimensions might make it hard for UT to make a big settlement, although that is not the main point.

[gh]

more here on what her law team dug up

http://www.burntorangenation.com/2013/3 ... ite-affair

[26mi235]

Well, the paper files seem incomplete, although the degree is unclear. If they did a legal request and the school is not fully forthcoming, it would likely come back to haunt them if the incomplete nature of the search on UT's side is identified.

Further, the position of Kearney's team is that the search probably applies to UT-Austin and there are a lot of faculty and staff, and something is likely to arise there.

[JumboElliott]

BIG difference between a coach and a member of the athletics support staff and a coach and one of their athletes.

[26mi235]

The much broader class of faculty and students opens much greater possibility of cases being treated differentially. Those cases would be more 'similar'. However, the controlling element in the rules is the supervisor/underling not primarily that the person is a student. And legal distinctions are likely to matter here.

[jazzcyclist]

I still don't understand why Kearney would resign if she planned on fighting this. She should have forced Texas to fire her. How can she argue wrongful termination when she wasn't terminated?

[26mi235]

I still don't understand why Kearney would resign if she planned on fighting this. She should have forced Texas to fire her. How can she argue wrongful termination when she wasn't terminated?

Not sure that it makes a dime's worth of difference for some elements. Too bad Law Dude is not here very often any more.

[Cooter Brown]

Word is she offered to settle for $3M and UT said bring it on. $3M is nothing to them so she must really not have a case if they're not willing to make her go away for that amount of money.

I'm sure dozens upon dozens of coaches and faculty have had relationships with students but she's the only one that did it with a direct report or athlete and broke NCAA rules by providing other benefits (car, rent, etc.).

[26mi235]

There seemed to be a hint that they might be constrained on money for a settlement and there was a sense that an actual lawsuit and penalty would be a required expenditure.

Civil cases are a lot easier than criminal cases and if UT wants to put their faith in a jury outcome before even knowing what the rules of the game will be, they would seem to taking a risk. Yes, the implication of this is that there might not be very much 'there' there. On the other hand, losing a lawsuit will probably look worse than making a settlement. It might be concerns about other cases being filed in the future that drives this decision but if it goes wrong with a trial, then the school is likely to worse off all around.

There is a tradeoff of certainty of a problem and a cost if they settle with moderate probability of losing and having it cost more. The decision maker might be someone where those potential future cost will be on someone else's watch and are too heavily discounted. They might want to talk to the ex-Penn State AD....

[gh]

Discimination lawsuit has been filed. See story on front page.

[26mi235]

Howard said he and Kearney know of “in excess of 10” similar relationships between UT staffers and subordinates, including but not limited to the athletic department. When Kearney files a lawsuit against UT -- which she can do 180 days after Tuesday's filing date -- those staffers will be subpoenaed, Howard said.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/article/Kearney-files-discrimination-suit-against-UT-4360145.php#ixzz2Nl3iQyYF

[Cooter Brown]

Here's her filed complaint. If her best argument is that she was discriminated against in salary, she's got nothing. She was the 3rd highest paid track coach in the country and was about to receive a 50% raise when the affair was made public.

http://www.statesman.com/news/sports/ke ... inv/nW28S/

[Tuariki]

Here's her filed complaint. If her best argument is that she was discriminated against in salary, she's got nothing. She was the 3rd highest paid track coach in the country and was about to receive a 50% raise when the affair was made public.

http://www.statesman.com/news/sports/ke ... inv/nW28S/

it will be interesting to see how this develops. There will likely be a whole lot of losers if she decides to make public every "illicit" relationship,real or imagined, she suspects happened at UT while she was there. I imagine the divorce lawyers in Austin are all rubbing their hands with glee at the income prospects that may fall out from this case.

I wonder how she can keep a straight face when she claims remuneration discrimination.

[Mighty Favog]

The bizarre thing is that today's news reports indicate she cites "unwritten rules" requiring employees to report relationships with students, but previous news stories indicated such a rule was instituted in 2001 (a year before the relationship began) and that it was, in fact, written.

I'm far from an expert in all of this, but it looks to me like she's gone all-in while holding a pair of sevens.

[Jacksf]

I think this really is a business decision.
The powers that be at Univ. of Texas decided that they no longer wanted her for whatever reason, i.e., her salary is too high, they just don't like her, or some combination of these and other reasons.
THEN they decided to find a way to get rid of her.
Companies do this regularly.