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Tennessee AD Dave Hart: “I Trust Butch Jones Implicitly.”
Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart goes all in on backing head coach Butch Jones.
February 25, 2016
Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart goes all in on backing head coach Butch Jones.
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Game on, Drae Bowles.
Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart addressed the media on Thursday regarding the sexual assault allegations in a current lawsuit against the university, while also making a public statement after all the allegations being thrown at head coach Butch Jones about allegedly calling Bowles a “traitor” for helping an alleged sexual assault victim. In the press conference, Hart stood 100% behind Jones, the athletic department, the people at the school, and everyone “in the building.”
“Most of the people here are really good people,” according to Hart. And now he and the University of Tennessee are all in on the side of the football program.
And now it’ll be up to the legal process to see what happens next.
Bowles’ account of what happened had a few discrepancies, first testifying in front of a grand jury that he wasn’t aware of the sexual assault, and then recently saying in an affidavit – under oath – that he assisted the alleged victim, leading to his account of being beaten up to go along with the alleged comments from Jones, including that he “betrayed the team.”
Jones issued a very bold and very forceful statement denying any wrongdoing, saying he handled the situation differently than what’s being alleged. And Hart, the University of Tennessee, and the athletic department are doubling down on that side, too.
According to Hart, Butch Jones and the football culture are fine, and while changes need to be made, everything is apparently okay.
To be fair, Hart and the athletic department have to let the legal process play itself out and all the facts have to come to light as much as possible, but if they’re right, that means Bowles is wrong.
It’s going to be next to impossible for Bowles to prove that his second version of the story is true – at least in terms of what Jones supposedly said to him – but considering the women coming forward and the complaints on the table, this could blow up and be a total disaster if the courts discover that there really was a horrific culture that led to a whole slew of problems.
Or, on the other side, the alleged victims and others involved in the lawsuit are wrong, and Tennessee’s athletic department will be exonerated.
Or, this will be drawn out in the courts and it’ll just sort of go away on its own.
But at the very least, Hart went straight to the handbook on how big-time athletic departments are supposed to handle major scandals. Weather the storm, lengthen the game, and then comes the kickoff to the season and it all gets swept under the rug.
Now the courts need to figure out what really did happen.
