Why are people so upset with Kaler and Coyle?

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This is such a fluid and robust situation for the our University. So many thoughts and thread to comb through.

As a student athlete why would they go with representation that openly campaigned for the AD when Coyle was hired? Hutton is biased and has he own agenda, IMO. He tweets about the criminal side, but has he commented on the Code of Conduct side? Guarantee that he wrote the letter that Wolitarski read last night.

Are other attorneys coming to the party or are they avoiding it like the plague?
 

1) After police finished their investigation there should have been clear communication to the public that the internal investigation will continue and there is still a chance the players receive punishment and there may be more players involved.

2) They allowed the media to run with an unknown story about 10 players along with all of their pictures without knowing why they were being suspended. The president and AD need to own a story like this from the start and they need to be the ones holding a press conference explaining why they are suspended to their fullest ability that law allows and then explain why they will not go into further detail.

3) A letter to those with deep pockets but no one else is a slap in the face to everyone who has stuck with this team through thick and thin.

4) They should be able to explain the process of how they determine punishment without giving details about the incident.

5) The AD and President lied about who decided to suspend the players. Not sure I can trust them if they can provide the simple truth on this.

6) They went against everything I was taught at the University of Minnesota about crisis communication. They should slip into the class one day to get a few pointers.
 

Coyle should be canned for how badly he handled this.

He should have been having an open dialogue with the team giving them forewarning that this was going to happen so the players could have asked their questions weeks ago and at that point received less than satisfactory answers.

This whole thing seems to have been botched by Coyle in that the team is now boycotting.

He should have had discussions about this earlier outlining what the consequences of not playing in a bowl game might mean for their scholarships / enrollment.
 

I don't know if they could have possibly handled it any worse (realistically). Just terrible leadership from early on to now. I applaud the players for standing with the suspended players mainly because I feel six of them are getting completely railroaded, but I don't think it is going to help w/anything. In fact, I feel like it will only make the whole program suffer for years to come. Lines drawn in the sand by Admin., players, parents, etc.. is not a good look no matter what.
 

As one who normally defends U administration, I am also. This one incident didn't have to end in this mess that sullies the U and makes it a national story. Some people have laid it our very well why they are angry. A football team in revolt was not the inevitable outcome. The people who are paid big bucks to run this place have made it the outcome with their bungling and are ultimately responsible. Didn't think it was possible but this has the potential to top the Ohio State mugging, Madison, and Clem if it hasn't already. I'm equally pissed and sad.
 


I think it's pretty clear that Kaler and Coyle completely misread how this information would be received, and tried to do the bare minimum with carefully worded nonsense about "disappointment" and whatnot. Then they were in react mode, ok next we'll have a press conference where we answer nothing and look like deer in headlights. Ok, now the situation is completely out of control, so we'll issue another press release with safe soothing sounding words like dialogue. Very very poor leadership and understanding of how this would be received.

I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the second guessing and MMQBing I've seen on this site, but what should have been made clear is whether or not any NEW information led to this decision. If handled well, the public would be clear about the process, to what extent new information contributed to this decision, that these extreme judgments were due to the strong and clear case of rule violations, and some steps we are going to take going forward to ensure this doesn't happen again. it's pretty clear that they thought people would be mildly upset, and quickly move along.
 

tikited said:
I don't know if they could have possibly handled it any worse (realistically). Just terrible leadership from early on to now. I applaud the players for standing with the suspended players mainly because I feel six of them are getting completely railroaded, but I don't think it is going to help w/anything. In fact, I feel like it will only make the whole program suffer for years to come. Lines drawn in the sand by Admin., players, parents, etc.. is not a good look no matter what.
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Agreed, the admin has truly painted themselves into a corner. They can't be seen to be submitting to a mob. They can't amend the decision without looking weak. And we know that bureaucrats and presidents above all else have to save face. The situation we are in now makes saving face extremely difficult.
 

dpodoll68 said:
First off, this is obviously a horrible situation for all of the impacted parties. It should never have gotten to this point and I don't see how a good resolution can ever come out of it. That being said, I'm failing to understand why everyone is upset with Kaler and Coyle. They are acting on a recommendation from the EOAA director regarding the enforcement of Title IX. Even though it's called a "recommendation," it's essentially an ultimatum to fall in line or we'll sic the federal government on you. Kaler had to choose between two terrible alternatives, and either one was going to piss a lot of people off. I know if I were in his shoes, I'd rather piss off my subordinates and my constituency than the federal government. I don't see what choice he had in the matter. And Coyle, of course, is falling in line because he values his job.

I also support the players and their right to protest this decision. It's just a horrible situation. Again, however, I don't understand why they're angry with Kaler and Coyle. Again, what were the two of them supposed to do? The players should be doing everything in their power to win Kaler and Coyle over to their side, encouraging them to hear things from their perspective and leveraging their power to come to a speedy resolution on the issue. They should be angry at the legislation, angry at the culture that has grown because of it, and angry at the EOAA office using the power of this culture like a cudgel to cower young men into submission and compliance. They definitely have every right to be angry, and I support that feeling. I just feel pretty strongly that their anger is misplaced.
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I understand where you are coming from, but it doesn't inspire much sympathy from me when someone who is a piece of a bureaucracy doing the wrong thing, just simply says "well I am just a cog in the big system." Kaler and Coyle get paid a lot of money to simply rubber stamp the unfair actions of those above them.

Leadership should be more than just doing what is the path of least resistance and most expedient for career advancement.
 

cjcarter8 said:
My question is in regards to the suspensions. If Kaler and Coyle knew the University was going to investigate and potentially suggest additional punishment, why did they allow the players to be reinstated?

The EOAA investigation needed to be given a timeline that closely coincided with the police investigation and player should have been suspended until all investigations were finished.

Now it looks like Kaler had no idea how his own university handles these issues and because of this it looks like the University is jacking these kids around.

Go play football guys, the police cleared you. 3 months later, just kidding, some unknown university department wants to kick you out of school. You're suspended again.
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Nailed. It.
 



The Dolly doesn't understand why people are having trouble with leadership!!

The Dolly.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Well said, Dpo, this is a tough one for me. There's so much gray area we (the public) don't know about. One thing I know for sure is I'm not in the camp of rushing to judgment on Coyle. Like you said, what is he supposed to do?
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Guess what, this is all going to come out...it is already happening. There clearly is a condescending tone to Kaler's latest responses...kind of an attitude of "I understand the concern but people don't have all the facts, I do (not the case) and I made the right decision...so don't question it".
 

BarnBurner said:
Nailed. It.
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How sure are you that an independent review body can be told a deadline to do their investigation? That's dangerous. Those groups cannot be pushed around by those that they are reviewing.

Assuming what I just said to be true and that the investigation maybe had to go this long, how angry would everyone be that the players were all suspended for nearly an entire season for a non-police investigation?
 

Section2 said:
Agreed, the admin has truly painted themselves into a corner. They can't be seen to be submitting to a mob. They can't amend the decision without looking weak. And we know that bureaucrats and presidents above all else have to save face. The situation we are in now makes saving face extremely difficult.
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WoodburyTim said:
I understand where you are coming from, but it doesn't inspire much sympathy from me when someone who is a piece of a bureaucracy doing the wrong thing, just simply says "well I am just a cog in the big system." Kaler and Coyle get paid a lot of money to simply rubber stamp the unfair actions of those above them.

Leadership should be more than just doing what is the path of least resistance and most expedient for career advancement.
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The administration is in a place that would make it difficult for them to save face and unfair actions were simply rubber stamped.

Unless you both have all the facts it's only an assumption that the administration needs to save face and the actions taken were unfair.
 



dpodoll68 said:
First off, this is obviously a horrible situation for all of the impacted parties. It should never have gotten to this point and I don't see how a good resolution can ever come out of it. That being said, I'm failing to understand why everyone is upset with Kaler and Coyle. They are acting on a recommendation from the EOAA director regarding the enforcement of Title IX. Even though it's called a "recommendation," it's essentially an ultimatum to fall in line or we'll sic the federal government on you. Kaler had to choose between two terrible alternatives, and either one was going to piss a lot of people off. I know if I were in his shoes, I'd rather piss off my subordinates and my constituency than the federal government. I don't see what choice he had in the matter. And Coyle, of course, is falling in line because he values his job.

I also support the players and their right to protest this decision. It's just a horrible situation. Again, however, I don't understand why they're angry with Kaler and Coyle. Again, what were the two of them supposed to do? The players should be doing everything in their power to win Kaler and Coyle over to their side, encouraging them to hear things from their perspective and leveraging their power to come to a speedy resolution on the issue. They should be angry at the legislation, angry at the culture that has grown because of it, and angry at the EOAA office using the power of this culture like a cudgel to cower young men into submission and compliance. They definitely have every right to be angry, and I support that feeling. I just feel pretty strongly that their anger is misplaced.
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They chose to use young men to save their own skin, the overreach cannot be corrected.

I hear you that there was going to be fall out. Unfortunately for those two, there are paid to deal with fall out. The public is not privy to everything, so the public expects they will side with a just outcome. When the police and DA choose not only to not charge, but also to not arrest there is a major red flag.

One might say they know something that we don't.... well if they do, it cannot be more damning than what we do know, otherwise, they would be covering this up after the fact. They would be criminal accessories, as that info needed to go to the police and prosecutor for a charging decision.

They also are not helping people through a dark period, they are ducking and covering. They should have just quit, as that is the affect of their actions.
 

I agree DPO with one exception. Coyle seems to have passed the buck on the suspensions. He changed his story on whose decision it was. Not a good time to be evasive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

Perhaps they are upset because Kaler keeps harping about the privacy mantra yet he released the names of the players but not the female. It would seem that he has dished the players in favor of the EOAA.
 

dpodoll68 said:
First off, this is obviously a horrible situation for all of the impacted parties. It should never have gotten to this point and I don't see how a good resolution can ever come out of it. That being said, I'm failing to understand why everyone is upset with Kaler and Coyle. They are acting on a recommendation from the EOAA director regarding the enforcement of Title IX. Even though it's called a "recommendation," it's essentially an ultimatum to fall in line or we'll sic the federal government on you. Kaler had to choose between two terrible alternatives, and either one was going to piss a lot of people off. I know if I were in his shoes, I'd rather piss off my subordinates and my constituency than the federal government. I don't see what choice he had in the matter. And Coyle, of course, is falling in line because he values his job.

I also support the players and their right to protest this decision. It's just a horrible situation. Again, however, I don't understand why they're angry with Kaler and Coyle. Again, what were the two of them supposed to do? The players should be doing everything in their power to win Kaler and Coyle over to their side, encouraging them to hear things from their perspective and leveraging their power to come to a speedy resolution on the issue. They should be angry at the legislation, angry at the culture that has grown because of it, and angry at the EOAA office using the power of this culture like a cudgel to cower young men into submission and compliance. They definitely have every right to be angry, and I support that feeling. I just feel pretty strongly that their anger is misplaced.
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Because competent leaders get out in front of stories and give the narrative the public needs to hear before it hits the news stand. But for whatever reason, our AD kept his mouth shut and seemed surprised people were upset about this. That is poor leadership.
 

I think the broader issue for the team, fans, et al is that these players were cleared by the police and allowed to come back on the team and play and now are being expelled...how could there be that much separation between the EOAA and the police and Kaler and Coyle not know about it and be prepared for it?

That is a big reason this smacks as over reach...even the admin was surprised by this.
 

Mulligan said:
As one who normally defends U administration, I am also. This one incident didn't have to end in this mess that sullies the U and makes it a national story. Some people have laid it our very well why they are angry. A football team in revolt was not the inevitable outcome. The people who are paid big bucks to run this place have made it the outcome with their bungling and are ultimately responsible. Didn't think it was possible but this has the potential to top the Ohio State mugging, Madison, and Clem if it hasn't already. I'm equally pissed and sad.
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I agree completely. It is a horrible situation that they made much worse by either completely mismanaging it or not managing it at all. The really sad part of it is that they had plenty of time to consider how they would react to the EOAA report. It's been months since these allegations came to light. They didn't just drop out of the sky. And now they have the privilege of presiding over the worst PR nightmare the U has faced in recent memory. As a graduate of the school, a school I love and have pride in, it is simply very disappointing it was not handled in a better way.
 

How about not announcing things until the players side is presented and final decisions are made. This is a bowl game for fun, that's all. Winning or losing it is less important than a regular season conference game. if guys who played are later kicked out, forfeit the win. That is more ethical than branding kids before their side of the story is considererd.
I can't see how this is not completely obvious. They are treating these kids like they have no rights. They did not give up their rights when they signed LOIs.
 

There is the concept of slander. The players have been identified, publicly charged. All after no charges were made in a criminal court. This has become an assault on players who are presumed to be not guilty. And when the AD said he could not comment further due privacy concerns, after accusing the players is nothing more than slander.
 

husker70 said:
There is the concept of slander. The players have been identified, publicly charged. All after no charges were made in a criminal court. This has become an assault on players who are presumed to be not guilty. And when the AD said he could not comment further due privacy concerns, after accusing the players is nothing more than slander.
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The school only identified the 10 suspended players which is perfectly legal. The rest is all conclusions made on public police reports, public restraining orders, and investigative reporters getting tips. Many of those tips have come from the players themselves and their parents.


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In the end, I think this entire situation has been mishandled. I'm not excusing the players - and I think suspensions (but not expulsions) are likely warranted for several of the players - but Coyle and Kaler have completely botched the situation.

As I read it, the boycott was a direct result of the players meeting with Coyle, and coming away upset because they didn't get any answers. Instead, Coyle and Kaler keep hiding behind this "privacy" argument - when the police report and the EOAA report have been posted on a website. What freakin' privacy? I think there were opportunities to look for a compromise - or at the very least lay out all of the facts for the players and be as open as you possibly can to help explain the U's action.

Instead, we have this Mexican standoff that can only end badly. No winners - everyone loses.
 

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