ethics scandal=profitable?

"Basketball coach

"Earnings: $1,200,000

"Where:SUNY Binghamton, NY

"Kevin Broadus, who had a five-year $1 million contract, was let go from his job as head coach for little-known SUNY Binghamton men’s basketball team in 2009 over an ethics scandal. He sued the school for discrimination, and received a $1.2 million buyout to drop the suit. Taxpayers got to pick up all the legal bills too. In June, Broadus was hired as an assistant coach at Georgetown, where he has worked previously."

"10 Insanely Overpaid Public Employees." http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Media/Slideshow/2011/07/13/10-Insanely-Overpaid-Public-Employees.aspx

Background on that:

"difficulties [understating the case!] such as BU experienced are not uncommon in intercollegiate athletics programs, particularly in Division I men's basketball. Even during the course of our review, the press reported instances of student-athlete misconduct at comparable programs. Second is repeated reference to the admirable University commitment to give second (or more) chances to disadvantaged youths, some with troubled backgrounds. Finally, we have noted the suggestions of 'racism' that have at times been raised to resist questioning and expressions of concern about various aspects of the program. [...]

The 'giving' of second chances by the University—and the 'taking' of them by the student-athletes—may in fact be illusory, even counter-productive, if careful admission choices are not made, and comprehensive services are not provided, particularly for students unaccustomed to the demands of a front-rank university and frequently far from home. The risks obviously are vastly multiplied when several such students are accepted onto one team in a single season, adding to the service demands on the University and the opportunities for the athletes to influence one another negatively. Suggestions by some that 'racism' is at the root of attempts to address concerns cannot and must not be allowed to thwart rigorous independent inquiry and oversight at every stage, which are plainly required if the students, and the program, are to succeed"(3-4).

Report to the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York http://www.suny.edu/Files/sunynewsFiles/Pdf/KayeReport.PDF

Kevin Broadus v. New York State, State University of New York at Binghamton Division of Human Rights Case http://www.pressconnects.com/assets/pdf/CB156457426.PDF

Broadus writing of a "public lynching" and citing Clarence Thomas started his complaint off on the wrong foot, but it does contain some interesting bits in spite of that:

"Albany had major problems in its athletic program. Baseball coaches sent 331 text messages improperly to recruits. The head coach sent 56 texts to 5 recruits alone in a summer period. It also had to go on NCAA probation. The football coach recruited three athletes on scholarship who soon raped one young woman on campus in her dorm for which they all went to jail. The response of SUNY was as it should have been to say that no further review necessary because of the limited scope of violations" (5-6).

SUNY's response there was not as it should have been.

"It should also be noted that it reported/suggested in some media that Zimpher seeks to become President of the NCAA, and has, upon information and belief, actively lobbied for the position. Any action against Broadus must be looked at in light of this possible personal motive of respondent Zimpher" (5 n. 2)

The NCAA's bad enough as it is!

"the change of Chancellor means nothing to Albany when in light of the history of NCAA probation, violations, and player arrest in July of this year a major basketball player in the school was arrested for a crime. Neither, Albany, SUNY or Chancellor Zimpher benched any coach. Neither, Albany, SUNY or Chancellor Zimpher attacked the program or the character of the basketball head coach especially in light of the condition of the athletic program at Albany. The only difference between Broadus and these coaches is the color of their skin" (6).

That does make it sound like a double-standard might have been at work if there were no other differences between the cases.

"In a remarkable act of Alice in Wonderland reasoning, SUNY now suggests that because SUNY/Albany has two years’ worth of systemic violations involving all areas of leadership, the fact that they failed to remove any head coach temporarily or otherwise from his duties for even a part of the season means that the actions here against Broadus did not have an adverse racial impact" (19).

"Albany has had years of various problems in many different sports teams: from rapes to crimes, to secondary violations, to NCAA probation. All the coaches are Caucasian and none had to sit out a year or be publicly humiliated. A random canvas of internet revealed many problems but remarkably despite the auditors visit to Albany (and Stony Brook) none of these problems appeared in the report.

"Although we have FOILed all the information regarding the arrests and violations at Albany this information has not been received and it is suggested that you can make no fair and full determination until you have such information about adverse employment consequences against Broadus.

"Again, a random canvas of the internet reports, and despite the University’s attempt to minimize same at Albany, is extremely relevant here because the head NCAA Division I football coach, who is white, has three players – two of which were white and one black – who were reported recruited and on scholarship who committed a rape of a young woman on campus in a dormitory" (22-23).

That does sound bad, though it might undermine Broadus' case somewhat when ones notes that UAlbany's so-called judicial administrator, so-called police chief and so-called athletics director have not been disciplined, and the latter two of them failed to swear and file their Oath of Office with the NYS Secretary of State the years they were appointed. Pages twenty-two through twenty-seven deal with Albany are worth reading; too long to quote here.

"Despite the fact that the audit indicated that personal interviews were conducted of America East Conference member institutions, including Boston, Albany, Burlington, Hartford, Baltimore and Stony Brook (Buffalo even though it is a SUNY school is not in the America East Conference), no report of any interviews with other coaches or disciplinary action against other coaches for secondary violations, major violations or students who have had run-ins with the law appears anywhere in the audit with the exception of Broadus" (56-57).

One would like to see reports of those interviews, definitely.

Why did SUNY settle with Broadus? How much (if anything?) did SUNY give to those who were genuinely hurt by the problems at Binghamton, like the student who'd been put into a coma by an athlete who then fled the country?

Carey, Jack. "Former Binghamton player still loose after fleeing to Serbia." USA Today. June 30, 2008. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/ameast/2008-06-30-kovacevic-case_n.htm