Brady Hoke
NFLBy Sean Keeley on

Every college football-related sexual assault scandal that comes up, and there have been too many of them to count, always seems to play out in roughly the same way. That appears to be the case for the San Diego State rape allegations that involve three football players, including punter Matt Araiza.

Last Thursday, a civil lawsuit was filed that accused Araiza, who was at that point a punter with the Buffalo Bills, and two other Aztecs players, of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl at an off-campus party in 2021. While the Bills sat Araiza on Friday and eventually released him over the weekend, the way that San Diego State has handled the situation is at the forefront of a lot of people’s minds.

 

Despite the fact that the alleged rap was known around campus, the school claims that it was told by San Diego police not to do their own investigation, so they didn’t compromise what their detectives were doing. However, the lack of alerts and awareness raised by the university after the fact has put them, and the football program, under scrutiny.

This is usually the part of the story where the school doubles down on its story and attempts to downplay further discussion. And that also appears to be what San Deigo State is trying.

Monday, football coach Brady Hoke and athletic director J.D. Wicker appeared before reporters to read prepared statements about the situation, saying that they wouldn’t discuss the matter further.

When reporters understandably kept asking questions about the athletic department’s decisions and role in the allegations, they both promptly got up and left rather than answering them. Hoke, in particular, appeared to be uncomfortable and disconnected, and even somewhat annoyed, during the proceedings. He also appeared to even smirk right before getting up and leaving, as if it was incredulous that reporters would continue asking questions about a gang rape involving his players.

Wicker did eventually return and answer questions about the situation, perhaps realizing the terrible optics.

Hoke then also eventually reemerged but only to discuss football.

All in all, a pretty embarrassing display of people who are supposed to be leaders of men and people who are supposed to take responsibility for a terrible situation. The lack of perceived accountability seems to back up the assumptions that a lot of people already have about the way the school and the football program handled things, not to mention the way that they’re now more concerned with covering their tracks than doing the right thing.

You’d think that people would learn how these situations always play out by now, but instead, we’ve learned that, more often than not, universities and athletics departments will protect themselves first and students second.

[The Big Lead, Todd Strain, Allison Edmonds]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Sean Keeley