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"UCLA Hired A Scumbag"

FrankRizzo

Active Member
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/03/31/bernstein-ucla-hired-a-scumbag/
By Dan Bernstein-
CBSChicago.com Senior Columnist

(CBS) The protesters deserve to be heard once again.
They gathered outside Carver-Hawkeye Arenato help bring attention to Steve Alford’s unconscionable behavior after his star player turned sexual assailant. They stood for what was right after the Iowa coach acted to shield a violent criminal and intimidate the victim both publicly and privately.
Eleven years later, too many have forgotten exactly what Alford did in the aftermath of that incident in Iowa City on September 6, 2002. The University of New Mexico didn’t care, welcoming him for a desert exile long enough to fade too many memories.
None of it appears to matter to UCLA, either.
Pierre Pierce performed unwanted sex acts on a female student at his apartment, covering her mouth when she tried to scream. He eventually plea-bargained to a charge of assault causing injury, later issuing a public apology for “inappropriate sexual contact with a fellow student.”
Had Alford succeeded in his efforts to strong-arm the victim, it all would have evaporated. The disgusting ploy backfired, however, and only steeled her resolve to pursue criminal charges.
Alford enlisted the help of close friend Jim Goodrich, the campus representative for Christian group Athletes in Action who often traveled with the team and conducted bible-study sessions. Per specific instruction from Alford, the victim was invited to what she was told was a “prayer meeting,” at which she was urged to back off and not cause problems for a basketball program that could overpower her.

Don’t make waves, honey, in the name of Jesus. The Lord wants you to shut up, if you know what’s good for you.
According to the official report from the special committee that later investigated the handling of the case after the ugly facts emerged, “The desire to facilitate an informal resolution of the matter may have had the opposite result. The Committee recommends that the Athletic Department take steps to limit the involvement of outside advisors, religious or otherwise.”
The report also slapped down Alford for his boorish public statements trying to defend his player from any criticism. “I totally believe he’s innocent,” Alford affirmed at Big Ten Media Day. “I believed it from day one, and I still believe it.”
He clearly knew otherwise, having already tried to make her go away. Still, he took every opportunity to vouch for Pierce and question the victim, including during an interview with The Boers And Bernstein Show on 670 The Score in 2003. Shortly thereafter, the Chicago Tribune reported “Sources close to the victim say that hearing Alford go out of his way to defend the moral fiber of Pierce these past few months, and turning it into another one of his all-for-one sermons was, in fact, the most painful aspect of trying to move on.”
The school’s report later listed this behavior among its concerns, concluding “While Coach Alford believed he was acting as he had been directed in making the statements he made to the media, one set of those statements – confirming his certainty in Pierce’s innocence – implied that he disbelieved and discredited the claims of the student victim, and his words were perceived as reflecting insensitivity to issues of sexual assault and sexual violence.”
After the plea deal, Alford was also rebuked by Johnson County State’s Attorney Patrick White, who told the Daily Iowan “We have difficulty getting convictions in these kinds of cases because victims are afraid of how they will be treated or how juries will look at them.”
As described in the Tribune story, a furious Alford responded to White’s comments by initiating a phone call that became a shouting match.
And this sweet guy Pierce — the person on whom Alford staked his own, righteous word – was arrested again in 2005. He pled guilty to two charges of first-degree burglary, assault with intent to commit sexual assault, and fourth-degree criminal mischief. He spent 11 months in jail before being released on probation.
Every bit of this information was available to UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, who celebrated the introduction of Alford as his new head coach Saturday, calling him “the perfect fit for UCLA.”
“He’s ready for this stage,” Guerrero said. “He’ll handle the expectations with dignity, with understanding and with class.”

http://www.bruinsnation.com/ in meltdown mode. LOL
 
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Wow, what a dbag! Had not heard it or forgot about it. Either way, he is a class guy you want representing your U
 
Radio show Boers and Bernstein in Chicago talked about him the past two days. Guess he was one of the more hated coaches ever in the Big Ten. Ran his program as a dictator. They talk about him at the end of the 1st hour and beginning of the 2nd hour on 4/1, they had the UCLA LA Times beat reporter on 4/2. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/boers-and-bernstein-show/id396927404 if you are interested.

Going to be interesting to see how he handles a real media market. Hope he leaves LA recruiting open like Howland did.
 
I know there is the argument that CU benefits from UCLA being good, but I hope this story picks up national attention. This makes Alford sound like a terrible dude.
 
I could care less if UCLA is good. CU can forge its own path and create its own greatness. If Gonzaga can do it, Colorado sure as hell can.

Can you imagine the uproar (in this case justified) if Alford was hired at Colorado after that story was brought to light?
 
Bernstein hates Alford with a passion reserved for few others....well it is 1. Penn State and 2. Steve Alford.

Unfortunately if you are not in an area with the Score or listen online you probably were not aware as the national media kind of swept this under the rug.
 
Neither did my buddy who is a huge UNM fan. Made him feel better, sort of...

He'll feel a lot better next year. Neal was the real brains at UNM. Giving him the head coaching position was the best move they could have made.
 
Neither did my buddy who is a huge UNM fan. Made him feel better, sort of...

Alford's past behavior was a resume-enhancement at UNM! Your buddy obviously forgot or didn't know about "Stormin' Norman" Ellenberger, (the original Larry Eustacy), who maintained a van in which he regularly "partied" with UNM cheerleaders after practices and games.

By keeping Craig Neal in the fold, UNM upgraded to the far better part of the Alford team. Neal was the genius behind the Alford curtain, according to many accounts of the Alford regime.

The joke is on UCLA!
 
Bernstein hates Alford with a passion reserved for few others....well it is 1. Penn State and 2. Steve Alford.

Unfortunately if you are not in an area with the Score or listen online you probably were not aware as the national media kind of swept this under the rug.

I love sports, big time fan. At the same time certain things have to be more important. The safety of children, of women, and the vulnerable in our society has to take precidence over winning games.

This doesn't mean that athletes and coaches have to be perfect but they should be held to at least a standard of normal decency. The idea that just because a guy wins games he gets a pass on bad behavior shouldn't be acceptable.

Unfortunately there are multiple fan bases that don't get this idea.
 
I remember that. Pierre Pierce was a pretty highly recruited guy out of suburban Chicago. That may be why this is getting more coverage back there. That, and Alford had a really bad rep for the way he ran the Iowa program.
 
I put in another thread on this top to google the name Pierre Pierce.

My parents loved Iowa basketball until this happened. Now they don't care if they watch a game or not. Lots of Iowa fans have not forgiven Alford or the University for the way the situation got handled. It keeps getting dredged up whenever Pierce or Alford do anything here.
 
Iowa fans hate this douche, UNM fans and UCLA will learn.

I grew up in Iowa hoops country and this is 100% the truth. They were happy to get rid of him, the piere pierce thing was just one of many issues with players while he was at Iowa. They went from Lute Olson, to George Raveling, to Dr. Tom Davis to Alford. There's no love lost with the iowa fans and alford.

+ i still love bj armstrong
 
I love sports, big time fan. At the same time certain things have to be more important. The safety of children, of women, and the vulnerable in our society has to take precidence over winning games.

This doesn't mean that athletes and coaches have to be perfect but they should be held to at least a standard of normal decency. The idea that just because a guy wins games he gets a pass on bad behavior shouldn't be acceptable.

Unfortunately there are multiple fan bases that don't get this idea.

Like the "classiest fans on earth" fom Linkin and the entire SEC ?????
 
Like the "classiest fans on earth" fom Linkin and the entire SEC ?????

More than enough to go around.

You could start with the Penn State fans, the Miami fans, Baylor, etc. etc. etc.

I would not actually make the blanket statement about the SEC. Sure they cheat, that's the culture and I don't approve of that but I would put cheating on recruiting, paying players, academic dishonesty, etc. one huge step below child abuse, rape, physical violence against innocent people.

Penn State may have set the bar above where anyone can reach it, Dr. Tom protecting Lawrence Phillips and others (a whole page exist on some of the criminal activity happening under Dr. Tom here http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/assaults-nebraska ) Notre Dame protected Michael Stonebreaker. The list goes on and on including last year in Ft. Collins where a group of varsity players beat up a student after yelling gay slurs at him. To their credit those players were kicked off the team but the environment allowed them to do it and only public outcry forced the disciplinary action. If I am not mistaken at least one of two of the players ended up at other schools on scholarships.

I am not supporting or condoning cheating at any levels much less SEC level and certainly some SEC schools have much more serious things to be embarrassed about as well but I wouldn't paint the whole conference with the brush of the more serious actions that result in harm to innocent people.
 
More than enough to go around.

You could start with the Penn State fans, the Miami fans, Baylor, etc. etc. etc.

I would not actually make the blanket statement about the SEC. Sure they cheat, that's the culture and I don't approve of that but I would put cheating on recruiting, paying players, academic dishonesty, etc. one huge step below child abuse, rape, physical violence against innocent people.

Penn State may have set the bar above where anyone can reach it, Dr. Tom protecting Lawrence Phillips and others (a whole page exist on some of the criminal activity happening under Dr. Tom here http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/assaults-nebraska ) Notre Dame protected Michael Stonebreaker. The list goes on and on including last year in Ft. Collins where a group of varsity players beat up a student after yelling gay slurs at him. To their credit those players were kicked off the team but the environment allowed them to do it and only public outcry forced the disciplinary action. If I am not mistaken at least one of two of the players ended up at other schools on scholarships.

I am not supporting or condoning cheating at any levels much less SEC level and certainly some SEC schools have much more serious things to be embarrassed about as well but I wouldn't paint the whole conference with the brush of the more serious actions that result in harm to innocent people.

Moral turpitude is moral turpitude....you're just arguing degrees!
 
Moral turpitude is moral turpitude....you're just arguing degrees!

I am arguing degrees but I think it is a pretty distinct degree I am arguing. One type of moral failing results in an unfair competitive advantage in recruiting and keeping guys eligible. I don't in any way say that is okay. This results in fans of the "cleaner" programs having to deal with more losses and the athletes being taught that cheating is a positive while not getting their educations.

On the other hand the type of moral terpitude I am pointing out leaves a different kind of result. We are talking about serious impacts on the lives of innocent people, the girls who are assaulted or attempted to assualt, the children who were damaged by JoePa's decision to ignore and Penn States decision to let him call the shot's. I am talking about Christian Peter assaulting at least one girl as a freshman and it being swept under the rug till he was finished as a senior allowing him to continue attacking girls.

Essentially I am arguing the difference between shoplifting or a zoning violating compared to an armed home invasion or a kidnapping.

One results in some financial loss or damage, the other leaves lifetime damages to people never set themselves up for it to start with.

On the other hand I guess whatever happened to the kids who were allowed to spend time with the "tickle monster" doesn't matter much compared to the wonderful experience of winning and thinking that Penn State was some special kind of paragon of purity.
 
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