Ketch's 10 Thoughts From the Weekend (What happened in Waco should be personal for all of us...)
- Thread starter Ketchum
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You never want to be the 3rd person in a grouping of similar people with Lane Kiffin and Todd Graham. Hot damn that is bad company.
A friend and fellow alum who doesn't follow this stuff nearly as closely as most of us said this to me last night.
"At best Herman has shown he is a little ignorant to the whole scope of the Baylor situation. I think he is going to get peppered with questions on Signing Day and be upset. He has been working 100 hour weeks since July and insanely busy. Is he unfamiliar enough with the Baylor situation to get frustrated and say something like "I just want to talk about football" or "can we just talk about recruits?"
I told him certainly Bianco has informed him to avoid saying shit like that, but it was an unpleasant thought. I don't think it will happen.
I am disappointed so many Longhorns are "fatigued." That is exactly what Baylor wanted from people.
We can all speculate about what the Assistant Director of Football Operations who was at Baylor for Briles full tenure may or may not have known, but it doesn't really matter. He isn't being tried for a crime. We are discussing if we should have hired him and/or should fire him. Here are the facts of the case that are not in dispute:
He publicly supported CAB until the bitter end.
He publicly attacked the media in July for investigating.
He publicly attacked the media again on December 13 in support of Briles.
He publicly signed a tweet in November supporting Briles.
He publicly tweeted #truthdontlie multiple times which openly implies the rape victims are liars and further intimidates future victims from speaking publicly.
These are HIS actions. He is guilty of taking these actions. These public actions mean he is either complicit or ignorant/tone deaf to the seriousness of the situation. They all reflect poorly on us for associating ourselves with him. He should not work at Texas because of HIS DIRECT ACTIONS. No speculation or suspending disbelief is necessary.
He only deleted the Tweets when the social media backlash began (furthering @Good.Shepherd 's point about no real vetting). He has issued no statement clarifying his intentions or apologizing. Herman answered a few softballs on the Longhorn flagship radio station and has released no statement. Perrin was asleep at the wheel and Herman was tone deaf. We will be brought up every single time a new Baylor fact is released. That is one of the prices Herman chose to pay (or wasn't aware would have to be paid) by hiring him.
I hope @Ketchum @Anwar Richardson and @Alex Dunlap ask appropriate questions Wednesday.
A friend and fellow alum who doesn't follow this stuff nearly as closely as most of us said this to me last night.
"At best Herman has shown he is a little ignorant to the whole scope of the Baylor situation. I think he is going to get peppered with questions on Signing Day and be upset. He has been working 100 hour weeks since July and insanely busy. Is he unfamiliar enough with the Baylor situation to get frustrated and say something like "I just want to talk about football" or "can we just talk about recruits?"
I told him certainly Bianco has informed him to avoid saying shit like that, but it was an unpleasant thought. I don't think it will happen.
I am disappointed so many Longhorns are "fatigued." That is exactly what Baylor wanted from people.
We can all speculate about what the Assistant Director of Football Operations who was at Baylor for Briles full tenure may or may not have known, but it doesn't really matter. He isn't being tried for a crime. We are discussing if we should have hired him and/or should fire him. Here are the facts of the case that are not in dispute:
He publicly supported CAB until the bitter end.
He publicly attacked the media in July for investigating.
He publicly attacked the media again on December 13 in support of Briles.
He publicly signed a tweet in November supporting Briles.
He publicly tweeted #truthdontlie multiple times which openly implies the rape victims are liars and further intimidates future victims from speaking publicly.
These are HIS actions. He is guilty of taking these actions. These public actions mean he is either complicit or ignorant/tone deaf to the seriousness of the situation. They all reflect poorly on us for associating ourselves with him. He should not work at Texas because of HIS DIRECT ACTIONS. No speculation or suspending disbelief is necessary.
He only deleted the Tweets when the social media backlash began (furthering @Good.Shepherd 's point about no real vetting). He has issued no statement clarifying his intentions or apologizing. Herman answered a few softballs on the Longhorn flagship radio station and has released no statement. Perrin was asleep at the wheel and Herman was tone deaf. We will be brought up every single time a new Baylor fact is released. That is one of the prices Herman chose to pay (or wasn't aware would have to be paid) by hiring him.
I hope @Ketchum @Anwar Richardson and @Alex Dunlap ask appropriate questions Wednesday.
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No, you're not a Baylor fan, again. You're just saying the types of things that Baylor fans have said in the past in an effort to move along.
I would offer a world that was impacted the most is one you aren't possibly as familiar with as others.
And you would have been very good in one of the roles that led to the Red Wedding. Maybe Black Walder.
nun
That's problematic.
Turn your brain on.
"No one really has any idea what level of involvement he may have had in the scandal."
That's problematic.
Turn your brain on.
Question from a Mod:
"One of our respected posters said that Perrin was asleep at the wheel and that you were tone deaf. Do you agree?"
Herman (with an appropriate pause and stare):
"No. I think that Mike is doing a great job, and he's very smart. Now let's talk football."
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Ketch,
I give you credit for providing more context. For the sake of clarity, are you referring to someone already indicted last year in Waco?
I didn't pick up the quote properly in the last part of his post. It was a reference to his point about Perrin being asleep at the wheel and Herman being tone deaf.
Who cares what some poster says. Examine the facts and ask questions about the facts. Horny met with Herman and agreed to the position before NYE. The official hire isn't released for about 10 days. It is released with absolutely zero acknowledgement of the BU situation he was fleeing. It takes over a week for Perrin to release a "statement." Would you describe that as active management and oversight?
I believe Herman said was surprised by the backlash in the radio interview. If I am incorrect, then I apologize. Ask him what details he knew and now knows about the Baylor situation. Ask him how closely he followed it as it unfolded? Why didn't he ask Horny to delete the Tweets and make a statement addressing them? Why not craft a statement when announcing the hire? What kind of 'vetting' can you really do on someone when Baylor refuses to talk to anyone about anything? Would you describe yourself as having a great understanding of the entire Baylor situation?
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You raise valid points, and it will be interesting to see the approach that Herman takes.
I and others are just not as upset at the Horny hiring as you and others. Just a difference of opinions, and that is said respectfully.
I can handle that easily. Reasonable minds can evaluate facts and respectfully disagree. Hook Em!
And you would be wrong, but I guess if you pretend that you know so much about me you can feel justified in preaching to me.
Absolutely. We don't even need to discuss the moral component here--though that is absolutely a huge part of this conversation, a deserved part, and one that aligns with Texas' stated identity.
But we don't need it. We can be oppositional to the hire, with full justification, on administrative and executive grounds alone. It's not a move that would pass Herman's own ideals of "excellence", "alignment", and "accountability".
There is no such thing as a good hire at any cost. In answer to your question, if he is found to have been tainted, it will bring Texas' entire brand identity into question. Not for every person or in every case, but that will become part of the new normal for Texas for as long as Herman remains in the football program.
I will add, though, that the purpose of vetting is to answer questions, not to raise more than you started with. Horny's questions are multiplying. If the new allegations are even 25% true, above and beyond the stuff loosely acknowledged by PepperHamilton, the probability that Horny knew nothing--when dozens of 18 to 21 year old girls not only knew about it but corroborated in it--is dropping fast. It's becoming almost implausible that he wasn't wrapped up in it one way or another. Even Horny supporters know in their gut that half the beach of justification they were standing on just erodes with the new wave of accusations.
I'm not saying he's guilty, but I am saying the questions around that are getting more and more infected. Hell, we can even assume he knew something of it--by far the most likely assumption we could make, and the most reasonable given his position with the Felony player--but that he was disgusted by it, hated it, and just chose to say quiet.
That staying quiet still brings fantastic legal and institutional accountability. He doesn't even have to be a bad guy for him to be still be an accomplice and to face major legal and ethical consequences.
There is no football arithmetic to this decision that even approaches 1% of the influence of the other questions involved.
Isn't it important to consider that the Williams sisters probably never would have been given a chance if not for Owens, Jackie and Ali? There story is amazing but I doubt they've been spit on, had to stay in seperate motels, dealt with Nazi wrath, or hit .342 for a career. There would not be black baseball players if not for Robinson. How many african american young women have dominated tennis since they were inspired by the Williams?
This isn't about football. No other sites were talking about Baylor's coverup months ago either. It needs to continue to be brought up until there are answers. Would you feel the same if Strong was the coach that hired Horny? Yeah, probably not.
What I know is that a generation of young black women, and black people in general, view the Williams sisters as something more than you seem to believe.
I'm not preaching to you. I'm simply expressing what I believe to know based on two decades of observation.
Just type in Williams sisters into a Twitter search engine and read the comments.
Shouldn't 20 years of dominance in a sport that has never seen anything like them, before or since, make for a greater testimony to the impact of their greatness?
one other interesting piece of the puzzle - Venus suffers from Sjogrens Syndrome, which can be much more than just dry eyes and mouth - flare ups and can lead to other immunology related diseases (I know personally) - so her successes are that much more wonderful IMO
If you haven't noticed, I tried to take a break from this thread very early on today.
I said that each side should agree that reasonable minds can disagree. I said I wouldn't be back unless someone attacked my character again. Sure enough, some poster was talking about his "vitriol" for anyone who doesn't think like Ketch and then Ketch restarted his "anyone who disagrees with me is like a Baylor fan" rant. My comparison to the nun who wants nothing but a confession is spot on as far as Ketch is concerned. You should direct your "take a break" suggestion to the disrespectful, supercilious members of OB like Ketch who tells people that they need to turn their brains on. I don't need a break, but thank you for your input. I choose to keep up the good fight. Will not back down from the mob.
Herman, if you are reading this thread, ignore the noise because that is all it is.
I get it, they've both kicked ass since the Clinton administration. Fantastic sports story but maybe top 3-4.
No doubt. What she did the last two weeks was a borderline miracle.
isn't that potentially splitting hairs?
Hey, that Lincoln was a top four president, but he's no Washington...
Fair enough.
When you can, I'd appreciate your opinion on some of the questions I posed to Alex in post number 254, I believe. That would be interesting and helpful in better understanding your perspective. Thanks.
