I've never heard of this until now and it saddens me greatly. As was the case at Penn State, football is not more important than protecting people from criminal sexual behavior, or any criminal behavior for that matter. I would rather lose every game than win with those kinds of guys on my roster. The guys sending texts trying to intimidate are just as big of cowards as the perpetrators, I hope I'm successful at raising my son to stop stuff like this or at least have the character to report it.

I have been hearing and reading about this situation for about two years now. It's a sad situation, no doubt. However, I would like to point out two things:

 

1) The St. Joseph County prosecutor reviewed all of the evidence in this case, and decided NOT to press charges. Here is the prosecutor's press release regarding the matter.

2) By punishing an athlete on his football team for the alleged crimes described in Ms. Henneberger's article, Coach Kelly would be punishing an athlete for crimes that the local courts had cleared the athlete of committing.

 

Why is Coach Kelly responsible to reprimand a student for crimes that the legal system have officially declared he had not committed?

I have been hearing and reading about this situation for about two years now. It's a sad situation, no doubt. However, I would like to point out two things:

 

1) The St. Joseph County prosecutor reviewed all of the evidence in this case, and decided NOT to press charges. Here is the prosecutor's press release regarding the matter.

2) By punishing an athlete on his football team for the alleged crimes described in Ms. Henneberger's article, Coach Kelly would be punishing an athlete for crimes that the local courts had cleared the athlete of committing.

 

Why is Coach Kelly responsible to reprimand a student for crimes that the legal system have officially declared he had not committed?

 

Just based on the two articles linked to in this discussion it appears that prosecutors made those decisions based on an investigation conducted by "campus police" that seemed to have focused much more on discrediting the accuser than investigating the alleged perpetrator. I don't think Coach Kelly has done anything wrong to this point but it appears that the institution of Notre Dame has based on the information in the article.

Just based on the two articles linked to in this discussion it appears that prosecutors made those decisions based on an investigation conducted by "campus police" that seemed to have focused much more on discrediting the accuser than investigating the alleged perpetrator. I don't think Coach Kelly has done anything wrong to this point but it appears that the institution of Notre Dame has based on the information in the article.

 

Well the evidence cited by the prosecutor in his decision includes "two statements from Ms. Seeberg, statements from the two suspects, and a statement from a female friend, all of whom were present during the evening of August 31, 2010", as well as subpoenaed cell phone records, which the prosecutor states are "inconsistent with parts of the complaint itself". These don't seem to be things that the Notre Dame Campus Police could easily botch or color in a different light.

I'm not trying to say there was nothing done wrong here - at all. I think it's crazy that the campus police didn't even approach the accused student/athlete for until 15 days after the alleged events took place, and 14 days after they were alerted by Lizzy Seeberg. Still, to blame the mistake on the entire university, I think, would be a mistake as well. The fact that the campus police, a relative few individuals representing a small portion of an entire university, made a big mistake is not enough for me to be convinced that an entire university was covering something up to protect one of its athletes. Show me evidence that higher-ups had told the police to drop the investigation or cover things up, and yeah, I might agree then, but this is not enough for me to think that the entire school administration is at fault.

I have been hearing and reading about this situation for about two years now. It's a sad situation, no doubt. However, I would like to point out two things:

 

1) The St. Joseph County prosecutor reviewed all of the evidence in this case, and decided NOT to press charges. Here is the prosecutor's press release regarding the matter.

2) By punishing an athlete on his football team for the alleged crimes described in Ms. Henneberger's article, Coach Kelly would be punishing an athlete for crimes that the local courts had cleared the athlete of committing.

 

Why is Coach Kelly responsible to reprimand a student for crimes that the legal system have officially declared he had not committed?

 

He couldn't prosecute because the victim was dead! Her entire written statement was inadmissible under the rules of evidence. Why was she dead, because she went to the police and they all but ignored her for over a week. Then after she is dead almost a week decide oh hey guess we should talk to this suspected perp.

He couldn't prosecute because the victim was dead! Her entire written statement was inadmissible under the rules of evidence. Why was she dead, because she went to the police and they all but ignored her for over a week. Then after she is dead almost a week decide oh hey guess we should talk to this suspected perp.

 

Okay, so then we'll call it a gross mishandling by the campus police. Still, does that automatically make this problem a problem caused by the entire university and its administration at large? And furthermore, I as again: is it fair for Coach Kelly to reprimand a student for crimes that the legal system have officially declared he had not committed?

Okay, so then we'll call it a gross mishandling by the campus police. Still, does that automatically make this problem a problem caused by the entire university and its administration at large? And furthermore, I as again: is it fair for Coach Kelly to reprimand a student for crimes that the legal system have officially declared he had not committed?

 

Why don't you ask Joe Paterno's family about that.

Brian Kelly allowed players to stay on the team that tried to intimidate a victim of a crime, that is horrible. That type of behavior should never be tolerated by anyone.

Why don't you ask Joe Paterno's family about that.

 

Look, I'm not saying that there wasn't anything done wrong here, but it would appear to me that the wrong was done by the Notre Dame campus police. Not knowing for certain how much direct control the actual university has over the police force on campus, I can't really say how culpable they are in the situation, but seeing as the campus police are still a branch of government law enforcement, I can't see how this is strictly a "Notre Dame problem".

 

Also, as for your allusion to Penn State/Paterno, we're not talking about Brian Kelly and the administrators acting directly to hide or cover something up. This problem was taken straight to the police by the victim the say after the alleged incident. Paterno and others intentionalld kept things from the police.

 

Regardless, to be clear, I would like to know if YOU think that it is Coach Kelly's position, as a football coach, to take action against one of his athletes after the prosecutor of jurisdiction has determined that they are unable to?

Regardless, to be clear, I would like to know if YOU think that it is Coach Kelly's position, as a football coach, to take action against one of his athletes after the prosecutor of jurisdiction has determined that they are unable to?

 

Absolutely. Players get suspended or dismissed from schools all the time for things that aren't criminal.

Absolutely. Players get suspended or dismissed from schools all the time for things that are criminal.

 

The problem is, there is no PROOF of anything criminal being done.

The problem is, there is no PROOF of anything criminal being done.

 

What's your point? You mean to tell me coaches don't ever dismiss kids even when the offense isn't criminal?

 

Plus it wouldn't shock me if Kelly played a part in covering everything up. This is the same idiot that made a film guy go up a lift in insane winds after all.

The problem is, there is no PROOF of anything criminal being done.

 

Multiple people witnessed the phone calls and texts from players trying to silence the rape victim? You don't need a jury to suspend or expel a player.

What's your point? You mean to tell me coaches don't ever dismiss kids even when the offense isn't criminal?

 

Plus it wouldn't shock me if Kelly played a part in covering everything up. This is the same idiot that made a film guy go up a lift in insane winds after all.

 

Whether or not it's due to the in-action by campus police, the fact is there's nothing to substantiate an offense excepting an accusation by a girl that very sadly opted to take her own life before things finally moved forward. Regardless, I don't see how you can punish an athlete for something that there is literally no way of proving. Maybe the guy did do somthing wrong - yes. Still, maybe he didn't.

 

See "Duke lacrosse team" for proof on how these things can go wrong.

 

As for your "it wouldn't shock me" statement, how does the situation with the scissor lift blowing over in the wind have anything to do with Kelly's probability for covering up a rape? I'm not seeing the connection.