Racist threats sent to OSU and ASU concerning Gene Smith
Diver, thanks for sharing your opinion so candidly. I am not arguing for or against Smith but rather suggesting that he deserves to have an investigation completed and to be found guilty of something before we run out and set up a new search committee.
Players come into conflict and threaten one another from time to time in all Div 1 athletic programs. Smith knew about the first threat, what we don't know is, what did he know about it? In retrospect, it is now being said that the first threat "basically threatened the life" of the gymnast. What does that mean, did he threaten to "kick her ass" or what? What was really said and how was that reported to Smith? Is the content being emphasized differently now because of this tragedy?
The key issue is, was Smith really aware of what was going on in these last days of being there (the coaches are indicating that he did not and he was in Columbus on the one critical day), even if he did, could Smith have stopped this Wade from killing someone and did Wade receive special treatment that allowed him to verbally and possibly physically abuse people because of his athletic talent and, if so, did Smith know about it and condone it?
So far, I have seen nothing that answers these questions in a way that is damning to Smith, except that it indicates he seems to have been less in control than I would have liked. There are plenty of letters and articles in the Arizona press that support Smith. There also is an indication that racial issues are starting to impact on this debate.
Here are some articles that suggest not everyone is agreeing with the press that you are seeing and, in fact, the opposite is being expressed even in Arizona. Note, by the way, that Smith's press release is made in Columbus.
From Associated Press newswire March 30, 2005:
Incoming Ohio State AD knew of previous threat by player
COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio State's incoming athletic director says he knew that a suspended Arizona State football player accused of killing a former Sun Devil once threatened a gymnast.
Gene Smith has been at Arizona State since 2000 and is supposed to start at Ohio State in a couple of weeks. He says he knew running back Loren Wade threatened an A-S-U gymnast in November but says he didn't consider it to be life threatening.
Now Wade is charged with murdering former defensive back Brandon Faulkner outside a Scottsdale, Arizona nightclub. Smith says that despite the threat against the gymnast, quote, "there was no evidence that Loren would take a gun and shoot someone."
Smith says he didn't know until Monday about a threat Wade supposedly made against a female soccer player.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
News Update: Threatening letters target Smith by Brian Indrelunas published on Friday, April 1, 2005
http://www.statepress.com/issues/2005/04/01/news/692699
Anonymous letters making "racist threats" toward athletic director Gene Smith have appeared at ASU and Ohio State University, police reported Friday.
The ASU Foundation and the East campus administration building each received a typed letter March 17 from Cleveland that threatened Smith, according to records released Friday by the ASU Department of Public Safety.
Officials at both universities reported the letters were related to Smith's pending employment at Ohio State. Smith will leave ASU April 8 to become Ohio State's athletic director.
At least four other anonymous letters were received at various Ohio State athletic offices, said Rick Amweg, an assistant chief of police and spokesman for the Ohio State University Department of Public Safety.
Neither university released the text of the letters Friday, but ASU spokeswoman Terri Shafer said the letters contained "specific threats" against Smith.
"The person used 'I will do this' and 'I will do that,'" she said.
Shafer said Smith was notified the day the letters were received at ASU. Smith declined to comment on the letters Friday.
An ASU DPS officer wrote on Thursday that a copy of its report would be given to the FBI's Phoenix field office, but FBI officials were unavailable for comment late Friday.
Shafer said she was not aware of any additional security provided to Smith by the University in response to the threats.
"It is my understanding that we're not taking any additional security precautions," she said. "Because [the letters] were postmarked in Ohio ... it's unlikely the person issuing the threats would travel here."
ASU DPS did not release the text of the letters received in Arizona, based on the advice of officials from ASU's Office of General Counsel.
"ASU will not act as a re-publisher of text that can be construed as defamatory and/or text that could place another in a false light or of text that intrudes into the privacy of members of Gene Smith's family," Associate General Counsel Cynthia Jewett wrote in a memo to The State Press.
Amweg said OSU DPS also was not releasing copies of the letters.
"We are not prepared to release the copy of the letter at this time because of the status of the investigation," he said.
But Amweg said all the letters received in Ohio were identical.
"These are not different letters," he said. "These are photocopies ... of one text."
The two letters received in Arizona contained the same text but were not believed to be photocopies, Shafer said.
After speaking with an OSU detective on March 22, an ASU officer reported that OSU DPS was "working on obtaining any fingerprints from the letters/envelopes. They do not have a current suspect."
Amweg would not disclose specifics on the methods being used to investigate the case.
Shafer said ASU DPS had checked its letters for fingerprints but did not know if any usable prints were found.
Reach the reporter at
[email protected].
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/cfootball/218548_miller02.html
Saturday, April 2, 2005
ASU tragedy's lessons surpass blame
By TED MILLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Blame Loren Wade's teammates. They apparently didn't tell anyone about Wade's handgun, which allegedly killed Brandon Falkner in the early hours last Saturday morning outside a Scottsdale, Ariz., nightclub.
Blame Arizona State coach Dirk Koetter. He apparently recommended counseling for his troubled running back when he wanted to quit football, but not after he threatened three women.
Blame outgoing athletics director Gene Smith or even university president Michael Crow. Shouldn't the buck ultimately stop at the top?
Blame the NRA. The organization fights laws that would take guns off the streets.
Blame Wade. Guns don't kill people, people kill people.
Heck, blame violent music, television, movies, video games, etc.
Blame society.
Blaming, of course, is what we do best.
Tragedies hurt less when we can explain them, when we can transform shock and sadness into anger. Anger is easier.
The system broke down, no doubt. Wade's erratic and threatening behavior over the past year should have set off alarms somewhere. Of course, that's what we often say with the benefit of hindsight, particularly when it's not our rear end getting grilled.
Wade's alleged shooting of Falkner, also a former Sun Devil player, while possessed by a drunken and jealous rage has to be the worst story in college sports in a long time, at least since a Baylor basketball player was murdered by a teammate two years ago.
Arizona State announced campus reforms Thursday, and a previously supportive Crow appeared to suggest that Koetter's conduct will be carefully reviewed during an internal investigation spearheaded by a university law professor.
The critical issue: Was Wade's misbehavior, which included fighting, threats of violence, an NCAA extra-benefits violation and other incidents, tolerated because he was the team's most talented tailback?
It's worth noting that Koetter three years ago booted Falkner for lying about a series of driving violations. Falkner was a marginally talented defensive back who mostly played on special teams.
Looking at Wade's grinning photograph in the Sun Devils' media guide is excruciating. The impression is far different from video of him this week: shackled, head down and despondent, shuffling toward his first arraignment for first-degree murder charges.
He broke a 48-year-old freshman rushing record in 2003. He wanted to major in elementary education. His family included a mother, two brothers and an older sister. He now faces a lifetime behind bars. Even the death penalty.
The aggravating circumstances that ostensibly provoked Wade were only a product of his addled brain. Falkner, sitting in the driver's seat of his car, was completely innocent, his presence at the scene a terrible coincidence. He was only an acquaintance -- not a suitor -- of Wade's girlfriend, Haley van Blommestein, a native of Tacoma who played soccer for Arizona State and the Seattle Sounders and whose sister, Auna, played for Washington.
Van Blommestein, who had reported previous threats from Wade to police and ASU officials, also is a victim. She was just steps away from the fatal event, an eyewitness to an inexplicable horror, reduced to hysterical sobs when she talked to police.
"How long does someone go away for murder?" van Blommestein asked, according to police reports obtained by The Arizona Republic. "God, he killed somebody."
That's not a memory that can easily be erased.
"All I will say is she's OK," said her father, Brian, an accomplished soccer coach, during a brief conversation yesterday.
"We are trying to get her as much help as we can."
Spring is supposed to be a time when every football team begins its hopeful preparation for the next season, but it hasn't been a good month for the Pac-10.
USC cornerback Eric Wright and Washington State running back Kevin McCall were arrested in connection with sexual assault. Oregon State defensive lineman Ben Siegert pleaded no contest this week to DUI, the third major legal scrape over the past six months for a program that appears to be running amuck under nice-guy coach Mike Riley.
Unfortunately, DUIs and sexual assaults are an ugly part of college campuses and society.
But murder, particularly when it involves public figures, is always shocking.
This also feels nearly unprecedented, like a terrible fluke.
Despite the revelations about Wade's past problems, it is dubious to suggest any of them more than remotely indicated he would shoot a random person in his head.
It's not like there were a host of cautionary tales from the coaching handbook that should have immediately appeared in Koetter's mind's eye, compelling him toward a massive intervention.
He had previously recommended Wade for counseling. It's hard to imagine that booting him from the team might have made Wade less likely to shoot someone.
Koetter could have been more diligent, but accusing him of gross negligence -- an offense worthy of termination -- is unfair, unless the investigation reveals substantially more damning evidence.
Don't think Koetter is going to escape punishment, either. Count on him punishing himself every day for the rest of his life.
Arizona State is going to be more vigilant about its weapons ban. Good. It's going to take threats of violence seriously. Good.
Perhaps that one day will save a life. Perhaps this incident will serve a purpose.
That is little consolation now. But it's a better place to look for solace than weaving screeds of blame.
P-I reporter Ted Miller can be reached at 206-448-8017 or
[email protected]
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=college&story_id=033005c1_wade
Football: Wade's murder charge not total surprise
ASU football coach Dirk Koetter knew 'in my heart' more trouble coming.
JEFF METCALFE
The Arizona Republic
advertisement
TEMPE - Arizona State University football coach Dirk Koetter said yesterday he knew "in my heart there were other things coming" about Loren Wade after the junior tailback's arrest in the shooting death of a former ASU player.
Koetter addressed some of the "other things" at a news conference yesterday after The Arizona Republic reported that Wade had threatened violence against an ASU gymnast and soccer player, both women.
The threats were part of a disturbing trail of events that culminated yesterday with Wade, ASU's starting tailback at the start of last season, being charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Brandon Falkner on Saturday morning outside a Scottsdale nightclub.
The trail traces back to Wade almost quitting football before the first game of last season. Koetter said he didn't "connect the dots" that ultimately resulted in the shooting.
"This one random act of violence, it hurts," Koetter said. "It doesn't hurt as much as hurts the Falkner family or Wade family, but it's affecting a lot of people in here right now. I don't have all the answers, but it hurts me personally to the core that anyone would insinuate a cover-up."
Koetter said there had been other misconduct by Wade but would not offer details except to say it did not involve personal relationships or police reports.
The threat revelations on top of an NCAA investigation centered on Wade receiving illegal benefits have raised questions about whether ASU acted appropriately in maintaining his ties to the team and reinstating him for spring practice.
It adds to a body of evidence suggesting Wade should have been in counseling, which he entered, then dropped out of during the fall.
Wade already was suspended by ASU on Sept. 25 after turning himself in for illegal benefits received from former athletic department employee Wendy Adams. Koetter feels those violations weighed heavily on Wade.
"He came into my office and was very emotionally upset and told me he was going to quit football because, in his words, he was afraid to get hurt," Koetter said. "I never had a player tell me anything like that."
Koetter arranged for counseling for Wade. After Wade's admission to the illegal benefits and news of an internal investigation becoming public Sept. 28, Koetter said he "became convinced that Loren coming to me was tied into his guilt with what he had done."
Student Affairs allowed Wade to remained in school and athletic director Gene Smith kept in contact with Wade's mother, Patsy, as the investigation progressed. But life without football took an ominous turn for Wade in November.
Home in Los Angeles, he phoned ASU gymnast Trisha Dixon and "pretty much threatened my life," she said. Another gymnast convinced Dixon to tell her coach John Spini.
More trouble surfaced before the start of spring practice. He showed up at the apartment of soccer player Haley van Blommestein on
March 3, threatening to destroy property.
Three days later, ASU soccer coach Ray Leone called Koetter with concerns from his players for her safety, including the threat of Wade having a gun.
Less than three weeks later, at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Wade went looking for van Blommestein. This time he took a handgun with him to the Coyote Bay Night Club in Scottsdale.
Wade was impaired by alcohol, according to the police report, and enraged to discover van Blommestein talking to Falkner. Witnesses said he put the gun into the driver's side window and pulled the trigger.
Koetter and Smith maintain there were no red flags that led them to believe Wade would turn violent, and Leone said he doubts the incident could have been prevented had the athletic department taken stronger action.
