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[LionPride]

Back in 1998, when Tracy was 24, she was gang-raped by four football players, she told the team.

Two of her attackers played for Oregon State University, she continued. When the charges were dropped, and the players received nothing more than a one-game suspension, their coach called the two men “really good guys who made a bad choice.”

That coach, the one whose words had enraged her 18 years earlier, was now standing in front of her. Mike Riley — who once coached Oregon State and the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers — was now in charge of Nebraska football.

“At one point, I hated this man more than my rapists,” Tracy said, referring to Riley, according to USA Today. She described in graphic detail her gang rape, her thoughts of suicide, her long struggle to feel normal.

“You could literally see the whole room turn and look at Coach Riley,” she told reporters afterward. “It was intense. I saw them all look. I could feel it.”

Tracy followed the officials into a massive athletic building, up an elevator and down long halls. Then they stopped.

“Is he in there?” Tracy asked one of the officials.

“Yes.”

She took a deep breath and went inside to face the man she had hated for 18 years.

“Hi, Brenda,” Riley said with a smile.

“Then he hugged me,” Tracy told the Omaha World-Herald. “He allowed me to cry on his shoulder for a few minutes.”

The two talked for more than an hour.

“I said everything I needed to say. I asked everything I needed to ask,” Tracy told the Lincoln Journal Star. “We talked about 1,000 different topics. … I feel like I put everything on the table and left it all there.”

“He answered everything,” she told the World-Herald.

And he apologized, for not digging more into what really happened during those six hours back in 1998.

“He said he just knew the players had been arrested and the charges were dropped,” Tracy told the World-Herald. “He knew he had to do something. He didn’t consider the impact on my life. He didn’t do any research into it. He said he didn’t know any of the specifics.”

Perhaps most important of all, Tracy believed him.

“I did not feel any deception coming from him,” she said. “He said if he had known, he would have done something.”

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/w...s-players-in-1998-this-week-he-met-the-victim

Pretty good article

 

[Sulik2]

So don't ask questions about what happened so when you give a handslap of a punishment you can deny doing anything wrong years later. Maybe he really didn't know, but I'm surprised she let the Coach get away with that excuse when its such a joke that he wouldn't ask more questions about why four of his players were arrested.

 

[AlteredBeast]

Mike Riley does seem like a genuinely good guy. It is a real shame he didn't involve himself in the actions of his players further, especially since it nearly drove a woman to suicide. The protection afforded to athletes dealing with assault cases is disgusting.

 

[spineduke]

“He said he just knew the players had been arrested and the charges were dropped,” Tracy told the World-Herald. “He knew he had to do something. He didn’t consider the impact on my life. He didn’t do any research into it. He said he didn’t know any of the specifics.”

Perhaps most important of all, Tracy believed him.

“I did not feel any deception coming from him,” she said. “He said if he had known, he would have done something.”

I dunno man, is that why every coach let's his players off the hook? Good kid, bad decision?

I'm not buying it.

 

[LionPride]

I dunno man, is that why every coach let's his players off the hook? Good kid, bad decision?

I'm not buying it.

Unlike a lot of football and basketball coaches, Riley seems like an actual nice person who doesn't let football consume him if he knows shit is up

 

[spineduke]

Unlike a lot of football and basketball coaches, Riley seems like an actual nice person who doesn't let football consume him if he knows shit is up

I don't think it has anything to do with how nice a person is - parents of rapists often struggle with the same cognitive dissonance - mentally making jumps to somehow clear/excuse what happened. Maybe he is truly sorry, but to claim that he didn't really know?

 

[aeolist]

Unlike a lot of football and basketball coaches, Riley seems like an actual nice person who doesn't let football consume him if he knows shit is up

are there previous examples of him giving appropriate punishments to players who do shit like this?

 

[Two Words]

Coaches who "didn't know" didn't want to know. There is a reason why they try to keep this in-house. I have no idea why rape is even attempted to be handled by schools. It should be immediately reported to the police and they should be the ones investigating.

 

[NervousXtian]

I've met Mike Riley and others who've met the man. He's a good guy, genuine, thoughtful.

I'm glad he did this, though it's 18 years too late. If it helps provide some closure, that's good.

Coaches who "didn't know" didn't want to know. There is a reason why they try to keep this in-house. I have no idea why rape is even attempted to be handled by schools. It should be immediately reported to the police and they should be the ones investigating.

There's over a 100 kids on a Div 1 football team at any given time. This isn't college basketball with 10-12 kids to keep tabs on, it's over 100. A head football coach is busy, works a ton of hours, has many responsibilities.

 

[LionPride]

are there previous examples of him giving appropriate punishments to players who do shit like this?

It doesn't appear that a lot of his players do shit like this

 

[Nozem]

I dunno man, is that why every coach let's his players off the hook? Good kid, bad decision?

I'm not buying it.

So without reading the article, you claim to know better than the actual rape victim who talked to this man in person for more than an hour. Great.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

I know absolutely 0 about who this coach is, or his character, or anything. 18 years is a long time for a person to grow though. I hope his words are true and he won't make the same mistake again. Too often we hear sports stars getting off light for crimes that harm others. More importantly though, I'm glad Tracy seems to be doing well and found some closure in meeting with the coach.

 

[hodayathink]

Coaches who "didn't know" didn't want to know. There is a reason why they try to keep this in-house. I have no idea why rape is even attempted to be handled by schools. It should be immediately reported to the police and they should be the ones investigating.

If we're talking about her specific case, she did bring it to police, they did investigate, and then she refused to cooperate because the campus community decided to take a huge dump on her for messing with their football program. Because the police never did anything, it was up to Riley to punish the players himself. One of the many reasons this does end up on the coaches is because most of the time even when it's reported there isn't enough evidence to prosecute, or even if there is the accuser generally gets found out and feels the wrath of the crazy sports fans who see her as trying to hurt their team (and this happens at the college, pro, and in some cases even the high school level).

All that being said, I agree with you in that they don't know because they don't want to.

 

[spineduke]

So without reading the article, you claim to know better than the actual rape victim who talked to this man in person for more than an hour. Great.

She needs closure, not proof - at this point I think she'll take whatever narrative he'll afford her. She has to move on with her life. On the other hand, all too often we hear of people who "really had no idea what happened". This is despite the police, despite the hospital and the multitude of people involved. Are you kidding me? No idea what happened? If only I knew? Get lost with that bullshit.

 

[crazy monkey]

Coach was not punished? How? Good guy making bad decisions? Wtf.

 

[LionPride]

Coach was not punished? How? Good guy making bad decisions? Wtf.

Coaches bein punished for this shit isn't the norm

 

[Boney]

Why were the charges dropped?

It's clear he didn't wanna know to not get involved, which involved him further regarding Tracy's trauma. Athlete protection is a real thing and while a very strong man can go against it willing to face some consequences (which is sickening). It's a systemic problem but I'm glad to hear this catharsis happened.

 

[A Link to the Past]

So don't ask questions about what happened so when you give a handslap of a punishment you can deny doing anything wrong years later. Maybe he really didn't know, but I'm surprised she let the Coach get away with that excuse when its such a joke that he wouldn't ask more questions about why four of his players were arrested.

Sometimes, it can be cathartic for a rape survivor to forgive people who they feel wronged them.

 

[hodayathink]

Why were the charges dropped?

It's clear he didn't wanna know to not get involved, which involved him further regarding Tracy's trauma. Athlete protection is a real thing and while a very strong man can go against it willing to face some consequences (which is sickening). It's a systemic problem but I'm glad to hear this catharsis happened.

It looks like the charges were dropped because she stopped cooperating with the police because she was getting harassed/threatened by fans of the program.

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

Coach was not punished? How? Good guy making bad decisions? Wtf.

Percentage wise, how often do you think schools or coaches get in deep shit for this?

 

[LionPride]

It looks like the charges were dropped because she stopped cooperating with the police because she was getting harassed/threatened by fans of the program.

That's exactly why. Shit like this happens at big time football and basketball schools constantly.

 

[MajorMane]

Should be worth noting that Riley has said that he should have done more back then. A bad decision for a man who really is super nice and seemingly rarity in this world of college sports. (Not saying that as an excuse.)

There's also this article ran in the local Lincoln newspaper that dives a little bit more into the talk with the players: http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/football/article_62c2653f-c66e-553c-8b76-1ea6941559ed.html

In particular interest:

She is excited to see what ideas are implemented. For instance, players talked about the Team Jack campaign and how the Huskers helped to fund pediatric cancer research. Maybe, it was thought, they could do a Team Jill campaign aimed at the issue of sexual violence.

Morgan Beal, who works with Voices of Hope, which provides services to those in Lincoln who have experienced relationship violence or been sexually assaulted, sat in on the meeting to offer support as Tracy talked. She's going to continue to keep in contact with the Husker program to hopefully put together an awareness event.

 

[iammeiam]

This is another pretty good article that gets more in-depth on the actual meeting.

 

[LionPride]

Should be worth noting that Riley has said that he should have done more back then. A bad decision for a man who really is super nice and seemingly rarity in this world of college sports. (Not saying that as an excuse.)

There's also this article ran in the local Lincoln newspaper that dives a little bit more into the talk with the players: http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/football/article_62c2653f-c66e-553c-8b76-1ea6941559ed.html

In particular interest:

This is another pretty good article that gets more in-depth on the actual meeting.

Oooo interesting

 

[RS4-]

Too bad, back then it just sounded like he didn't give a fuck, nor did anyone else aside from the victim.

Fuck everyone that supported trash, and those that harassed the woman.

 

[Karsticles]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm not sure why the coach is the focus instead of law enforcement.

 

[FelixOrion]

Yeah, I posted about this in the CFB community thread. It's good to see Riley trying to make amends and working with her to find ways to keep it from happening. In the wake of what's happening down in Baylor and other teams across the FBS landscape, I'm glad there's some positive things happening with regards to how rape as an issue permeates and is affected by sports culture.

Riley is a genuinely kindhearted guy and while I think the jury is still out on whether he'll be a good coach on the field here at Nebraska, I'm glad he's at the helm from a builder-of-men-of-character standpoint. What he did in 1998 wasn't enough, and he himself admitted that, but a lot has changed in 20 years and I'm glad he's making the inroads to help rectify some wrongs and make a future difference alongside Tracy. If something similar had happened on the watches of our past two head coaches (Bill Callahan and Bo Pelini), I seriously doubt either of the two would have given two shits, Pelini in particular, and that's a huge problem.

 

[hodayathink]

Too bad, back then it just sounded like he didn't give a fuck, nor did anyone else aside from the victim.

Fuck everyone that supported trash, and those that harassed the woman.

I feel like up until a few years ago, when someone gets charged with something and then the charges get dropped, most people will/would basically assume that the charges were dropped because they didn't do it. So, without him investigating further (and in this instance, seeing that the charges were dropped because she stopped cooperating, not because they were innocent), what he was suspending them for was basically putting themselves in the position to get charged in the first place. The general distrust of the justice system that has risen in the past decade or so (basically due to many different public cases where people who weren't rich/famous have been found innocent of things we know they are guilty of) has made people realize that just because the charges are dropped, or they were found not guilty, doesn't mean they didn't do it.

 

[Akuun]

What happened to the rapists?

 

[FelixOrion]

What happened to the rapists?

There were four, two of which were players (I'm not sure who the non-players were, so I can't talk on what happened to them, but probably nothing). The two players were DB Calvin Carlyle (then 18) and RB Jason Dandridge (20). After the charges were dropped, Riley suspended them one game and both were placed on school probation, had to participate in an educational program, and told to perform 25 hours of community service.

Carlyle (a native of Jamaica) would go on to be an off-season member of the Washington Redskins in 2003, but never made the cut to regular season roster. I don't believe Dandridge made it to the pros.

 

[Akuun]

The two players were DB Calvin Carlyle (then 18) and RB Jason Dandridge (20). After the charges were dropped, Riley suspended them one game and both were placed on school probation, had to participate in an educational program, and told to perform 25 hours of community service.

Carlyle (a native of Jamaica) would go on to be an off-season member of the Washington Redskins in 2003, but never made the cut to regular season roster. I don't believe Dandridge made it to the pros.

Jesus fucking Christ.

 

[entremet]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm not sure why the coach is the focus instead of law enforcement.

Probably Title IX nonsense.

I'm not anti Title IX, but it's written poorly for a rape victim's perspective. It's horrible for that in fact.

University Kangaroo courts that have authority to conduct investigations. Even though these institution don't have the training for this and are woefully misguided.

 

[LionPride]

There were four, two of which were players (I'm not sure who the non-players were, so I can't talk on what happened to them, but probably nothing). The two players were DB Calvin Carlyle (then 18) and RB Jason Dandridge (20). After the charges were dropped, Riley suspended them one game and both were placed on school probation, had to participate in an educational program, and told to perform 25 hours of community service.

Carlyle (a native of Jamaica) would go on to be an off-season member of the Washington Redskins in 2003, but never made the cut to regular season roster. I don't believe Dandridge made it to the pros.

Not a surprise