Former Duke coach reaches settlement
I was pleased to read that the former coach for Duke Lacrosse has reached a settlement with Duke. I’m sure many of you heard about the rape accusations from a stripper who worked at a Lacrosse party. The stripper accused three players of rape and they were charged with kidnapping, sexual offense, and rape. The team’s season was cancelled and the coach resigned. The head coach at that time, Mike Pressler, was the only staff member at Duke standing up for these players and the only one to lose his job from this fiasco. The players have since been cleared of all charges and the prosecutor is now on trial for ethics violations from the case.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper didn’t just dismiss all the remaining criminal charges against Evans, Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty. He took the extra step of declaring the players innocent — the victims of a “tragic rush to accuse” by a rogue prosecutor who could be disbarred for his actions.
“This case shows the enormous consequences of overreaching by a prosecutor,” Cooper said. …
Former Duke lacrosse coach Mike Pressler, who resigned under fire and is now lacrosse coach at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., said he was convinced early on that his former players were innocent.
“Two days after this happened, I knew what the truth was,” he said. “When you say you believe in somebody, when you say you believe the truth, you stand by them.”
Anyways, Duke University has reached a financial settlement with Pressler. I feel it’s the least they can do after refusing to stand behind their head coach and not supporting him during what had to be an absolutely awful year for him.
Though the university would not disclose terms of the deal, a school official confirmed Thursday that Duke reached “an amicable, fair financial settlement” with Pressler a few months ago.
“Coach Pressler is an excellent coach and did a great job building the Duke men’s lacrosse program,” John Burness, Duke’s vice president for public affairs, told The Associated Press. “Unfortunately last spring it was essential for the team to have a change of leadership in order to move forward.
“We regret the negative consequences this decision had on Coach Pressler. He and Duke reached an amicable, fair financial settlement in which Duke recognized his contributions to the lacrosse program and the circumstances of his departure.”
Lee Southren, Pressler’s agent, declined to comment Thursday night.
Pressler helped write a book called It’s Not About the Truth about this fiasco with SI writer Don Yeager and it goes on sale this Tuesday. You can order it now on Amazon.com. Mark @ SportsBiz wrote a review about the book.
What Yaeger was able to portray so well in his book was the deeply personal cost of this entire sordid affair. The effect of the charges not only on the three indicted Duke students and their families but on the other 43 lacrosse players and their families and particularly on Mike Pressler, their coach who was perhaps the major casualty. He was summarily fired for standing by his players and refusing to throw anyone under the bus, yet never wavered from the truth or his players. He was steadfast in his support of his players and never uttered a critical word in public even after it cost him his job. Why Duke felt it necessary to fire him has never been satisfactorily explained by anyone to this day and remains one of the great mysteries of this case.
Of course, most of Brodhead’s actions in this matter are mysteries - the man was in so far over his head it’s almost sad really. He should never have left his safe, secure post as a dean at Yale - he’s clearly not cut out for this job. The closing letter from Janet Pressler, Mike’s teenage daughter, to Brodhead, eloquently sums up not only her or her family’s pain but Brodhead’s ineptitude.
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