I think this removes the debate from the table. Stricklin admits he got it wrong and regrets his actions (or inaction). I appreciate that he's big enough to fess up.
The statement SS put out today is the one he should have put out yesterday. The entire statement makes sense to me, and justifies the extension and subsequent "resignation." The optics are bad when today's statement is compared with yesterday's, though. Makes it seem like they took some extra time to concoct a story, even if that wasn't the case. People (sometimes me too) are very quick to come to conclusions these days and any kind of stalling or perception of such doesn't look good, even if there are perfectly reasonable explanations.
In this scenario am I a professional athlete or some other physical job? Obviously I wasn't performing well. I didn't read the whole thing but I've never heard of an injury from being hit with a large rubber ball, man. Not everyone's cup of tea but it's not 'abuse'. Not everything is abuse. Reminds me of basic training mail call, they used to throw the mail at us (it was actually entertaining tbh, especially if someone got a box) until someone complained to his mom it was mean. Looking at that memory I can say that yes I'd be fine with that in the context of a sport. Now sitting at my computer desk is think that wouldn't work out. Kids these days are very soft.
“In Cam’s first year and a half, two years, we had some reported behavior that was a little concerning from a cultural standpoint," Stricklin said. “Anytime you have a coaching transition, it’s not unusual for there to be some kids who aren’t happy with the direction. Early on, it was trying to figure out what are we looking at here." Stricklin responded by “putting a lot more structure around" Newbauer and even sent a senior staff member to practices and games to monitor the coach and his program. That seemed to work for a while. “The incidents reported to us ceased,” Stricklin said. “We stopped getting those reports. That combined with just our own personal observation was that things were getting better, right? He had made the adjustments.” “Had I been aware of everything ... when we made the contract extension, I never would have done the contract extension," Stricklin said. “I thought things were moving in a certain direction. Obviously, we weren’t. We didn’t pick up signs and clues, and we’ve got to figure out going forward how to get better at that and make sure we know what’s going on.” - Scott Stricklin https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/article254600397.html
I’m an academic administrator. I would be expected to, and would, address this at the end of the first year. Expectations would be stated in an end-of-year evaluation, and progress measured starting in third semester. Why was this allowed to continue for one or more additional semesters without oversight?
Question for the Board: If you were AD of UF or any college: Would you have specific assignments for subordinates to (under cover) attend practices or monitor (call it for what is is.....SPYING) on teams and coaches? Especially men coaches in women's sports? SS statement seems to ignore the complaints made as "coach transition / player discontent". Seems like a set of eyes on the situation would help with decision making. I know this sounds a bit crazy but after the Michigan State fiasco with Larry Nassar, it would seem the Coaches / Staff need a bit of monitoring themselves?
I've been vocal in not liking men coaching women's sports. While most of my reason is for the equalization of opportunity, I think it would reduce the occurrence of abuse. But I also don't think abuse is a major occurrence on college teams, so I don't preventing abuse is enough of a reason to promote women coaching women. There are plenty of others. With that said, I think that most practices are videoed for review purposes, and that video ought to be made available to the administration. I don't know that I'd hire people to spy. but I wood make sure that my administration had a presence at every practice. But the easiest way -- and the open they'd never allow -- would be to have open practices for all sports at all times. Knowing you're being watched -- or could be being watched at any time.
Seems clear that ADSS screwed the pooch in this case and knows it. Question going forward is what policies and procedures are put in place to prevent a recurrence, and how transparent they are moving forward...stay tuned!
