That’s all I can say. The University of Minnesota athletic director has resigned. Why, you might wonder.
Since coming to the university, Teague had presented himself to the media as someone who was a good source and not afraid to get blunt. For a reporter, that was extremely valuable. After he arrived, and before Dec. 13, 2013, he and I had drinks five to seven times, all but one of those occasions in a group setting. I also attended several cocktail parties at his house. I was happy to have such a useful window into the program. We talked about basketball, coaches and his plans for the department.
So I agreed to have that drink. But this December night was different. Teague asked me about my longtime boyfriend, as he often did. My mistake was acknowledging that we had just broken up. The switch flipped. Suddenly, in a public and crowded bar, Teague tried to throw his arm around me. He poked my side. He pinched my hip. He grabbed at me. Stunned and mortified, I swatted his advances and firmly told him to stop. He didn’t.
“Don’t deny,” he said, “our chemistry.”
His resignation letter says, “At a recent University event, I had entirely too much to drink.” You know, this wasn’t a recent solitary event — the guy has a history of this crap. Furthermore, don’t put the blame on having too much to drink. You have a drinking problem. You voluntarily loosen your inhibitions to make it easier to abuse women.
I’ll also note that Teague wasn’t so drunk he couldn’t fumble his way through long texting sessions.
FTFA:
Sorry, bud, but your behavior DOES REFLECT your true character. I didn’t see a direct amends to your victims, so fuck you.
Ignoring that she’s been conditioned to victim-blame herself… (sigh)
“Wow, she’s no longer the property of another man! Time to put MY brand on that saucy bit of livestock!”
Don’t worry, he may have technically resigned, but it looks like there’s a chance he’ll remain on for a month longer in a “consulting” role while still receiving his normal pay of $285/hr while the university looks for a replacement.
http://www.startribune.com/u-s-norwood-teague-quits-after-groping-women-sending-graphic-texts/321038541/
Reading the linked article, I see that the University is claiming that the two sexual harrassment complaints that led to his resignation were the first they’d heard of his behavior.
Knowing how these things usually go, my guess is that they’d actually heard about his behavior before but ignored it. Judging from the news story, it was when the two women made formal complaints that they first started doing something.
Ah, but AMM, the formal complaints are the only ones that matter. All those other complaints were just gossip and rumors, nothing more, and could be safely ignored–or, more usefully–denied to have been heard in the first place.
If I am to take the usual press statement he made in the most favorable light that he is acknowledging that he has a problem and is taking some positive steps then good for him. I have no problem that he should suffer the consequences of his actions however. If he is just saying nice BS for public consumption and has no intention of actually doing anything different or making any real change in his life he will be back again for more negative results sooner or later.
uncle frogy
The problem with the excuse “I was drunk and didn’t know what I was doing” is that alcohol brings down the internal censor, and drunks become more who they truly are, not less. If you become a chauvinist pig and wanna-be rapist when you are drunk, it is because you would be a chauvinist pig and wanna-be rapist if you could get away with it while sober.
Mea Culpa on assuming the journalist was male. We are in such a load of shit that needs a lot to fix it.
He can’t have been a very good coach if there isn’t a cover-up and demands for the journalist’s head on a pike.
The quoted article is not the event that led to the resignation, but is the account of what happened when she was a reporter in 2013. Two different women have just recently made official complaints to the U of M about sexual harassment from Teague and he has resigned and will face legal prosecution. It’s just too bad that in 2013, Amelia Rayno did not feel safe enough to report because her actual choice was between her chosen sports reporter career, or pursuing a sexual harassment case and being subject to further abuse.
The “I was drunk” defence is highly questionable under any circumstances. I might accept it (with hesitation) if the affront is not too severe and if the person is young, since he or she may honestly not know how alcohol affects them. Since I am sure this was not the first time this asswipe imbibed and he is a middle-aged man. If he has issues with self control when he has been drinking, the solution to that problem is blatantly obvious.
I also agree that the “I was drunk” defense is worthless. It has been a few years now that drunk drivers have been held responsible, and non-driving drunks have no excuse for acting like shit just happens. At the very least, apologize for getting drunk – at least, not that it should stop there.
I don’t drink at all, for various reasons, and losing control is one thing that I cannot abide. So I don’t drink. And I hope that if I did do something while drunk, I would take responsibility.
Besides, a woman who drinks and has an unpleasant sexual encounter is popularly held to be fully responsible. Why should a big, manly man be less accountable?
It’s really sad that it’s come to the point that I was relieved at how the story turned out, because when I read “So I agreed to have that drink. But this December night was different” I was sure that the next part would be her getting drugged and raped, and I was relieved that it was “only” groping and in in public so it couldn’t go “too far”. :(
Drinking does not magically give you new personality traits. It just lowers your inhibitions to the point where you are willing to display personality traits you would normally recognize as socially unacceptable. I could sympathise with the argument that drink made you “misread the signs” and assume attraction where there was none… but it does not excuse a failure to back the fuck off when it becomes clear you were mistaken.