Listen, I respect Shaun O'Hara standing up for Kyle Flood when a majority of the people whose opinions matter have remained mum on the subject. At the same time, I think the last thing this university needs right now is more controversy. Especially controversy that stems from a former student athlete, with a large social platform, calling out the people that ultimately make the decisions at Rutgers. Yes, it's nice to have Kyle Flood's integrity spoken for by a reliable source. However, I can't help but think this is just one of those situations where it's better to ignore the pessimism and let this petty "investigation" die out on it's own. No matter how many times the Star Ledger attempts to play it up as some sort of scandal it's not going to alter my view that a head coach innocently emailing an athlete's professor isn't a big deal. However, people see this story run in a major publication enough times they might just let themselves be influenced otherwise.
Let's take a look at what Shaun O'Hara accomplished with that tweet. He called the President of the University spineless. While he's not wrong, anyone that was paying attention already knew that Robert Barchi didn't have a backbone. That was evident when he let former AD Tim Pernetti take the fall for the infamous video of Mike Rice's "unique" coaching habits. A video of which he was well aware. He also implied that the current athletic director is too scared to speak up. If there is anything I know about Julie Hermann it's that she speaks her mind, even if what's on it doesn't exactly paint her, or the University, in the best light. In my opinion, her lack of a statement on the subject really speaks to how much of a non-story it is. The news of the email was broken, Kyle Flood released a statement pretty much just acknowledging the silliness of the whole thing, and I haven't heard a peep of negativity surrounding it since. If I had to guess, I would say that Hermann silence was more about letting sleeping dogs lie. A strategy that Shaun O'Hara indirectly opposed when he clicked send on this tweet. I appreciate his intentions, but showing an inter-university disconnect and giving the Star Ledger yet another reason to speak ill of Rutgers probably wasn't the best way to handle his frustrations. Even if everyone with half a brain knows that this entire "investigation" is at best a joke, and at worst a witch hunt.
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