Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Jackass of the Day (and leading candidate for Jackass of the Year): soon-to-be-ex-Colorado football coach Gary Barnett.

Amid mounting accusations that his players committed multiple rapes, he simply refuses to acknowledge the problem or admit that he is in any way at fault.

Katie Hnida was a place kicker on the team a couple years ago, and she says that she was raped by another player. In response to this accusation, Barnett attacks the victim:

"It was obvious that Katie was not very good. She was awful. You know what guys do - they respect your ability. Katie was a girl, and not only was she a girl, she was terrible. OK? There's no other way to say it. She couldn't kick the ball through the uprights."

The attack on her playing ability is, at best, irrelevant and mean-spirited. But his remarks suggest something even worse: an oblique suggestion that she is at fault -- that she was raped because the other guys didn't respect her because she was a bad kicker.

Unbelievable.

WSF's Donna Lopiano was aghast. "This is truly not a woman's sports issues," she said. "This is an issue of violence against women. I don't know why it is a conversation about how good a kicker she is. This is obviously a program gone amok."