Jim Boeheim: You're Not Done

This is more important than sports. It's more important than a coach or a player or a team. It's the most important post you'll read in this space.

The best man at my wedding has been my best friend since first grade. He is a kind and generous man, a loving husband and a doting father. He is loyal and hard-working and cares about other people. I have loved him my whole life.

And if a young adult came forward claiming my best friend had raped him as a boy, I could not unequivocally refute the charge. I could attest to my friend's character and note that the charge is totally inconsistent with the man I know. But I don't live inside his skin and observe his daily demons.

This evidently is news to Syracuse University basketball coach Jim Boeheim. Confronted with allegations of abuse against his top assistant, Boeheim vehemently denied the charges. As I mentioned to everyone around me at the time: his denial was ipso facto a lie. He could not possibly know their veracity.

Had that been all, we could forgive his outburst as the misdirected defense of a friend. But Boeheim committed a sin that undermined the cause of sexual abuse victims everywhere. He publicly called the alleged victims liars. The most critical factor in whether an abuse victim reports the crime is whether they think they will be believed. Jim Boeheim gave millions of past and future victims another reason to curl up and suffer instead.

Maddeningly, it gets worse. How did Boeheim know that the alleged victims were lying? Because there was no corroborating evidence. Good God: that is the hallmark of nearly every sexual assault. That assertion casts doubt on virtually every rape and molestation case there has ever been.

On the day of his remarks, I observed to friends that the Syracuse PR department had to be admonishing Boeheim to clamp his piehole immediately. All it would take is one more victim to come forward with a similar claim to illustrate how despicably Boeheim had acted.

And sure enough, nary a week passed before that very thing -- and then some -- transpired, forcing the school to fire the assistant coach. Boeheim, to his credit, admitted his mistake and apologized.

That was a good first step, but it isn't nearly sufficient. Jim Boeheim abused his considerable power to pour scorn on alleged sexual abuse victims. His words will make it harder to prosecute rapists and harder to convict them. His words cast a lengthening shadow over every abuse victim in Central NY and beyond.

Jim Boeheim must make a very public and quite considerable monetary contribution to an organization aiding rape victims and fighting against sexual abuse. During the public proceedings, he must elucidate exactly what he did wrong and state categorically how all reports of sexual abuse must be treated with respect and the assumption of truth.

Sexual abuse of children is an adult problem that can only be solved by adults. Jim Boeheim added to the problem and must now make amends. Anything less is immoral. If he refuses to do so, he should be summarily fired and universally reviled.

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