I want to see SMU administration support Willis

[J.T.supporta]

If Beard has given me a weird look before, can I file a R.O. on him?

[The PonyGrad]

Maybe Beard is a footballer-ophobe or maybe a footballersexual?

[smu diamond m]

I thought Willis did himself a lot of good by being on Channel 8. People suggesting Willis should have put a tie on don’t know what is going on. Willis is a kid. You put him in a suit, he’s going to look like a defendant. They showed him as a kid being a kid in his parents’ house. That was a good thing. I thought he could have sounded a little more contrite, but overall, it was a good interview.

I suspect SMU had nothing to do with setting that up. When similar incidents have happened at schools in the past, the standard procedure is to keep the kid in hiding. I think Willis and his dad were reasonably concerned that Willis was never going to be allowed to play again and decided to go on the offensive. I am not sure it is a coincidence that Willis went on the station that did a feature on him in high school.

Agreed. Still what gets me is the fact nobody is acknowledging the fact that JWill was being harrassed for 9 months by Beard before the "beating" went down. Beard reminds me of a little cousin, you know the ones that holds his hand in front of your face and yells "IM NOT TOUCHING YOU IM NOT TOUCHING YOU". He was really pushing the envelope. Too bad the envelope fell off the table. At least everybody that watched the WFAA report knows that he was being pursued and harrassed by Beard.

[LawSchoolPony]

my two cents: i think SMU itself is to blame for a lot of this - especially if Willis reported the stalking to Bennett a long time ago - they should have done something about this long ago to remedy the situation

[SMU_is_bowling]

well Willis has stated he does not blame Bennett for this, so how can we??

[SMUBob]

well Willis has stated he does not blame Bennett for this, so how can we??

Because he doesn't want to declare war on his coach. If you had a disagreement with your boss, and some reporter was asking you about your job, would you air your gripe publicly?

He did just enough by disclosing the apparent fact that he had previously notified Bennett, but if he went further to try to deflect blame on Bennett, he would be packing his bags pretty soon thereafter.

We can read between the lines that Bennett, in retrospect, might have done more to head this off, while Willis leaves the public impression that he and the coach are together on this. I thought it was clever.

[KnuckleStang]

I thought Willis did himself a lot of good by being on Channel 8. People suggesting Willis should have put a tie on don’t know what is going on. Willis is a kid. You put him in a suit, he’s going to look like a defendant. They showed him as a kid being a kid in his parents’ house. That was a good thing. I thought he could have sounded a little more contrite, but overall, it was a good interview.

I suspect SMU had nothing to do with setting that up. When similar incidents have happened at schools in the past, the standard procedure is to keep the kid in hiding. I think Willis and his dad were reasonably concerned that Willis was never going to be allowed to play again and decided to go on the offensive. I am not sure it is a coincidence that Willis went on the station that did a feature on him in high school.

Agreed. Still what gets me is the fact nobody is acknowledging the fact that JWill was being harrassed for 9 months by Beard before the "beating" went down. Beard reminds me of a little cousin, you know the ones that holds his hand in front of your face and yells "IM NOT TOUCHING YOU IM NOT TOUCHING YOU". He was really pushing the envelope. Too bad the envelope fell off the table. At least everybody that watched the WFAA report knows that he was being pursued and harrassed by Beard.

I'll just go ahead and admit that I am skeptical of the "stalking" and "harrassment" claims (I'm sure that will surprise no one who has been paying attention, since I seem to be the only one). So far, all we've heard is Willis' version, and also the claims of "bigdaddy," aka Willis' dad, who has shown no signs yet of being a rational person. In my experience, sometimes when a gay guy says "hello," what the straight guy actually hears is, "Hey sweetie, let's go to White Rock Lake, rub oil into each others' back and play twister!" This is because he's freaking out that a gay guy is talking to him in front of his friends, and he's never talked to a gay guy before, and he hoped he never would. And of course, he doesn't want his friends to think he's gay because he's being too civil towards him.

Who the hell cares if Beard was "harrassing" him, whatever the hell that means? How does a music major "sexually harrass" a D-1 athlete. I mean he's acting like Beard showed up at his dorm room naked and tried to rub his privates on him. I would accept that as an explanation, but that's not what's been reported. Show some MATURITY. Beating people up to show other people you are not gay? Your manhood should be evident without having to beat people up. If you're not gay yourself, what are you so worried about?

Oh and the report in the DMN stated that the other victim in the assault was female. Was she harrassing him too?