Arrogance…the arrogance of wanting maintain a pristine image combined with the arrogance of thinking they could keep this bottled up and control the narrative. Now, it’s going to be infinitely worse and, as someone else said, possibly a national black eye.
Saylor should certainly be gone, and if he kicked it upstairs, Crawford should join him on the Greyhound out of town.
This type of agreement is not at all unusual in terminating employment relationships. A “non-disparagement” clause. Essentially you give the dates of employment, the position, and the date employment ceased, and nothing more. I understand there are several attorneys on this board, who might be able to explain more. I am not and emphasize not endorsing this action, but simply explaining my understanding that this is not out of the norm.
See Sample 3 in the article below:
Non-Disparagement Clause: Meaning & Samples (2022).
There was however a recent decision by the NLRB, handed down February 21, 2023, that cast some doubt on the legality of such clauses, depending on the circumstances:
This is a lesson all around in “do the right thing”
Coach did the wrong things on the court (crappy strategy, bad roster construction so no bench) and clearly off the court.
AD should have done the right thing long before this as it was clear a while back he made a poor hire. I personally refuse to believe we didn’t have buyout money. It’s just not plausible we have no stash of emergency funds anywhere.
And anyone who suggested it might blow over (not clear who that would be but if that actually happened…) has no idea how social media works.
However, MU can recover. Heck, look at Baylor and the men’s team. They had a very bad deal go down during the Bliss regime and not too many years later they won a National title under Drew. I hope this is the wake up call all parties who have a vote in MU’s sports needed to take sports seriously. Sports are a shop window to our brand as much as academics are.
I’m guessing there are some closed door meetings going on at Millett and Roudebusch this weekend. And I’m thinking the BoT might actually be paying some attention to them.
If that’s the case, then several members of the BoT are about to learn who DeUnna Hendrix is for the first time.
They may not care about athletics, but they most certainly care about image and public relations.
And the women’s basketball program!!
“With our student athlete’s well being in mind”…I agree with The Athletic. Players, current and past, must be interviewed. Find out why a student athlete(s) didn’t find the avenue to come in sooner and report concerns…too many had to have known. The bit I read on different social medias that are running with this story saying these were two consenting adults do not understand the make up of a team or a work place. My belief is that Miami can rise above this by #1 changing the leadership of the Athletic Dept, #2 hiring the alumnus with the impeccable reputation, and I’ve posted her identity enough on here already, and lastly #3…get this hiring done ASAP so the new staff can quickly dive into the transfer portal while at the same time constructing a girls bball Resident camp for this summer like no other. Incorporate the Sports Studies departments that set Miami above all others (but who would even know it bc Athletic Dept doesn’t use them enough) teaching the sport like no women’s basketball program has ever attempted. Let it obviously be a residence camp so as to show off our campus. The genie is out of the bottle now…Miami hates bad press and the powers that be have made it even worse. This program has to be built back in all areas and its going to take time.
People are really going with that line? Yiiiiiikes.
I am as well. As it stands, the only publicity I’ve seen is a straight news piece and an opinion piece at the Athletic, both written by the same person. Obviously that’s far from good publicity! But a women’s basketball writer on a paywalled website plenty of people don’t even know exists is different from a story in the Enquirer or on WCPO. Will be interesting to see how or if this crosses over.
A story like this ALWAYS has legs.
Gives you an idea how much attention the nearby media pays to Miami athletics.
Or the fact that - whether consensual or not - it was a violation of written University policy which was established for numerous very obvious reasons.
Its not appropriate- it is against Miami’s policies and she would have been fired. The age difference is concerning to me. I am glad she is gone
But it is not illegal so there is a difference between this and other scandals
And like I said this would be a big age difference but from my own career I had a boss marry a peer of mine that started in a manager- subordinate relationship…i couldnt figure out why she was getting all the top assignments over me and eventually I figured it out
Nm
It just pisses me off that the university attempted to bury this story. We evidently were going to allow her to find another coaching position where she could abuse her power again. They are trying to “ protect “one girl’s name at the expense of future victims. The lack of leadership and character and doing what is right seems to extend right on up through the athletic department to the administration. All to protect a terrible Coach and the universities reputation.
They really cannot disclose the student’s name without her consent without running afoul of federal law in bad bad ways. Whether keeping the whole rest of this story under wraps was a bad idea is another question. But the one girl’s name isn’t getting out, not even off the record, from Miami.
The article in The Athletic says that they reached out to the player for comment, so they did get the name from the leaker, they’re just choosing not to publish it.
I hope the leaker is someone on the team rather than someone who works for the school, because that is Deep Trouble material if so.