Norfolk St- Horton Game

[DoubleDeuce]

Of course Da Coach at Bradley fans has a post about this situation

Too be fair, we'd do the same.

 

[Dmills]

NSU Statement Regarding Treatment of Student-Athletes During Men’s Basketball Game at Illinois State University - Norfolk State University Athletics

The following statement is from Norfolk State University President Javaune Adams-Gaston, Ph.D., and NSU Director of Athletics Melody Webb:

nsuspartans.com

 

[cpacmel]

I have one question. Can anyone confirm that the ISU fan used a racial slur? Until that can be confirmed one way or the other, then my statement would be that we are investigating the situation thoroughly and when we can confirm one way or the other, we will make additional statements. If it is confirmed, ISU apologizes and informs everyone of actions taken against the fan. If it can’t be confirmed, then the statement could be the claim of a racial slur cannot be substantiated but the University will not tolerate that type of behavior. Someone knows if a slur was used including the fans who were tossed.

I don't know if this confirmation or not, but from DMills link above

We have heard from the president and athletic director of Illinois State University. They have stated the behavior shown to our student-athletes at the Horton Field House is not representative of their institution and they will fully investigate this incident. We acknowledge their apology and look forward to hearing the results of their investigation."

 

[gobirds85]

NSU Statement Regarding Treatment of Student-Athletes During Men’s Basketball Game at Illinois State University - Norfolk State University Athletics

The following statement is from Norfolk State University President Javaune Adams-Gaston, Ph.D., and NSU Director of Athletics Melody Webb:

nsuspartans.com

What an absolute crock of shit!!! Has anyone asked the ref if he heard the alleged slur? This whole dumpster fire was started when their HC said the ref told him what was said, but as of yet, no one has produced any statement from the ref. How hard is it to ask the ref if he heard something? If he refutes their coach’s story, then something needs to be done. ISU and the Valley need to get off their asses and get the story from the ref. This thing is raging out of control and it might be a good idea to put the fire out.

 

[normalbird]

out

In

It sure would be nice to hear a statement. It would be helpful to know if the referee actually heard what was allegedly said or if it was a claim made by Thomas. I don't have much faith the truth will ever be known. There are a lot of angry people online and any communication from the NCAA, ISU, or NSU will be made with that in mind.

Strongly agree, Dmills. Impossible for NS coach to hear anything said from the other side of the court. Did any of the three refs hear the comment? Many (clearly partisan) ISU fans in the area heard nothing. Is there anyone besides the NS player who heard the slur? Maybe one of the officials? An ISU administrator? The player had just jumped into Burford and drew a foul. A ref took him aside and apparently told him to stop drawing fouls, or to tone down his game long interactions with the ISU fans. I am an ardent ISU fan, would strongly condemn anyone who behaved in a racist manner. Someone, anyone please confirm what the NS player heard. Until and unless that happens, the entire ISU fan base doesn’t deserve the as of yet unsupported criticism they are receiving.

 

[DougSutton]

What an absolute crock of shit!!! Has anyone asked the ref if he heard the alleged slur? This whole dumpster fire was started when their HC said the ref told him what was said, but as of yet, no one has produced any statement from the ref. How hard is it to ask the ref if he heard something? If he refutes their coach’s story, then something needs to be done. ISU and the Valley need to get off their asses and get the story from the ref. This thing is raging out of control and it might be a good idea to put the fire out.

Why is this a crock of shit? At this point, I'm taking the NSU coach's word for it that the ref told him what was said. I'm also completely confident that the "trust, but verify" ethos is taking place right now and our university officials are doing an internal investigation and I have no doubt they will interview the refs. This is a serious issue that will have repercussions.

I would not agree with Illinois State banning these fans without verification from the ref. If the ref verifies, the fans should be ban and this statement made in the article you shared has nothing wrong with it at all. They are taking their coach's word for it. If however, the refs that are interviewed deny hearing or more importantly, telling the NSU coach that any of our fans made these disgusting comments, then I would be upset and call this a crock of shit.

Until that happens, I'm taking their coach's word for it because to me, it seems incredibly unlikely that he would lie, knowing that the ref would deny it if the ref didn't say it. In that light, I don't have a problem with the statement from NSU. The only thing they could have changed would be to add the word "allegedly" in this statement "where racial epithets were shouted". But again, they're taking the coach for his word that the ref told him this.

I hope and trust hat Illinois State University will release a statement revealing their findings of this investigation.

 

[redbirds2000]

ISUFan1 welcome back. Did you parachute in? You might want to bail while you can!

*So did the officials tell Pegler and partner that a racial slur was made? Or "idiotic comments." Or did they say anything at all to the press table? I didn't catch the officials talking to those guys but I prob missed it...even though I was sitting a row behind them.

I'm pleased with the statement but a little surprised it didn't come out a bit sooner. I'm sure there are many reasons and I guarantee the conversations amongst ISU school admin have been many up to this point.

This kinda feels like I'm a kid again watching Dallas on Friday nights in the late 70's.

It is wild.

 

[redbirds2000]

Does ISU seem to experience more athletic drama than schools at our level? Maybe I just don't follow the news enough. They aren't making 30 for 30s about ISU, but it seems like a lot?
-King Rice going after a fan
-Football players vs Frat
-Jamar Smiley truck incident
- Coprich incident
- IPF donor drama
-AD trips
- Horton game.

 

[gobirds85]

Why is this a crock of shit? At this point, I'm taking the NSU coach's word for it that the ref told him what was said. I'm also completely confident that the "trust, but verify" ethos is taking place right now and our university officials are doing an internal investigation and I have no doubt they will interview the refs. This is a serious issue that will have repercussions.

I would not agree with Illinois State banning these fans without verification from the ref. If the ref verifies, the fans should be ban and this statement made in the article you shared has nothing wrong with it at all. They are taking their coach's word for it. If however, the refs that are interviewed deny hearing or more importantly, telling the NSU coach that any of our fans made these disgusting comments, then I would be upset and call this a crock of shit.

Until that happens, I'm taking their coach's word for it because to me, it seems incredibly unlikely that he would lie, knowing that the ref would deny it if the ref didn't say it. In that light, I don't have a problem with the statement from NSU. The only thing they could have changed would be to add the word "allegedly" in this statement "where racial epithets were shouted". But again, they're taking the coach for his word that the ref told him this.

I hope and trust hat Illinois State University will release a statement revealing their findings of this investigation.

It’s a crock because they have already convicted ISU before the investigation has apparently, even started. If the fan said what was alleged, then he’s out. There is no place for that racist crap in today’s society. Period.

Directly after the game, the refs should have met with ISU and NSU officials to discuss the incident. Maybe this happened and we are not privy to this information. The investigation should be wrapped up fairly quickly as there were only so many people involved, but I won’t hold my breath.

To be clear, I have no idea if anything was said. I wasn’t there. But apparently that isn’t the path others have taken.

 

[cpacmel]

Does ISU seem to experience more athletic drama than schools at our level? Maybe I just don't follow the news enough. They aren't making 30 for 30s about ISU, but it seems like a lot?
-King Rice going after a fan
-Football players vs Frat
-Jamar Smiley truck incident
- Coprich incident
- IPF donor drama
-AD trips
- Horton game.

No more drama at ISU than other places. 1/2 the stuff you listed above was over 25 years ago.

 

[Redbird222]

Ok here is the article with the quote I was looking for

Alleged racial slur from fan leads to NSU and Illinois State coaches’ shouting match during Spartans’ road victory

Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones explains what happened Saturday night during the Spartans’ game against Illinois State.

www.dailypress.com

Once the game concluded, Jones said he and Pedon had a brief discussion during the handshake line in which Pedon told him he did not hear Jones say that an Illinois State fan called Thomas a racial slur.

“After the game, if you see the handshake line, (Pedon) said that he didn’t hear me say that because he would have never reacted that way,” Jones said. “So I told him, ‘What did you think I will say to you, if you didn’t hear me say that? Were you so just trying to fire up the fans that you weren’t listening to me or did you truly not care what I said?’ So that’s what we talked about on a handshake line and that was it.”

If Jones spoke to Pedon during the handshake line and explained what happened why would Pedon say in the post game especially if Pedon acknowledged that to him already.

“I was upset he was on the floor and I was raising hell with the referees. It was never personal towards him,” Pedon said during postgame. “I’ll just leave it at that. I’ll take the high road on that.”

Either coach Pedon once again didn't hear Jones, that conversation never happened, or Pedon has an inappropriate response in the post game. I can say the coaches paused for a brief moment when shaking hands.

Norfolk coach indicated that not only did the referees hear the slur they apologized. It seems like they could have informed Pedon as others had suggested and their statements should be easily corroborated.

Jordan Davis was the player that fouled Thomas and actually the next closest person. I wonder if he heard anything.

Between Pedon, Davis, and the referee some of this should be able to be verified.

 

[SgtHulka]

ISU Interim AD and Prez

 

[DougSutton]

It’s a crock because they have already convicted ISU before the investigation has apparently, even started. If the fan said what was alleged, then he’s out. There is no place for that racist crap in today’s society. Period.

Directly after the game, the refs should have met with ISU and NSU officials to discuss the incident. Maybe this happened and we are not privy to this information. The investigation should be wrapped up fairly quickly as there were only so many people involved, but I won’t hold my breath.

To be clear, I have no idea if anything was said. I wasn’t there. But apparently that isn’t the path others have taken.

I completely agree that the refs should have met with ISU and NSU officials to discuss the incident and as I've said before, they should not have said anything to the NSU coach about what was said without also telling coach Pedon at the exact same time. If the refs did this, there would be no issue at all. I completely understand why Pedon did what he did based on the lack of information and awareness he had.

My perspective is that I'm taking their coach's word for it based on the fact that I can't imagine he would lie and say that the ref told him this in a press conference knowing full well that if the ref didn't tell him that, the ref would say and he would be labeled as a liar.

I have no doubt ISU will do a full investigation into this and interview the refs and make a full announcement to share their findings. It's the responsible and right thing to do and I have complete trust in our university to lead by example in this way.

 

[gobirds85]

I think it’s pretty safe to say the schools met with the refs and got their perspectives. Just because we haven’t heard what those conversations resulted in, doesn’t mean they didn’t happen.

Yes, we all want to know what was said and who heard it. But as fans, we may never actually get that information, nor do we necessarily deserve it.

We absolutely deserve to know what and what didn’t happen. As a Redbird fan for over 40 years and a member of the 1857 Society I want to know my investment in ISU is being handled properly and if there is something like this that brings negative press to our front door, I want to have confidence that ISU will address the issue expeditiously.

 

[Reggie Redbird]

I completely agree that the refs should have met with ISU and NSU officials to discuss the incident and as I've said before, they should not have said anything to the NSU coach about what was said without also telling coach Pedon at the exact same time. If the refs did this, there would be no issue at all. I completely understand why Pedon did what he did based on the lack of information and awareness he had.

My perspective is that I'm taking their coach's word for it based on the fact that I can't imagine he would lie and say that the ref told him this in a press conference knowing full well that if the ref didn't tell him that, the ref would say and he would be labeled as a liar.

I have no doubt ISU will do a full investigation into this and interview the refs and make a full announcement to share their findings. It's the responsible and right thing to do and I have complete trust in our university to lead by example in this way.

Doug, when this involved Brennan’s issues, here was something you shared:

“What I feel is not fair is when people immediately jump to conclusions assuming they were in the club when there has been absolutely no confirmation of this.“

In this situation, should the facts that matter be from the parties involved and present? That would mean the players right there, the fans, any game personnel. Rather than jump to conclusions and issue statements that could prove defamatory, shouldn’t there be a process to sort out what happened?

If something inappropriate was said, even if not racist, it needs to be addressed. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this.

 

[Hamdonger]

ISU Interim AD and Prez
View attachment 1292
View attachment 1293

Hahaha I remember this one!!!!

 

[Hamdonger]

ISU Interim AD and Prez
View attachment 1292
View attachment 1293

That's an Emmy right there.

 

[gobirds85]

I was referring to the details of the investigation like this ref was interviewed at this time and said this, player Y didn’t hear anything, the person in the second row saw this etc.

My guess is all we get is either a “the investigation could not conclusively identify the use of a derogatory term….” Or “our investigation identified an individual who used offensive language towards an NSU player and that individual has been barred from ISU property ….” and not release their name.

I do not want individuals called out. I simply want to know if the officials heard something or not. As of right now, ISU looks bad. I want the investigation to move quickly so we can either say the rush to judgment was exactly that or if we truly needed to apologize for the actions of one or two ignorant fans.

Once again, I have no idea what was said. I wasn’t there.

 

[DougSutton]

Doug, when this involved Brennan’s issues, here was something you shared:

“What I feel is not fair is when people immediately jump to conclusions assuming they were in the club when there has been absolutely no confirmation of this.“

In this situation, should the facts that matter be from the parties involved and present? That would mean the players right there, the fans, any game personnel. Rather than jump to conclusions and issue statements that could prove defamatory, shouldn’t there be a process to sort out what happened?

If something inappropriate was said, even if not racist, it needs to be addressed. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this.

Massive difference between the two incidents, but I appreciate you investing the time to look it up.

In this case, you have a head coach from a team claiming that a ref specifically told him what the fan said to his player. While we don't have audio recordings of this, there is clearly video tape of what ref was talking to the coach and this is easy to corroborate.

In the other case, there was an anonymous source that made the insinuation that Brennan was in the club with Rossi and the donors. After I made the comments that I did here, I had a few private conversations with people close to the situation and my understanding is that the only potential evidence Ryan may have had were possible credit card receipts from Rossi being in the club, and of course the pickup location "outside" which doesn't mean anything about who was inside the club.

These are two completely difference scenarios. Now on the other hand, as an example, if one of the donors on that trip went on the record and said they witnessed Brennan inside that club, I would have taken that donor's word for it because he/she was on the record making that comment, unless or until Brennan denied it, and then you have a situation where it's one person's word against another's.

These message boards at times are very difficult to communicate because in most cases, you have people using anonymous screen names that you've never met, and often times won't even disclose their real identity. I had no reason to defend Brennan, I never met him and I guarantee I would have come to the same defense for you or anyone if the identical set of claims were laid out based on an anonymous source, without any person going on the record.

Back to the NSU game, their coach went on the record and made a direct claim that the ref told him this. That carries weight to me because again, I cannot imagine any person making a claim like that knowing full well that if they were lying, the ref could call them out as a liar saying they never said it.

 

[DougSutton]

We absolutely deserve to know what and what didn’t happen. As a Redbird fan for over 40 years and a member of the 1857 Society I want to know my investment in ISU is being handled properly and if there is something like this that brings negative press to our front door, I want to have confidence that ISU will address the issue expeditiously.

100% agree with this. I'm choosing to have faith that ISU has already started a full investigation into this and that they will transparently share their findings and that it will be completed expeditiously. They must know full well that people are watching and they can't just let this pass without communicating that they're doing an investigation and then taking right action based on the results of that investigation. If the investigation results in the ref denying they told the NSU coach this, the right thing to do is share that in their full report. If the ref goes on record and confirms they heard that comment, then the fans involved should be banned from any future ISU events, just like the previous situation 25 years ago.