Norfolk St- Horton Game

[DougSutton]

I have read you saying multiple times that you trust the NSU Coach because why would he lie about a ref telling him this, because the ref would obviously deny that he said it. Tell me when ANY ref has done a press conference or even had to publicly say anything. The coach never says the name of the ref, the refs don't have to answer to the press and are actually discouraged to do so. That ref relies on a reputation amongst coaches and if he were to "rat" out another coach, that reputation would be ruined. What would he have to gain to come out and make a statement that none of what the NSU Coach said was true. He has no skin in the game. He is BEST served to stay out of it completely.

As for your giving the NSU Coach the benefit of the doubt, you are entitled to that, but I ask on what grounds? Just because he is a College Head Coach? Is it because he is a POC? Because he is an adult? My observation of these events and his responses (well after the game) cause me to lean the other way. He has been changing his story, and adding to it every interview. He adds the previous incident at ISU (that he forgot about), he seems to add more "facts" each time he tells the story. He wants to play the victim and he is getting all the attention he has never had, he seems to have plenty to gain by embellishing this story.

My sense is if the situation was reversed and it was coach Pedon that said a ref told him something, every fan here would take coach Pedon's word for it. I have heard refs after games do press conferences, a few come to mind when they missed a call that obviously changed the outcome of a game. Admittedly, I've only heard very few press conferences from any person denying they said something.

But, I have absolutely zero doubt that after making such an accusation as coach Jones did, that he would know full well that a private investigation would start and that the refs would be interviewed as part of the investigation. No part of me believes coach Jones or anyone would blatantly lie knowing full well that person would be interviewed and would deny ever saying it. Regarding on what grounds I'm giving this trust, if it were any of you or anyone else making the identical claim, I would give you that trust until I was proven wrong. To be clear, I've been proven wrong plenty of times in my life and was surprised, just as I would be in this case.

None of this excuses coach Jones' other behaviors. I believe in the saying that there are not bad students, only bad teachers (the Cobra Kai series on Netflix comes to mind) and with him being the teacher/coach, the trash talking that his players displayed throughout the game are a reflection of poor leadership on his part. We've seen different coaches reflect poor leadership in similar ways in recent years, with Greg Marshall coming to mind as just one.

I will wait until the findings from the ISU investigation are delivered and hope that WGLT stays on top of this as well because they didn't hesitate to be on top of the early reporting.

 

[Phantom]

As a marketing content writer and former journalist I can appreicate Deadspin's masterclass in clickbait headline writing. Sites like that do it all the time with a simple trick: take the context out of it. Unfortunately, shit like that goes beyond clickbait. That's exactly how the proliferation of fake news and out-of-context narratives get spread. The majority of people, especially casual observers/those with no ties to either school, don't give a rat's ass about the context or the truth. They see a headline like that and their minds are instantly made up. In this case, it puts a bad mark on our school. Agenda setting in the media is a very powerful, influential thing, and unfortunately, bad news travels faster than good. Publish a well-meaning, feelgood story? Nobody cares. Publish a story about this situation with a headline like that? KA-BOOM.

It's disgusting and sad. And it's even worse when in this situation, so many things could've been done to avoid it all.

 

[GratefulRed]

Why? None of their names have gone public. Why would you put your name publicly out there to invite hate over something you maintain you didn’t say?

Names….no, but their faces were plastered all over social media. I know that is not a good thing for at least one of them.

 

[ISU FAN 1]

My sense is if the situation was reversed and it was coach Pedon that said a ref told him something, every fan here would take coach Pedon's word for it. I have heard refs after games do press conferences, a few come to mind when they missed a call that obviously changed the outcome of a game. Admittedly, I've only heard very few press conferences from any person denying they said something.

But, I have absolutely zero doubt that after making such an accusation as coach Jones did, that he would know full well that a private investigation would start and that the refs would be interviewed as part of the investigation. No part of me believes coach Jones or anyone would blatantly lie knowing full well that person would be interviewed and would deny ever saying it. Regarding on what grounds I'm giving this trust, if it were any of you or anyone else making the identical claim, I would give you that trust until I was proven wrong. To be clear, I've been proven wrong plenty of times in my life and was surprised, just as I would be in this case.

None of this excuses coach Jones' other behaviors. I believe in the saying that there are not bad students, only bad teachers (the Cobra Kai series on Netflix comes to mind) and with him being the teacher/coach, the trash talking that his players displayed throughout the game are a reflection of poor leadership on his part. We've seen different coaches reflect poor leadership in similar ways in recent years, with Greg Marshall coming to mind as just one.

I will wait until the findings from the ISU investigation are delivered and hope that WGLT stays on top of this as well because they didn't hesitate to be on top of the early reporting.

I know this is being litigated in a fan forum instead of a courtroom, but the accused have rights that your “guilty until proven innocent” stance seem to ignore.

 

[DBird]

I must be the only person on the board who has no idea who the fans are.

Nope

 

[GOP_Redbird]

As a marketing content writer and former journalist I can appreicate Deadspin's masterclass in clickbait headline writing. Sites like that do it all the time with a simple trick: take the context out of it. Unfortunately, shit like that goes beyond clickbait. That's exactly how the proliferation of fake news and out-of-context narratives get spread. The majority of people, especially casual observers/those with no ties to either school, don't give a rat's ass about the context or the truth. They see a headline like that and their minds are instantly made up. In this case, it puts a bad mark on our school. Agenda setting in the media is a very powerful, influential thing, and unfortunately, bad news travels faster than good. Publish a well-meaning, feelgood story? Nobody cares. Publish a story about this situation with a headline like that? KA-BOOM.

It's disgusting and sad. And it's even worse when in this situation, so many things could've been done to avoid it all.

Crazy Deadspin is still operating after all the Defamation lawsuits they receive. Pedon and ISU should file. What a nasty article.

Also could be why this incident (ALLEGATION) hasn’t taken off on MSM as much as we think because there is so much risk running an unconfirmed story.

 

[cubird]

Dead spin only showed the painted black side of the kid's face and not the other red side for the Chief's colors. Hit job is their mo.

 

[DougSutton]

I know this is being litigated in a fan forum instead of a courtroom, but the accused have rights that your “guilty until proven innocent” stance seem to ignore.

I've never once said that the accused fans are guilty. Instead, I've said multiple times that I am choosing to take coach Jones' word for it that the ref told him that the fan said something which is what triggered the cascading reaction of anger that he displayed, then coach Pedon's complaining to the ref that coach Jones should be called for a technical, the loud Horton Fieldhouse environment preventing either coach from actually hearing each other although we could all clearly see "F**k you" coming out of coach Jones' mouth.

The key distinction is the gap and unknown between what came out of our fan's mouths, what the ref heard, and what the ref chose to tell coach Jones can be huge. This is where I'm left to choose to trust the administration to do a thorough investigation and share their findings. I have no doubt that all involved and witnesses around the incident have been interviewed as President Tarhule said.

 

[SlackBooDom]

Honestly, I would be surprised if we hear anything at all. Ever. It is seemingly out of the news cycle and as others have pointed out, there's no way to craft a message without it sounding like a cover up if it is deemed nothing was said. If they find something was said, it brings the story back up and we do this song and dance again.

The court of public opinion has already made up their mind on this and it's a damn hard thing to change if nothing was found.

The best way I see a formal statement coming out would be from the MVC, but then you get into murkier waters by formally associating the MVC brand with a "cover up."

As everyone has said. Refs should've handled it in real time. They didn't. After that, ISU should've had a response ready after the game. They waited too long. Jones got his 15 minutes. Not sure those P5s he's clamoring for are going to be answering his calls any time soon...

I don't think Illinois State can not do some sort of statement. You can't just say you're doing an investigation and then because it goes away say nothing at all and be glad it is over. For a university and department that is already struggling with eroding credibility and a lack of transparency, this is the exact situation that they SHOULD make sure we hear something.

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

I don’t believe Jones is making this stuff up. Honestly my initial thought and belief was something of the wrong nature was said and at least one ref heard it. It’s just an unfortunate situation all around. Check my earlier posts. Pedon handled the situation as would 99.999% of most would have simply because of man’s nature.
No harm or foul was made by either coach, the fan is at blame here only.A ref could’ve easily paused the game after hearing to explain to both coaches and the latter would not have happened.

I do not know what was said by the fan, or what was said by the player.
I do not know what the player the foul was called on (Jordan Davis) may have heard in the exchange of words between the fan and player.
I do not know what (if anything) the referee closest to the situation heard.
I do not know if the player told the referee what the fan said, and the referee then told the coach what the player said the fan said.
I do not know if the player is the one that told the coach what the fan said.
What I do know is that regardless of whether the accusations are true or false, at the point of exchanging of words between a player and a fan, the referee should have gotten with the coaches and let them know that this exchange of words between a fan & player will need to be addressed. At that point the coach can address his players and the coach of the hosting team (Coach Pedon) can address the crowd. If the referee’s and coaches feel like a fan/s need to be removed from either their seat or the arena that could have been addressed.
I hope that the NCAA Head of Officials is addressing this with the referee’s from that game, and all NCAA officials for future incidents.

 

[Hamdonger]

It does, but he's probably under the age of 22. You and others aren't. Just because he does something doesn't mean the fans should return the favor.

A majority of these players aren't even old enough to drink or gamble legally. We forget that.

Good point for sure.

 

[SgtHulka]

Saying nothing more would be bad. Cover-up
Saying they didn't say what they were accused of would be worse. Can't witch hunt our way out of it
Saying they said it would be bad for the fan base, bad for the school. We can't Jimmy Swaggart our way back into good graces and refill the collection plates

We need to get Spike Lee and Jack Nicholson on the sidelines this weekend razzing the Ugly Green Bovines. East Coast them, and West Coast them simultaneously. Its the only path forward

 

[RedbirdSoxFan]

Saying nothing more would be bad. Cover-up
Saying they didn't say what they were accused of would be worse. Can't witch hunt our way out of it
Saying they said it would be bad for the fan base, bad for the school. We can't Jimmy Swaggart our way back into good graces and refill the collection plates

We need to get Spike Lee and Jack Nicholson on the sidelines this weekend razzing the Ugly Green Bovines. East Coast them, and West Coast them simultaneously. Its the only path forward

I love it! Maybe get Mickey Gordon to be a referee.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Illinois State coach's response to racism is exactly why racism still flourishes in our country

An opposing player was allegedly called the n-word during a game, but Ryan Pedon didn't want to hear about it until it was too late

deadspin.com

Great click baiting headline from someone who wasn't at the game and refuses to gain an understanding of the context.

Stay far away from Deadspin.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

]
At the risk of saying something that rhymes with an offensive word, or unknowingly flashing the wrong hand signal, I think I’ll just stay home.

Rockies Now Say Fan Was Calling to Mascot, Not Shouting a Slur (Published 2021)

What seemed to be a case of overt racism was actually a misunderstanding, the team said.

www.nytimes.com

 

[ISU FAN 1]

I've never once said that the accused fans are guilty. Instead, I've said multiple times that I am choosing to take coach Jones' word for it that the ref told him that the fan said something which is what triggered the cascading reaction of anger that he displayed, then coach Pedon's complaining to the ref that coach Jones should be called for a technical, the loud Horton Fieldhouse environment preventing either coach from actually hearing each other although we could all clearly see "F**k you" coming out of coach Jones' mouth.

The key distinction is the gap and unknown between what came out of our fan's mouths, what the ref heard, and what the ref chose to tell coach Jones can be huge. This is where I'm left to choose to trust the administration to do a thorough investigation and share their findings. I have no doubt that all involved and witnesses around the incident have been interviewed as President Tarhule said.

Only if declining to be interviewed counts as being interviewed.

 

[redbirds2000]

I said about the same thing as it happened. Total momentum killer. Same with when we lost the ball out of bounds on that transition not long after that (Mal, I think?). We were trying so hard to make something happen to swing things our way that it led to costly mistakes. Felt like a game where if we just could get over the damned hump and take the lead we wouldn't have given it up. Just couldn't get there. Frustrating.

They were down 53-48. Lewis missed 3. Banks missed fade away 2. Burford missed fast break 3. NSU alley oop dunk to go up by 7.

 

[Popsto4]

Maybe I’ve missed it, but the media attention on this has been less than I anticipated. Mostly local to regional, in Central Illinois and Virginia. Some national sports websites like ESPN, CBSSports, Yahoo Sports, SI. And race baiting sites that traffic in hatred. I don’t really watch cable news anymore, so not sure if this reached national
main stream media. The least path of resistance at this point would be banning a guilty fan. If ISU claims no finding of any guilt, it’ll be another round of finger pointing and bad press.

Long term, either way, this will be used against ISU in recruiting.

I’m retired and my degree is of lesser importance now, but feel that this incident has probably devalued it. Much like what’s happening at Ivy League schools that are having difficulty denouncing anti-Semitism. Many companies are up front about not hiring people from schools associated with racism on any level. It’s hard to imagine any scenario that doesn’t leave that stain on this institution.

I was thinking about recruiting earlier today. Yes parents and recruiting coaches will definitely pict this happening. I could actually make a difference too. UVA years back have had more than this happen with marches and stuff. If kids want to be there m, they will.

 

[Sladerunningbear]

BREAKING: Illinois State announces presser will be held May 31st to coincide with the beginning of the Cubs June Swoon.

 

[Redbird222]

I have no clue

Nope

I have no clue either