Column in Minn. paper this morning calling for the university to check the texts and emails of the "cronies" that NT brought with him from VCU to see if they knew of his actions over the years. If they do that, it will get real interesting.
Norwood Teague out at UM
- Thread starter 97spiderfan
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So VCU settled the lawsuit from its former women's basketball coach for $125,000, yet in today's RTD, the quote from the university is:
"The reports from Minnesota are unfortunate. Norwood Teague left VCU more than three years ago. We are not aware of similar complaints against Teague during his time at VCU."
I suppose technically that's correct, since it doesn't sound as if Cunningham alleged sexual harassment, but it's also sort of incomplete. I mean you settled a lawsuit against the guy -- that's sort of a similar complaint, right??
"The reports from Minnesota are unfortunate. Norwood Teague left VCU more than three years ago. We are not aware of similar complaints against Teague during his time at VCU."
I suppose technically that's correct, since it doesn't sound as if Cunningham alleged sexual harassment, but it's also sort of incomplete. I mean you settled a lawsuit against the guy -- that's sort of a similar complaint, right??
realize there are privacy and legal ramifications, but it just seems so sleazy, when incidents of THIS type are never given the light of day, they pay off people and hush it up. maybe why a guy is able to continue his job, career, doing the same thing over and over again with maybe a slap on the wrist or until he hits on the wrong person who decides to kick his butt. there should be zero tolerance in the workplace for predators who make life miserable for those under him, no pun intended, who are afraid of losing their jobs or feel helpless. we have not heard from unc yet, maybe he ran the athletic dept's crip studies program there while hitting on all the women working there.
Well, golly. And even on his way out the door during his apology session and blaming it all on being drunk, Norwood lies through his teeth. It would seem highly unlikely that this type of behavior just magically started when Norwood went to Minnesota. This will be interesting to see if anything shakes out from his time down here in Richmond
Since the newspaper, the TV stations and the CityGov are all puppets for VCU, this story will die. Any sort of impropriety by Norwood against anyone during his time at VCU won't see the light of day. Nothing will tarnish the horns. Not the Police Chief's sham of a degree, and certainly not this.
Ulla's post above says that rpi paid the women's basketball coach $125,000 because of woody. why i said, sleazy how our institutions pay off people and keep these things quiet instead of making it public. the guy, when these actions happen (pay offs), just goes his merry way and hits on the next bunch he encounters. not aiming at rpi, know we have done it as well, just not in the athletic dept.
It really is shameful, regardless of which school we're talking about. If this sort of thing ever happened here, I'd be pretty upset. If you have to pay someone off who makes a claim against one of your top officials, that should indicate that said official ought to go, IMO.
Spinner, let's try not to generalize too much. Reminds me of quote from the Ohio State quarterback, Terrelle Pryor: "Not everybody's the perfect person in the world. I mean everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me, whatever. I think that people need a second chance, and I've always looked up to Mike Vick, and I always will."
Ulla, agree with second chances, am specifically saying that most of the time, these predators, are at it over and over again and if his employer pays off and gives him a good, clean reference, he is back at it at another location. just feel that pattern is wrong and needs to stop. also need to clarify, pay offs are only one part of the deal, the person who is the victim may not want her name in the papers and thus keeps quiet for that reason. if you are the victim of workplace harassment by your boss or someone else in power, that needs to stop and not just at your place but the guy should not be given a free pass to go and do it somewhere else. over 90 million americans who desire work, are out of work right now, can understand someone who is being harassed being somewhat fearful of reporting her boss, a good job is precious. that is a shame and hope we have come to a point where they should feel safe in coming forward
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Teague was a rain maker at VCU. He could shake money out of people like nobody's business. Clearly, that ability trumps $125,000 discrimination settlements at VCU. I guess that was VCU's cost of doing business with Teague. Ugh, what a mess.
Aside from this latest trouble he finds himself him, you have to admit - the guy was a very good athletic director at VCU. He was not only well known for his ability to fundraise and the get the money necessary for big projects, but he also had a pretty good track record when it came to hiring head coaches in the main sports - which at VCU, is simply basketball. He brought in Anthony Grant I believe after Capel left, and then got Shaka once Grant left. You have to admit - those were two home runs in terms of hires for VCU.
My guess is that like most people in this business, he will lay low for a year or two, let this blow over, then resurface somewhere, probably in the mid-major ranks as an assistant AD and have a chance to work himself back up if he chooses.
My guess is that like most people in this business, he will lay low for a year or two, let this blow over, then resurface somewhere, probably in the mid-major ranks as an assistant AD and have a chance to work himself back up if he chooses.
and he should have the right to work in the future. now, though, anyone hiring him will definitely tell him, one hint of any of your previous probs and you are gone. similar to what we did with a past football coach, will give you a second chance but if you mess up again, no discussion, you are history. just feel it should be out there in the open, so that future decisions can be based on the past history and that he is not able to slink from one job to the other without the new employer knowing about his past.
probably not unless they asked a specific question. would be interesting to see what kind of reference he got from rpi and who wrote it. might be possible that when the money was paid, it also said that it was sealed and they could not disclose anything. really hope not, if an entity like an institution of higher, or in this case, somewhat higher, learning, hid this type of thing, a shame and totally against what is needed in the workplace.
Maybe his reference letter was written by Tonya Mallory of Health Diagnostic Labs, an impeccable and trusted ally.
So you are suggesting VCU was aware of his penchant for drunken scumbaggery and overlooked it because of a desire to win? So does Knicks owner John Dolan have a mindset of "lose at all costs" because he can't stop being conned by Isiah Thomas?
Academically, those schools have more in common with UR than most schools in the A-10. Heck, the SoCon academically has more in common with UR than schools in the A-10. The only school that UR is a peer of in the A-10 is Davidson. If all athletic conferences were arranged by academics, then we'd be in the Patriot League already. Then again, Duke might not be in the ACC if that were the case.
somewhere out there, woody, is having a good laugh at where this thread went. maybe down deep, he was a really good guy and then the fan got him, just like bangkok......
I spoke with some of my sources at VCU and apparently the settlement with the women's coach was not really sexual harrassment related as many are thinking are saying. From what I have been told (by people in the VCU athletic department, and more than one) the issue was that the women's coach broke some NCAA rules on practice time limits. So then Norwood and the compliance people had discussions with her about following the rules, cutting back on practice time to meet the limits, etc. And then it sounds like she called out she was being singled out and why wasn't the men's team being written up since they probably practice just as much or more than the women. yada yada yada. So it sounds like a different incident than what happened at UM.
But then begs the question - why settle for $125,000? If she truly was breaking a rule. That answer is quite easy. If you got the money and can settle - much better than taking it to court and dragging it through the media, etc. And at the time and even today - I am sure $125K for VCU athletics was pennies, if not nickels in the grand scheme of things.
But then begs the question - why settle for $125,000? If she truly was breaking a rule. That answer is quite easy. If you got the money and can settle - much better than taking it to court and dragging it through the media, etc. And at the time and even today - I am sure $125K for VCU athletics was pennies, if not nickels in the grand scheme of things.
Trap, appreciate your intelligence, but the explanation you received from vcu people makes no sense. More likely, the $125,000 represented "hush money" to cover up what happened. Would be nice if some investigative reporter found out the truth, but it seens unlikely based on the quality of the staff at the Times Dispatch.
I don't think it is has been suggested that the incident at VCU had anything to do with sexual harassment, in fact it has been pretty explicitly denied. With that said, did VCU know that Norwood penchant for raunchy texts and harassment of women, who knows? I bet if they did know, they are sweating bullets right now, hoping it does not come to the public light. I highly doubt that he didn't try some of these same behavior with women in Richmond while at VCU. Did any of them report it though? We don't know as of yet.
Trap, am not questioning you or your buds there, but am taking what they said with a grain of salt. not sure if a coach who is being written up for a ncaa violation ever gets $125,000, usually is a reprimand and the door is shown to them so have to think hard about that one. 97, agree with you, would bet it happened here and rpi is cowering in a dark corner praying that nothing comes out. it probably is there if the times dispatch wants to find it, doubt they do. we need bob ley (outside the lines) from espn to come to town and dig it out.
Web - I think the 125k settlement was simply to keep it out of the press. The last thing you need, in any institution, is a women employee screaming discrimination. Even if you go to court and win that case, your image takes a beating - not to mention your checkbook when paying out all the legal fees. So I am assuming like in most litigation - the settlement amount was to just make it go away, which it did a pretty nice job of - until now.
And who knows if VCU knew anything. If I were them - just like they are saying now, I would say NO. Similar to that coach at Robert Morris who then went to Rutgers and got caught on tape throwing basketballs at players and calling them terrible names. They asked Robert Morris if he acted like that there - the answer - we never saw it. Keeps your program and name out of the news and keeps the focus on the current issue at hand, which is Norwood Teague at UM, not Norwood at VCU and UNC.
And who knows if VCU knew anything. If I were them - just like they are saying now, I would say NO. Similar to that coach at Robert Morris who then went to Rutgers and got caught on tape throwing basketballs at players and calling them terrible names. They asked Robert Morris if he acted like that there - the answer - we never saw it. Keeps your program and name out of the news and keeps the focus on the current issue at hand, which is Norwood Teague at UM, not Norwood at VCU and UNC.
Trap, get it and understand the thoughts on that but still don't buy it, just me. also agree, you keep a low profile and like sgt schultz, know nothing, nothing. it has to be very tough today to run any kind of operation what with all that goes on in a workplace and our litigation-happy environment.
The more I think about Teague, the more it seems like the alcoholism was the root cause of the problems. I mean - how could an athletic director do the two most politically incorrect things in college athletics: 1 - NOT give proper attention to the expectations and the perceptions of anything related to Title IX, and 2 - Actually put sexual references in writing/text? It certainly sounds like the guy was impaired. Let's wish the old boy best wishes to make a comeback. Because that is not going to be an easy task, by any stretch of the imagination.
Don't fall into the "political correctness" trap here. The issue of sexual harassment is not one of "political correctness." It's an issue about correctness vs. 'incorrectness,' period. And it's funny how alleged alcoholism suddenly gets blamed for problems once people get caught doing things they shouldn't do. I'm not buying it for a second.
From their point of view Teague's problem is not the alcohol. Looks like UMinn wants to get to the bottom of this.
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/...ler-backs-comments-norwood-teague-resignation
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/...ler-backs-comments-norwood-teague-resignation
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they should be doing this but what a case of CYA after the fact. still amazing that entities, which should know better, really do not do a very good job of finding out who they are hiring but also that entities which are getting rid of a prob employee, don't volunteer that he or she is bad news, a cad.
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