Media, police not to blame for Cougars' off-field troubles

Is it really the media and the police’s fault for the Washington State University football team’s recent troubles off the gridiron?

That’s a question that has been running through my mind in the last couple of weeks relating to the four arrests of several WSU football players — most recently Robert Barber and T.J. Fehoko, who were arrested for second-degree assault in connection with an altercation July 23 in Pullman that left one student with a concussion and another with a broken jaw.

There have been 29 player arrests in the last four seasons under the eye of head coach Mike Leach. Of the 29 arrests, 16 of the charges were dropped. In an interview, athletics director Bill Moos said Leach applies “discipline with high regard,” with a zero tolerance policy on fighting, drug testing, theft and hitting women.

That’s funny that Moos would mention Leach’s no tolerance for fighting and theft. Besides Barber and Fehoko, Logan Tago was arrested for felony assault and robbery during a June 4 incident. In August, officers arrested Shalom Luani on charges of felony assault in connection with a fight outside a local Domino’s Pizza.

Leach went to bat for his team like any coach would. In a Sept. 13 statement, the coach said he believed the players who were arrested “were innocent until proven guilty,” and threw some of the blame on the media for spreading false information about the arrests and the police for targeting football players.

First off, I disagree with Leach’s opinion about the media supposedly spreading false information. Contrary to his belief, media outlets print what they receive from police reports and interviews with witnesses. When we write up someone’s name in the police reports, we don’t put “football player” next to their name. If it relates to a bigger incident, we may note that a suspect is a student athlete to provide some context.

Outlets will also report when incidents are still under investigation. If a player is cleared of charges, that information will be printed as well.

And besides, it is not like the media put those players in a position to be arrested in the first place. They did that on their own.

I also disagree with Leach’s notion that the police department simply targets football players. Officers did not arrest these students because they were football players. It was because they were identified by witnesses at the scene of the crime. Then there’s Tago, who actually admitted to police that he assaulted a man and took his case of beer during that incident in June.

As for the other incidents, the investigation process is more complicated than what’s depicted on procedural crime shows. Criminal investigations can take months – which might answer Leach’s question about why information on the incident related to Tago took four months to surface. Like the media, police get information from witnesses and sometimes they will get false testimonies or the trails will go cold.

I do agree with Leach in that his players are innocent until proven guilty. But if the Pullman police really targeted football players, WSU would probably not have a full roster to play on Saturdays.

I have not interacted with many college athletes in my time, but the ones I’ve met are good citizens who do good things for charities and the community. When athletes do these good deeds, the media does report on them.

However, there are some bad eggs in the bunch, which is a shame because I’m sure there are some Cougar football players who are good guys yet they’re getting roped into the same light as their teammates.

Another question that I’ve been asking myself is whether or not college athletes should be held to a higher standard than their peers? Yes, athletes take courses and attend college like other students, but they also receive opportunities their classmates do not get. They are also a face of the university they attend. People inside and outside of the university recognize them and hold them in high esteem.

But when a student athlete gets arrested, it’s no longer just a team matter but rather it’s a criminal issue and they are given the same due process like every other citizen.

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].