At a press conference yesterday, Ohio University President Roderick McDavis, Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt and head football coach Frank Solich announced the indefinite suspension of three football players and one basketball player.
The suspensions come after an article in The Columbus Dispatch Saturday revealed that 17 Ohio football players had been arrested since Jan. 1 on suspicion of various charges.
As if the university isn't embroiled in enough scandals, suddenly the athletic department is under fire for being limp-wristed with its athletes. This is on top of the fact that one of the head coaches is supposed to be a mascot for sobriety ' one of his punishments for his own arrest and conviction on charges of drunken driving.
A few players had missed some game time already, but in light of McDavis' continual drive to ban underage drinking in Athens, the punishment of these players is meager at best.
Hocutt is trying to save face now that these problems have been exposed and avoid having his department become the latest to lose its credibility.
In a story in today's The Post, Hocutt said he would like to enforce a uniform policy to deal with this kind of behavior, something the university already does for all its students who don't suit up as Bobcats.
This double standard ' which is nothing new to the world of collegiate athletics ' not only undermines McDavis' policies but makes a mockery of them. The quick reaction time shows that the administration is not willing to let this situation fester any longer.
If this sudden burst of publicity is the beginning of a more regulated student-athlete code of conduct, then something good still might come of it.
Athletes are not only students, but also student ambassadors who represent the entire university. Holding them to a higher standard might not be fair, but not holding them to any standard is irresponsible.
It's becoming old and tired to talk about OU's negative image in the public eye, but it is also unavoidable. At least this time the response from Cutler has been decisive and progressive.
This is a situation that can be fixed quickly and easily by enacting and enforcing a reasonable set of rules. If McDavis and the other administrators attacked the other scandals in the same way, OU would not be appearing in The New York Times.
Though, as with the other controversies, it appears it takes public revelation for OU to first admit a problem and then go about trying to fix it.
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