The tragedy of the University of Washington's athletic department

As the courtroom proceedings in the Neuheisel suit against the UW and the NCAA continues, it becomes more and more clear how likely it is that he will win.

And it's too bad.

It is clear that he acted unethically and perhaps even illegally. But it is also becoming clear that the misactions of UW officials gave him permission to act up, like a kid who knows that his parents may express disappointment but will do no more than frown.

The "wink wink nudge nudge" relationship between Barbara Hedges and Rick Neuheisel is only one indication of an organization out of control. Rick Neuheisel, coming from a program in serious trouble at Colorado, needed restrictions and close supervision.

It appears that the UW is taking steps to clean up its act. The tragedy, however, is that the two people most responsible for the mess, Barbara Hedges and Rick Neuheisel, will never have to face up to their responsibilities.

Rick Neuheisel vs. the University of Washington and the NCAA

You know, between the stupidity of Bush's privatization of Social Security proposal, and the Neuheisel suit, I am in a permanent state of annoyed these days.

For now I will spare you my thoughts on privatization.

But this is the thing I continue not to get about Dana Richardson. She's a lawyer who has a job as a compliance officer for an NCAA university. I infer (correctly or incorrectly?) that she would have some interest in sports and specifically collegiate sports and the NCAA rules to even want to apply for or take the job, which is basically lawyer to the athletic department. Theoretically it would follow that, as a lawyer and a compliance officer she would have knowledge of other NCAA matters that have taken place around the country.

Now given all that, I knew that it is wrong for a coach to place any kind of bet on any kind of collegiate sporting event. How could she not know that? Wasn't it her job as a lawyer to interpret lawyer speak? Wasn't it her job to say things like "To be on the safe side don't do it"?

Of course, one also has to wonder, what the heck was Barbara Hedges doing as the AD if she didn't read the memo completely? Wasn't it her job to have final say on those things? Or did she just trust the lawyer? Or did she (even more insidiously) purposely not read it to avoid that responsibility?

I still think she and Neuheisel had a weird connection like Condi Rice and Bush have. This lawsuit is more like a nasty divorce settlement than a job dispute.

And what is so stupid about this are two things:

1. Neuheisel, who improperly gambled, will win a big lawsuit because of the stupid way (no surprise of course) the NCAA handled the investigation and the stupid way the UW handled it.

2. Hedges is living on a fat retirement without accountability when she should have been fired and should be the center of all of this.

Of course, at least a court case gets out all that stuff a lot of people knew was going on but couldn't get to. I hope that THIS time around the UW can face its warts, clean up its act and finally put together an athletic department that is actually ethical.