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Articles
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Does she smack of honor? By: Malamute, Posted 3 December 2003
Mal can't keep his mouse shut, even when his batteries run dry and he's consigned to the hot keys on the keyboard. What will be the state of the program four years into the future, as posed by some trivia questions, he asks? Trivia questions: 2007 -- Who was the last quarterback to lead the Huskies to a win over USC? Answer: Taylor Barton. -- Who was the last coach at Washington to have had a winning season? Answer: Rick Neuheisel -- When was Husky Stadium last filled to capacity? Answer: Apple Cup, November 22, 2003 These questions may seem far-fetched, but Washington’s football fortunes are on the wane. Husky fans, brace yourselves, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. The program has yet to bottom out, like, say, in a visage of Gilligan’s skipper, Jonas Grumby, running his ship aground at Neverland Ranch. That’ll happen next year--or maybe the year after--unless the program gets an infusion of talent on the offensive and defensive lines. What we saw at Olympia this summer speaks volumes for a bottoming out to be forthcoming: one, two, or three years down the road, with each year becoming progressively worse. Don’t look to Barbara Hedges to provide immediate help, and her firing won’t accomplish a thing. Barbara Hedges couldn’t block Leila Ali if the AD weighed 300 pounds. Keith Gilberston couldn’t date Leila even if he were 10 years younger, not married and had received an infusion of Rick Neuheisel’s charm. Instead, he needs to recruit with uncommon passion—like he never has before—and Hedges needs to stand by her man while he recruits wide-bodies that won’t fit inside the Husky tunnel for all of their notoriety. To wit: Of the 25 offensive and defensive linemen listed in the Tacoma News Tribune’s Western 100 (Year 2003), 9 committed to USC, while only one, Wilson Alfoa, committed to Washington. Okay, I’ll take Matt Tuiasosopo at quarterback, along with a talented running back, too. For any other 5-star-or-4-star prospect that might want to volunteer, please contact Coach Keith Gilbertson. But in all honesty, the odds are against Gilbertson. Fire Hedges? Firing Hedges would be a self-admission that the UW is, indeed, lacking in institutional control. Sans a smoking gun found amidst all of the developing and past controversies at the UW, fans and alumni need to support Hedges until all the facts are in. Well, at the very least, until recruits have signed their letters of intent for 2004. Seriously, the 66-year-old Hedges was given a contract extension until next June for good reason. There is no smoking gun that points to any complicity on her part in any of the controversies surrounding Rick Neuheisel, Dr. Scheyer, Teresa Wilson, Keith Gilbertson and Cameron Dollar, while her past accomplishments, too numerous to mention, speak loudly for survival. She hasn’t bet in any pools, popped any pills, flown in any booster’s jet or told any real lies--other than, maybe, some teeny-itsy-bitsy ones here and there to peak the interest of the media. She never hired Dr. Scheyer, and if she had, how could she have ever known he had opened secrets accounts, one at Swedish Hospital and another at a pharmacy in Kirkland? We don't know if assistant athletic director Dave Burton talked to Hedges about Dr. Scheyer's prescription habits in 2001; if Burton did, it is not clear what he told her, other than what she said at her news conference, that being there were concerns about Dr. Scheyer because he was not part of the University of Washington program; she said it was never suggested to her that he was prescribing inappropriate medication. She says she never heard concerns about Scheyer's prescription habits from trainers, athletes or physicians until state investigators contacted her this summer. * Her most infamous hire, Neuheisel, took her to the Rose Bowl. Firing him because of the bidding pool was ridiculous. Dana Richardson said it was okay to participate in a pool outside of the ICA. NCAA Bylaw 10.3 on gambling is as clear as Finnegan’s Wake is to sports pools, so, in a Constitutional way, it says it’s okay. Assuming Neuheisel is guilty of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors,” how could Hedges have ever known when she hired him that a neighbor of his was going to drag him to a downtown hotel where the bidding took place? How could she have ever known the NCAA would entrap him in June, in violation of its own rules? How could she have ever known that P-I reporter John Levesque would eavesdrop on his cell-phone conversation regarding the 49ers interview and that Neuheisel would proffer a lie? Her only mistake was not supporting Rick Neuheisel during the so-called gambling imbroglio. However, standing up to the NCAA and media are like facing the three witches of Macbeth, at a time when fair is foul and foul is fair, all of it engulfed in clouds of filthy air. So she presided over this mess, readers might ask? If she's guilty of not being vigilant enough, then I guess she should have hired a private eye to follow Scheyer and Neuheisel around. In this witch hunt, the ominous, dark clouds surrounding Hedges, in all reality, are nothing more than a mackerel sky, much ado about nothing until more is known about her role in these controversies, particularly her role with Dave Burton. "So well thy words become thee as thy wounds; they smack of honour both," said King Duncan to the wounded sergeant in Macbeth. Sergeant Hedges is wounded and I'm believing her. She smacks of an honor uncommonly found. Fire Gilby to save the day? If the UW should fire Gilbertson, it would indeed be an institution out of control, with heaven helping the foes of Washington because of the unfairness of it all. And I’m no Gilbertson bigot—really. Just say that he needs time to prove himself.
* Footnote: University of Washington team doctor Dr. John O'Kane said he made a call three years ago to Hall Health Pharmacy, the campus pharmacy where athletes fill their prescriptions. O'Kane said he asked the pharmacy to audit the medications Scheyer had prescribed through the pharmacy. The investigation revealed nothing; Scheyer was filling most of his prescriptions at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle through a pharmacist. A year later, in fall 2001, O'Kane said he spoke with associate athletic director Dave Burton about Scheyer. O'Kane said he discussed the issue with Burton and he thought he brought it to his administrative superiors. Reference: Beth Silver, “UW physician: Officials told of drug misuse 2 years ago,” The Tacoma News Tribune. Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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Malamute
comments on the controversy swirling around athletic director Barbara Hedges and
answers the question: should she be fired? Still, he answers another burning question,
this one
concerning the fate of head coach Keith Gilbertson, and then, of course, opines on the fate of the football
program at Washington. That is, has it hit rock bottom yet?