Barnett should be removed, without pay

At some schools, if you make inappropriate remarks, you get a paid vacation.

University of… At some schools, if you make inappropriate remarks, you get a paid vacation.

University of Colorado’s football coach Gary Barnett has been placed on leave with pay for comments made about a former kicker for the team.

Barnett’s comments concerned Katie Hnida, a former Colorado player, who recently came forward about allegedly being raped by her teammate four years ago, but who is not pressing charges.

Barnett remarked on her abilities as a player. He stated that, “[she was] not only a girl, she was terrible,” and “awful.”

But Barnett claims that his comments were taken out of context.

Whatever their context, these comments are totally out of place, given the seriousness of the allegations against the team.

Already, Richard Tharp, the CU athletic director, issued a statement dissociating Barnett’s comments from CU, calling them “insensitive” and saying that they “do not reflect the athletic department’s commitment to … female athletes.”

The question remains: Why is Barnett still on CU’s payroll? His conduct was not befitting a coach, and he shouldn’t be employed at CU.

CU Chancellor Richard Byyny has said that an interim head coach will be named.

Since we at Pitt know a bit about interim athletics positions, we can offer some advice to CU: No matter who is named, it should be made clear that he or she is Barnett’s permanent replacement. Even if every charge is cleared, and every allegation proven false, there is no excuse for what he said.

If this seems like a hasty dismissal of Barnett, consider his comments from a statement released by the Boulder police. In it, a woman said that Barnett had told her that he would “back his player 100 percent” if rape charges were brought against the player.

It would be one thing for him to agree to treat the charges seriously, to seek the truth behind the allegations and to, while standing behind his team, tell the woman she would have the full cooperation of the university. Clearing the university and players’ names would be the best way of dismissing charges, rather than dismissing them without investigation.

But he did none of that, which CU President Elizabeth Hoffman publicly criticized him for. Barnett also failed to back another one of his players – Hnida, who may be a “girl,” but was still a football player – 100 percent, when she came forward. Hnida has nothing to gain from coming forward; she only wants to reexamine CU’s football policies, which clearly needs to be done.

Barnett should no longer be in CU’s employ; his comments tarnish the good players’ names, and bring further shame to a troubled team.