I will not be the first to condemn
Pelini's decision - and I am sure I will not be the last. I won't be the most
eloquent voice in this debate and I hope I am not the least eloquent in my
response.First, I must make it very clear how I feel: Bo Pelini is a despicable human being. Look, the temper tantrums, the angered rants, the vile nature with which he treats most people from his desolate moral center strolling the sidelines are bad; really bad. They were bad enough for a storied program like Nebraska to fire a man with a .713 win percentage and turn to a perennial 7 win coach like Mike Riley.
Somehow, despite all of those flaws he exposed during seven seasons as the head coach in Lincoln, he exceeded them - and it's not even close.
His decision to play a convicted rapist; a person who videotaped the brutal act of torture and shared it via social media as if it were some sort of 'badge of honor' takes the cake for the most deplorable act a coach can commit.
Coach, have you not seen the dumpster fire left in Waco thanks to an entire university's tone deaf approach to violence against women?
This was Pelini's attempt to justify the unjustifiable:
“I gave him some stipulations and some things he had to be able to do and if he lived up to them he’d be able to come out and see if he could be a member of our football team. He did those things and continues to do those things right now and he’s done a nice job for us,” Pelini told WFMJ. He did not elaborate on what those stipulations were.
This
kind of toxic garbage deserves more scrutiny. The public should demand to know
exactly what those stipulations were. Somewhere is a young woman whose life was
ripped apart by this man. As if his extremely short prison sentence was not
enough insult to the girl he brutally raped, now he gets a free ride to college
and the dreams of big money in the NFL.
What dreams does his victim get? The nightmare of living that horrible day over and over in her head. A life of pain.
When Richmond and Trent Mays were tried in Ohio, only one person seemed to really understand just how horrific the two criminals were; the judge. Richmond's response to his attorney following the guilty verdict was ‘My life is ruined.’
No, son, your victim's life is ruined. You spent less than a year inside a juvenile jail; she will spend the rest of her days in the hell of your violent disregard for anything resembling humanity.
Now that lack of anything resembling human decency has an accomplice - Bo Pelini. For that we should all feel shame.
I make the same call as thousands around the nation make - it is time to fire Bo Pelini. He does not deserve the title of head coach at any level.
What dreams does his victim get? The nightmare of living that horrible day over and over in her head. A life of pain.
When Richmond and Trent Mays were tried in Ohio, only one person seemed to really understand just how horrific the two criminals were; the judge. Richmond's response to his attorney following the guilty verdict was ‘My life is ruined.’
No, son, your victim's life is ruined. You spent less than a year inside a juvenile jail; she will spend the rest of her days in the hell of your violent disregard for anything resembling humanity.
Now that lack of anything resembling human decency has an accomplice - Bo Pelini. For that we should all feel shame.
I make the same call as thousands around the nation make - it is time to fire Bo Pelini. He does not deserve the title of head coach at any level.