Former Players

[UND1983]

32 minutes ago, siouxfan512 said:

 

I don't disagree with Dan here. This isn't Bison/UND rivalry crap. I said in a different post, If he or the University did nothing wrong, then there is nothing to hide. And maybe they did nothing wrong here. He could have been allowed to play, based on limited information, or behind closed doors conversations where it was determined he could play until the outcome of the investigation was complete. 

Get the AD and the Coach together with the PR department and figure out how to handle the situation. To me, ignoring it or staying completely silent on it, just makes you look worse, but maybe that's just me.

I would think there is a middle ground between not saying anything and having a full blown press conference open to questions.

You need to learn more about Title IX and how their proceedings work.  This isn't Johnny Depp vs Amber Herd.  

[UND1983]

18 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

Officials have already confirmed there were accusations and an investigation. Bubba and the athletic dept could absolutely acknowledge if and when they knew of the accusations without violating any laws or policies. They just choose not to. 

No they literally could not because it would open a whole can of worms for lawyers, Otis and the accuser. 

[Mama Sue]

13 minutes ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

I am not sure of what Bubba could have done differently from a legal standpoint, but I hope this soon passes for him and the team.  I would guess on a team level, he would have dealt much differently with the Otis situation last fall.  The lackluster season and team performance makes much more sense now.  Had to be some horrible "team" dynamics at play during the season, especially the way it played out for Otis, the team and Bubba.  

AMEN! I agree and I thought Homer’s post with that statement was good enough.

[homer]

53 minutes ago, UND1983 said:

You need to learn more about Title IX and how their proceedings work.  This isn't Johnny Depp vs Amber Herd.  

I stopped reading the article at the quote below…..zero fact in there.  Only an opinion and it could be taken as affirming that if proper Title IX protocol was followed that the other depts would not have known details of the investigation.  Do I think they knew….probably   

"I don't know that they would have been directly told, 'Hey, just so you know, there's an investigation going on,'" Dearth said. "But given who all the individuals were, I absolutely believe that the witnesses probably would have overlapped, and so even if they were never given an official notification of it, I'm sure probably people in the department would have found out about (in) some way."

[F'n Hawks]

2 minutes ago, homer said:

I stopped reading the article at the quote below…..zero fact in there.  Only an opinion and it could be taken as affirming that if proper Title IX protocol was followed that the other depts would not have known details of the investigation.  Do I think they knew….probably   

"I don't know that they would have been directly told, 'Hey, just so you know, there's an investigation going on,'" Dearth said. "But given who all the individuals were, I absolutely believe that the witnesses probably would have overlapped, and so even if they were never given an official notification of it, I'm sure probably people in the department would have found out about (in) some way."

This quote shows that they are just trying to stir the pot. 

[Teeder11]

Ahem. This reinforces what UND is adhering to.  Just issued in light of 50th anniversary of Title IX:

Biden administration proposals uphold ban on disciplining athletes accused of sexual misconduct, punt ruling on transgender athletes

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/34136092/biden-administration-upholds-ban-disciplining-athletes-accused-sexual-misconduct-punts-ruling-transgender-athletes

Excerpt from the article:

 

Under proposed Title IX regulations from the federal government released Thursday on the 50th anniversary of the law, coaches and athletic department administrators would still be barred in most cases from removing an athlete accused of sexual misconduct from a sports team while an investigation is pending.

While the U.S. Department of Education proposed rolling back several of the Title IX provisions enacted in 2020 by the Trump administration -- including the standard of evidence needed to determine a violation occurred -- it keeps in place the provision that prevents disciplinary action against students until an investigation has determined they were at fault.

This is what UND is speaking to when they say, "The University has followed all appropriate policies, as well as state and federal laws."

[skateshattrick]

9 minutes ago, homer said:

I stopped reading the article at the quote below…..zero fact in there.  Only an opinion and it could be taken as affirming that if proper Title IX protocol was followed that the other depts would not have known details of the investigation.  Do I think they knew….probably   

"I don't know that they would have been directly told, 'Hey, just so you know, there's an investigation going on,'" Dearth said. "But given who all the individuals were, I absolutely believe that the witnesses probably would have overlapped, and so even if they were never given an official notification of it, I'm sure probably people in the department would have found out about (in) some way."

Matt Dearth of Vogel has been practicing less than 6 years, so he's hardly an expert on Title IX (or anything else). Take his speculative comments with a grain of salt. 

[nodak651]

"Information obtained from people close to one of the investigations shows Otis Weah was under a Title IX investigation for sexual assault for a good chunk of the most recent football season."

This reporting sucks.  1. What information?  What type of information?  An official document?  Is the source directly involved in the investigation proceedings and if not, what does close mean - we talking friend of a friend or direct family member?  Could he be any less specific than "good chunk" of the season?  Does the information or source not contain this information or is he being vague on purpose?  How long does he think a "good chunk" is?  That's completely arbitrary verbiage which has a different meaning to different people.  

Assuming Bubba wasn't aware of the title 9 investigation, because the university said that all protocols were followed, I think it's safe to assume Bubba may have been aware of the police investigation, if anything.  If that's the case, it happened over the off season, and and he would also have learned that the investigation ended without charges being filed, and he also would have known that Otis passed a polygraph test.    Being that the title 9 investigation concluded, seemingly after the season, and Otis's suspension from campus didn't begin until January of this year, there is zero legitimate reason to believe that Bubba knew anything else.  Even if Bubba was aware of the title 9 investigation, he already knew that Otis passed a polygraph test, so why wouldn't coach trust his word?  

[siouxfan512]

1 hour ago, homer said:

What is the point of having a press conference or releasing a statement if your not going into specifics.  Looks worse to be honest.  
 

A statement was released for the article….

 However, a university spokesman released a statement saying, "The University has followed all appropriate policies, as well as state and federal laws."

fair enough

[siouxfan512]

1 hour ago, UND1983 said:

You need to learn more about Title IX and how their proceedings work.  This isn't Johnny Depp vs Amber Herd.  

Agreed, I don't know how Title IX or the proceedings work. Thats why I had asked about it. I understand its not a media circus in the courts, but thanks.

[siouxfan512]

1 hour ago, Midwestern Hawk said:

I am not sure of what Bubba could have done differently from a legal standpoint, but I hope this soon passes for him and the team.  I would guess on a team level, he would have dealt much differently with the Otis situation last fall.  The lackluster season and team performance makes much more sense now.  Had to be some horrible "team" dynamics at play during the season, especially the way it played out for Otis, the team and Bubba.  

Yeah, I'm betting if Bubba could do it all over Otis wouldn't have come back after the grades issue. Hindsight is 20/20.

[Siouxperfan7]

1 hour ago, Teeder11 said:

Ahem. This reinforces what UND is adhering to.  Just issued in light of 50th anniversary of Title IX:

Biden administration proposals uphold ban on disciplining athletes accused of sexual misconduct, punt ruling on transgender athletes

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/34136092/biden-administration-upholds-ban-disciplining-athletes-accused-sexual-misconduct-punts-ruling-transgender-athletes

Excerpt from the article:

 

Under proposed Title IX regulations from the federal government released Thursday on the 50th anniversary of the law, coaches and athletic department administrators would still be barred in most cases from removing an athlete accused of sexual misconduct from a sports team while an investigation is pending.

While the U.S. Department of Education proposed rolling back several of the Title IX provisions enacted in 2020 by the Trump administration -- including the standard of evidence needed to determine a violation occurred -- it keeps in place the provision that prevents disciplinary action against students until an investigation has determined they were at fault.

This is what UND is speaking to when they say, "The University has followed all appropriate policies, as well as state and federal laws."

This pretty much ends the "who knew what and when"debate. Even if the University, coaches, etc did know that accusations were made against Otis, they couldn't by law discipline him.

[nd1sufan]

3 hours ago, UND1983 said:

No they literally could not because it would open a whole can of worms for lawyers, Otis and the accuser. 

If all Bubba said was yes he was aware of the accusations or no he wasn’t aware it would open up zero cans of worms for anyone. And if his answer was no he wasn’t aware, it would end any question of his behavior in this situation.

[UND1983]

6 minutes ago, nd1sufan said:

If all Bubba said was yes he was aware of the accusations or no he wasn’t aware it would open up zero cans of worms for anyone. And if his answer was no he wasn’t aware, it would end any question of his behavior in this situation.

You or any of us don't need to know anything about it because a player cannot be suspended during an on-going Title IX investigation, anyway.  Bubba doesn't need to speak about it then, now or ever.  

[Nodak78]

So now we know why the timing of the hit piece on UND involving title IX.  Forum lost the bid.  Ummmm

[Kab]

Surprised mcfooley isn’t pot stirring here too 

 

 

[SiouxFan100]

Well - things should be scrutinized 

this is a black eye for UND even if everything was done right - between a rock and a hard place

[Kab]

There is a difference between scrutinizing and pot stirring

there is a difference between in house information and out house information 

[SiouxFan100]

42 minutes ago, Kab said:

There is a difference between scrutinizing and pot stirring

there is a difference between in house information and out house information 

Agree

[homer]

2 hours ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Well - things should be scrutinized 

this is a black eye for UND even if everything was done right - between a rock and a hard place

Black eye to follow the law??

What would you have done different?  

[siouxfan512]

1 hour ago, homer said:

Black eye to follow the law??

What would you have done different?  

I think he is saying it’s a bad situation regardless of what you do. Rock and a hard place …. Bad no matter what.

[Irish]

It's safe to say that last year was a tough year for Bubba both on and off the field.  Not blaming him for the Weah mess - he took a chance on the wrong kid and got burned but who could predict that.  However, he needs to seriously refocus for next year.  Change is hard for Bubba but we need to clean up the locker-room mess and fix the coaching lapses during last year's games.  We can do it but we need Bubba to lead the changes.  Hopefully this won't be too much of a distraction.  Time to move on and get it done.  Next year is huge for our program.

[nd1sufan]

27 minutes ago, Irish said:

Not blaming him for the Weah mess - he took a chance on the wrong kid and got burned but who could predict that.  

Only every other D1 coach and most D2 coaches in the area… There was a reason the top prospect in the ND and NW MN area had no other offers. It wasn’t because they didn’t think he could play.

[Sioux>Bison]

9 hours ago, siouxfan512 said:

Agreed, I don't know how Title IX or the proceedings work. Thats why I had asked about it. I understand its not a media circus in the courts, but thanks.

Google it…… duh

[Sioux>Bison]

8 hours ago, Siouxperfan7 said:

This pretty much ends the "who knew what and when"debate. Even if the University, coaches, etc did know that accusations were made against Otis, they couldn't by law discipline him.

Exactly, what public reason could they give to suspend him from the football team before the title 9 hearing was completed. Title 9 protects the privacy of both the accused and the accuser. If UND kicked Otis off the team mid season we all know the media would be expecting an answer.