Controversy Re: USU Prez's Purported Comments on Polynesian Latter-day Saint Coach's Religious and Cultural Background

[Kenngo1969]

Apologies for the duplication if anyone has posted this earlier in the thread.  I didn't see it after giving the thread a quick squizz, so if I missed it, pardon the duplication: https://www.deseret.com/sports/2020/12/17/22176265/utah-state-football-opt-out-frank-maile-noelle-cockett-john-hartwell-independent-investigation

[smac97]

1 hour ago, Kenngo1969 said:

Apologies for the duplication if anyone has posted this earlier in the thread.  I didn't see it after giving the thread a quick squizz, so if I missed it, pardon the duplication: https://www.deseret.com/sports/2020/12/17/22176265/utah-state-football-opt-out-frank-maile-noelle-cockett-john-hartwell-independent-investigation

The title of the piece:

Player opt out paints troubling picture at Utah State
Utah State football players hoped to make their voices heard. Now an independent investigation is underway
By Doug Robinson, Columnist  Dec 17, 2020, 3:37pm MST

Some excerpts:

Quote

It’s been a horrendous football season at Utah State University. The team lost its first four games and the fifth game was canceled by COVID-19. The head coach was fired. The starting quarterback was kicked off the team. And then the coup de grace: Last week the players refused to play their season finale to protest alleged statements made by school president Noelle Cockett about assistant coach Frank Maile.

Now there’s a full-blown controversy that will last months. Maile has retained an attorney.

Maile has retained counsel.  That may be a big deal.

Quote

According to news reports, as well as conversations with former coaches, a player and a USU professor who has been involved with the athletic department for years — all of whom requested anonymity to protect their position with the school — here’s what happened:

On the evening of Dec. 8, there was a Zoom call between players, Cockett and athletic director John Hartwell. The players had requested it. They felt that Maile, the interim head coach, wasn’t getting enough consideration for the head coaching position. During the call, Cockett told her audience — and there were over 50 players on the call — that a chief concern was Maile’s religious and cultural background. Maile is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is a Polynesian who grew up in Sandy. One player also noted that Cockett said the last time the school hired a Mormon from Utah “it didn’t work out too well.” No one seems to know to whom she was referring.

A few new bits (to me, anyway).

• A count of people who were on the Zoom call ("over 50 players")
• Maile's religious and cultural background were allegedly Cockett's and Hartwell's "chief concern."
• Cockett allegedly referenced a prior instances of USU hiring a member of the Church from Utah, and that it "didn't work out too well."

Quote

There are slightly varying remembrances of the precise quote, but all have the exact same message and Cockett has issued no denials. She simply expressed being “devastated that my comments were interpreted as bias against anyone’s religious background.”

How else could they be interpreted?

And who makes such remarks, especially in this super-sensitive era?

Good questions, these.

Quote

Much of the fallout has been directed at Cockett, but why was she put in such a position in the first place and was she simply articulating the situation as explained to her by her athletic director?

Yeah, I think some scrutiny is going to be applied to Mr. Hartwell.

Quote

According to the players, the reason they requested the meeting with Cockett instead of Hartwell is because he had lost their trust with his handling of several situations — most notably, when an equipment manager was reinstated after allegedly being suspended for using a racial slur (which led to the creation of a university class this fall for football players that focused on racism); they also were upset with the way Hartwell fired Gary Andersen, in the middle of a season. The players felt that Hartwell had not taken them seriously when they complained about the reinstatement of the equipment manager and therefore would not seriously consider their efforts to lobby for Maile.

So was Pres. Cockett simply acting as the AD's sockpuppet?  

Quote

If Cockett had been wise — or if Hartwell had jumped in and helped her during the call instead of leaving her to discuss things that may have been outside of her expertise and comfort zone — she simply would have told the players that the school wanted to hire someone with more head coaching experience and a proven record of success. Instead, she wandered off into the weeds and allegedly cited religious and cultural reasons. The new coach had already been hired anyway (Blake Anderson was introduced to the team Saturday morning).

“I am convinced the words she used are the ones Hartwell used with her,” says the professor, “but he did not attempt to assist her or respond in any way.”

Yeah, she really seemed to step in it.  And if she was simply parroting what Hartwell had told her, he will have every incentive to lawyer up and say "Whoa!  I never told her to cite religion or race as a factor in the decision-making process."  In other words, he will hang her out to dry.  And then she might respond in kind (not that it will do much good).

What an ugly circumstance this may become.

Quote

It is difficult to know where to begin a response to Cockett’s statements. If the alleged statements are true, they not only reveal bias, but are remarkably uninformed. The rebuttals to these statements are obvious, but let’s do them anyway. Kalani Sitake, the head coach of nationally ranked 10-1 BYU, is both a member of the aforementioned church and a Polynesian. Ditto for Ken Niumatalolo, the Navy head coach. Kyle Whittingham, the highly successful head coach at Utah, is a member of the same church and a Utah native.

Referring to Cockett’s statements, a current player says, “It makes no sense. Can you imagine saying we hired a Catholic before and that didn’t work out so now we can’t hire Catholics?”

Oh, man.  This is brutal.  Brutal because, well, it's true.

And I think the Board of Trustees is likely keeping tabs on news coverage like this.

Quote

The Deseret News reached out to three former coaches to see if they would go on the record about their experiences at USU. James Wilson, a successful tennis coach who left the school abruptly last year, replied, “I’m sorry I can’t help you. I signed a nondisclosure agreement.”

James Wilson was so eager to leave in June 2019 that he even paid USU $10,000 in liquidated damages for leaving before his contract was up.  And apparently the assistant coach, Carlos Di Laura, left around the same time (same link). 

In May 2018 Wilson was named "Mountain West Coach of the Year," having "led the Aggies to their highest ITA ranking in program history at No. 37 earlier this season."  Wilson began his career at Texas Tech (his alma mater).

Wow.  What on earth is going on at USU?  This article from just a few weeks ago about AD John Hartwell says that USU had experienced "an outbreak of head coach resignations, retirements and dismissals on his {Hartwell's} watch."

Quote

Gregg Gensel, the highly successful track and field coach, says he was required to sign an NDA when he was forced out of his job in 2017. Such NDAs are not common practice.

Moreover, according to this article "{t}hree sources close to Gensel told the Deseret News that the coach was not told why he was dismissed," that Gensel "consulted a lawyer, but he and the school have never said what happened after that," and that "{t}he dismissal couldn’t have been based on the performance of Gensel’s teams. The program has probably never been better."

So maybe John Hartwell just enjoys firing coaches.  The above article sure paints him that way, pointing to his tenure at Troy University ("Hartwell cut his teeth as an athletic director at Troy University, where, in just three seasons (2012-15), he hired new coaches in every sport except women’s basketball, men’s golf and volleyball, according Troy University beat writer Jeremy Wise.").  The article also notes that while at USU Hartwell has fired

• 1) Gary Andersen in 2020 (football coach),
• 2) Matt Wells in 2018 (football coach),
• 3) Grayson Dubose in 2019 (volleyball coach),
• 4) Jerry Finkbeiner in 2019 (women's basketball coach)
• 5) Nadalie Walsh in 2017 (gymnastics coach),
• 6) Clancy Shields in 2016 (tennis coach),
• 7) James Wilson in 2019 (tennis coach),
• 8 ) Carlos Di Laura in 2019 (assistant tennis coach), and
• 9) Gregg Gensel (track and cross-county coach) in 2017.

Anyway, back to the article linked to by Ken:

Quote

Contacted by the Deseret News, Maile, who coaches defensive linemen, apologized and said his lawyers have requested that he not make public statements other than the prepared remarks he released on Dec. 13.

This is not surprising.  Lawyers do this all the time.

I will be interested to see if USU's Board of Trustee's authorizes the independent investigator to contact the former coaches who have signed NDAs and excuse them from complying with the NDAs so that the investigator can get information from them.  That would seem to be appropriate.  If something is rotten in the state of USU, then the NDAs are an impediment to cleaning house behind which USU should not hide.  And if the allegations against Pres. Cockett (and, increasingly it seems, against AD Hartwell) are overblown or the result of a serious misunderstanding, then the NDAs are an impediment to figuring that out as well.

Thanks,

-Smac

Edited December 18, 2020 by smac97

[Kenngo1969]

I wonder, how many of the coaches who have been dismissed (or have left, perhaps with a "helpful shove" out the door) by Mr. Hartwell were Latter-day Saints?  While, surely, Utah State University isn't BYU when it comes to hiring Latter-day Saint coaches, historically speaking, surely, it's less than uncommon for Latter-day Saint coaches to work there.  I note that Mr. Hartwell spent much of his earlier career in athletic administration in the south, an area of the country where, to put it mildly, many people aren't known for being particularly sympathetic toward Latter-day Saints.  Is that the attitude we're seeing on display here (whether subtly, covertly, or overtly) in the person of Mr. Hartwell?

Edited December 18, 2020 by Kenngo1969

[smac97]

1 hour ago, Kenngo1969 said:

I wonder, how many of the coaches who have been dismissed (or have left, perhaps with a "helpful shove" out the door) by Mr. Hartwell were Latter-day Saints?  While, surely, Utah State University isn't BYU when it comes to hiring Latter-day Saint coaches, historically speaking, surely, it's less than uncommon for Latter-day Saint coaches to work there.  I note that Mr. Hartwell spent much of his earlier career in athletic administration in the south, an area of the country where, to put it mildly, many people aren't known for being particularly sympathetic toward Latter-day Saints.  Is that the attitude we're seeing on display here (whether subtly, covertly, or overtly) in the person of Mr. Hartwell?

I dunno.  Look at the article re: his tenure at Troy University.  He "cleaned house" there a lot as well, and it's not exactly a bastion of Mormonism.

Thanks,

-Smac

[smac97]

An update (sorta) :

Quote

LOGAN, Utah — The results of a month-long investigation into the conduct of Utah State University President Noelle Cockett are expected to be released this week.

The Utah Board of Higher Education says they’ll be meeting Friday morning in a closed session to review results from the investigation. While results will likely be made public on Friday, it’s still unclear whether any disciplinary decisions will also be announced. 

The investigation stems back to a Zoom meeting on December 8 between Dr. Cockett, USU Director of Athletics John Hartwell and the Aggie football team’s leadership council. Some players claim comments made by Cockett during the meeting reflected a cultural and religious bias toward former interim head football coach Frank Maile.

Maile later sent a letter to the media claiming that Cockett told members of the USU football team and the team’s leadership council that she did not consider him for the position of head coach “because of concerns that [his] religion and Pacific Islander culture would negatively impact the University’s future football program.” Maile is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
...
It was announced Wednesday that Maile has secured a job with Boise State as the associate head coach and defensive line coach. 

Thanks,

-Smac

[Kenngo1969]

Huh.  AD Hartwell and President Cockett were concerned that Coach Maile's ethnicity and religion would be an impediment to recruiting efforts at USU, yet BSU had no such qualms.  Makes one wonder what BSU and its powers-that-be know that USU and its powers-that-be do not. 

[rongo]

1 minute ago, Kenngo1969 said:

Huh.  AD Hartwell and President Cockett were concerned that Coach Maile's ethnicity and religion would be an impediment to recruiting efforts at USU, yet BSU had no such qualms.  Makes one wonder what BSU and its powers-that-be know that USU and its powers-that-be do not. 

They stepped on a rake with this, plain and simple. There are too many witnesses to the Zoom call. 

[cacheman]

Here's the latest:  https://www.sltrib.com/sports/utah-state-sports/2021/01/15/usu-president-noelle/

[Kenngo1969]

 

Cacheman,

Not intending to duplicate what you just posted, but I doubt the articles are identical.  I'm sure that each has nuances that the other does not.

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/1/15/22231416/higher-ed-board-expresses-unanimous-support-of-usu-president-noelle-cockett

It'd be interesting to see what the breakdown is as to how many players who are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had concerns and those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ who had concerns.