Columnist says B-ball Times article is out of line

By Adam Bagni
Collegian Staff
March 21, 2007

Some people just can’t let it go. And what makes it worse is that they have no clue.

Breezing through the February edition of Basketball Times, much to my chagrin, I came across a massive two-page spread by Adam Zagoria, labeled “SPECIAL REPORT.”

The headline: “Life After La Salle.”

Adding insult to injury, this month’s edition of the publication features yet another article regarding the rape allegations against three La Salle basketball players, which surfaced back in June 2004. This one, regarding former women’s coach John Miller, read: “A good man recovers from La Salle aftermath.”

If you haven’t heard of Basketball Times, you may think that this isn’t much of a big deal. That is, until you consider some of the magazine’s main subscribers: the members of the United States Basketball Writers Association. The USBWA is a massive association of professional college basketball journalists, many of whom are household names.

For any proud Lasallian, the fact that certain members of the media refuse to let this story die, particularly three years later, is frustrating. Even more frustrating is how La Salle and the accused have been portrayed in the local and national press.

It seems to me that columnists are saying that La Salle is the school that kicked out three innocent students, destroyed the careers of two professional coaches and allowed its leaders to remain at their jobs, despite making markedly damaging decisions. The accused, on the other hand, are victims of the university’s overreaction and desperate attempts to save its image.

The fact is, though, none of these brash conjectures are true. Rather, they’re simply widely accepted assumptions among the press corps (particularly after Gary Neal and Mike Cleaves were acquitted), which make for a juicy story about a “comeback” or “an individual who is unfairly blackballed for life.”

If you haven’t been lucky enough to come across any of these articles, they aren’t hard to find. Stephen A. Smith of The Philadelphia Inquirer has written four full-length columns dedicated to criticizing La Salle. The Washington Post wrote a glorified classified ad for former men’s coach Billy Hahn - “Coach for Hire,” proclaimed John Feinstein’s headline. Dick Weiss wrote an article in the New York Daily News in July about how a “Second Shot is Eluding Hahn.” And, our worst offender, Dick Jerardi of the Philadelphia Daily News, has written more than 10 columns criticizing La Salle, including one in this month’s Basketball Times, to go along with Zagoria’s.

No matter what you may read, rest assured that the following is true: Hahn, Miller, Neal and Cleaves are by no means victims. And, contrary to many newspaper articles since, the acquittal of Neal and Cleaves didn’t change that a bit.

They’ve deserved every bit of what they’ve gotten.

First, let’s start with Neal and Cleaves. They used to be a dynamic duo on the hardwood, who have been characterized as innocent men. The truth is, even though it was decided that they were not guilty, their actions have never been anything but morally repulsive. No one has argued that the alleged victim was drunk that night. No one has argued that the woman vomited. No one has argued that both Neal and Cleaves had sexual contact with her.

So, two grown men had sex with the same drunk woman, who threw up. Is that OK in any fashion?

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Former La Salle women’s basketball player Lamera Ferguson testified under oath at the Neal/Cleaves trial that Cleaves bragged to her the next day that he “ran a train” on the alleged victim. She claimed she tried to get the woman to leave, but Neal gestured negatively in the background and mouthed “no.”

Despite receiving “not guilty” verdicts, both Neal and Cleaves were rebuked by Judge Shelley Robins at the conclusion of their trial. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, she said: “This court does not condone your actions, or the lack of respect you showed the victim, yourselves, and the lack of responsibility,” she said. She added that they failed their “families, school and team,” according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Can someone please tell me again why Neal and Cleaves have been treated unfairly by La Salle?

Don’t forget Hahn and Miller, the former La Salle basketball coaches. The pair has been used as the perfect example of a university too concerned with protecting its image, after the two were forced to resign immediately after the allegations surfaced. But, this is not the Duke lacrosse case. Hahn and Miller knowingly withheld information about a serious sexual offense, which they were required to report by federal law.

So, you say Hahn and Miller should be off the hook, because they claim they didn’t know anything about the so-called Clery Act? Assuming they’re not lying, shouldn’t decency have prevailed regardless? If you are a leader at a student institution, and someone tells you about an alleged rape, you report it. Period.

However, Hahn told the women who came to him the following: “You know? Why you come to me? What do you want me to do?” This is according to his testimony under oath during the trial, as reported in the Philadelphia Daily News. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Hahn was “chuckling” while he said these words. He contradicted these statements four months later in The Washington Post, claiming, “I tried to encourage her to come forward when she first came to me.”

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, former La Salle women’s basketball player Monica Garrido-Sanz testified that same day, saying, “We went looking for some kind of punishment for the guys and [Hahn] really didn’t say anything to make us feel better.” As for Miller, “All together we decided to tell [him]. He was my coach. We all went. He didn’t really make us feel any better about it. He really didn’t give us any solution…”

Their own players don’t even trust their judgment, but writers have claimed this coaching combo has been unfairly banished.

The Philadelphia Daily News described Hahn’s testimony during the trial as consisting of “cocky posture, inappropriate jokes, self-aggrandizing patter and lewd language.” According to the Daily News, Hahn used crude street language for oral sex, intercourse and ejaculation. He reminisced about his college days when he ate pretzels and bread – the two foods offered to the drunk alleged victim. Throughout his testimony, Hahn continuously created awkward moments through “embarrassing attempts at humor, misfired asides and first-rate crowing.”

“I’m the only person life hasn’t been fair to,” Hahn said in this summer’s New York Daily News.

Clearly.

bagnia1@lasalle.edu