Like it is : Cursory inquiry into e-mail saga not acceptable
Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007
There are those who believe the University of Arkansas has an open sore that won’t go away.
There are those who don’t want to believe the UA has any problems.
In this drama, there are those known as darksiders and others as huggers.
There have always been critics of coaches, and there always will be.
There are fans who want to discuss and cuss text messages and departures by coaches and players.
But while every true Razorbacks fan may not be looking at the same picture, they are on the same page, at least with one goal. They want what is the best for their university.
It seems almost everyone wants the drama to end. Everyone wants things to be the way they used to be, when the Razorbacks were the unifying force in the state.
Instead, the UA’s reputation is taking a beating nationally, and that’s something no one can deny.
Most of the recent criticism from ESPN, nationally syndicated talk show host Jim Rome and others has been aimed at Houston Nutt.
Until Tuesday, when a suit was filed against Dr. B. Allen Sugg, president of the UA system, and Dr. John White, chancellor of the UA campus.
John David Terry, on behalf of the taxpayers of the state but at his own expense, had well-respected attorney Eddie Christian Jr., of Fort Smith, file the suit.
Nutt is not a part of the suit, and for the record neither is Beck Campbell, Mitch Mustain’s mom, who has been vilified by many for doing the one thing parents are supposed to do — look out for their children.
In the suit Terry claimed Sugg and White should have done more to investigate e-mails sent by a booster to Mustain and yours truly; not because mine was hateful, but that it was copied to members of the Nutt family who forwarded it to others.
Some may think Terry has filed a frivolous lawsuit, but others may think he’s right, that White should have been much more interested in the e-mail saga.
There’s no sense in dragging up the content of the e-mails again. Instead, consider the timeline: Dec. 7: Mustain receives the e-mail. Jan 5: Campbell realizes nothing is going to be done and emails White asking for an investigation. White turns it over to Nutt and Frank Broyles. Jan. 8: The booster e-mails an apology to Mustain. Jan. 16: Mustain asks Nutt for his release, at which time he is given a copy of the letter of reprimand to the booster dated Jan. 12. Jan. 18: White sends a letter to Campbell saying he was satisfied, believing Nutt and the booster were not personal friends.
If White really did not suspect a relationship between the booster and the Nutt family, especially since he had copies of all the e-mails with who was copied, then he was not giving the situation its due attention.
The simple fact is White never should have asked Nutt to investigate the e-mail because Nutt is the head football coach, not an investigator or litigator. Plus, he was a friend of the booster and was busy recruiting.
All things considered, this whole thing has been mistreated. It is the wound that keeps the UA from healing.
No doubt, Nutt handled the situation like 99. 9 percent of the coaches would have. The question is how many university chancellors would have had the football coach do the investigation.
The great fans of the Razorbacks need unity right now, and you can’t have unity without trust.
Many of the fans, especially now that some phone records have become widely publicized, have lost trust because the investigation was conducted by someone involved.
Because of that there have been a dozen Freedom of Information Act requests, and those have resulted in a lawsuit against the president and chancellor of a great university.
If an independent investigation had been conducted as it should have, the drama of the past five months might have never happened.
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