HawkeyeStout
Well-Known Member
Oh no.... her Attorney is named "NewKirk" we are all in trouble....
Jurors hear starkly different portrayals in opening statements of Jane Meyer's case against Iowa
- Thread starter Duke
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Bigtenchamp
Well-Known Member
Well not neccesarily.. we have all worked with people who have horrible personalities and they bring everyone down.
But can they be fired for it?
It's a slippery slope, especially in government jobs.
EstronHawkKing
Well-Known Member
In the paper today it spoke about how Meyer's lawyer brought up that Ferentz hired his son Brian and son in law. Tom Brands hired his brother Terry and that Meyers was offended by McCaffery's and Chris Doyle dropping F-bombs during games. Her case is that she said she couldn't have a relationship with a female coach, but Kirk and Tom Brands can hire relatives to be on their staff. Another thing that could really hurt is the Iowa football Rhabdomyolysis case where the football players got sick and hospitalized a few back. No one was fired from that where Meyer's girlfriend/Iowa field hockey coach was apparently fired because she was hard on her players, made some of them play hurt. That could bite Barta/Ferentz on the butt.
SteveGarvey1
Well-Known Member
Barta's a white, heterosexual male. That's three strikes against him right off the bat in this kind of thing.
WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
Well, hiring your relatives has several downsides IMO, and this may be one unexpected consequence. The Rhabdo thing is different and an unexpected outcome to a workout. No one intentionally put players in harms way. If Greisbaum told players to play hurt and was abusive...well, that's much different.
I just hope the U of I lawyer has KF, FM, & TB well coached. Because Kirk just isn't good with media trying to explain things. Under oath where he can't hide things so easily, I could see a good lawyer tearing him apart and if that becomes public, it hurts.
Fran and Brands have short tempers and a good lawyer could work them up easily.
Fran and Brands have short tempers and a good lawyer could work them up easily.
EstronHawkKing
Well-Known Member
Let's just hope the 12 jurors aren't all Cyclone fans
Jon or Rob, did you ever have any issues with Meyer?
Jon or Rob, did you ever have any issues with Meyer?
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WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
Agreed...but I've rarely seen a situation where a subordinate berates their boss and keeps their job. Insubordination is a fireable offense.
SpiderRico
Well-Known Member
Fran isn't on the witness list for this case.
Brands can be fiery on the wrestling mat, sure, but I'm sure he's mature enough to keep it toned down in court.
KF does just fine on the witness stand. He's already been there in the Cedric Everson/Abe Satterfield case.
Also, people need to stop trying to put together the Griesbaum case, with this one, they are not the same. It doesn't matter if Barta was right or wrong in firing the softball coach, it only matters if he was right or wrong in firing Jane. And as has already been pointed out in court, there is a difference between doing a good job in your job (being productive) and treating everyone around you like shit, which Jane has apparently done over the years....especially since Barta arrived. She alienated most all the coaches in the department, she talked down to dept staffers, and she was openly hostile and insubordinate in a department staff setting in front of other direct reports of Barta. Any one of those would have been grounds for immediate termination. She's lucky she still had a job to subsequently lose. I think the University is on pretty solid ground here and it's no surprise that Jane turned down a settlement for an opportunity to smear Barta and KF in court.
Like you said, I think Meyer has made her own bed. And that will come out in court so I think that will take care of itself.
Maybe I just need to have more confidence in KF and Barta on the stand and in public. I do know that in 2011, the football program was smeared nationally and those two did nothing to stop it. They let the media run wild.
I don't want to see that happen again and a good lawyer could spin this easily, regardless of what the court ruling ends up. On the stand those two better be careful
DodgerHawki
Well-Known Member
Like most things, there are 2 sides to every tale. And if they bring up rhabdo in comparison specifically to Griesbaum, it will allow for the UI's attorneys to paint specific differences between the rhabo incident and the reasons for Griesbaum's termination. In the rhabdo case, the coaches/S&C personnel didn't ignore the players or force them to continue once it was discovered the rhabdo was occurring. If the staff persisted in doing the same exercise regimen that produced the rhabdo, then yes one could make that argument.
The inclusion of the family members on coaching staffs may have more weight/legs. Not in the sense that B Ferentz or Terry Brands are unqualified, because they are. Spending 4 years with the Patriots and 2 of those as a position coach certainly qualifies a coach to be a position coach in college. And Terry Brands is an accomplished wrestler and Olympic coach, he's qualified. The issue is the appearance.
DodgerHawki
Well-Known Member
99% of the public (probably more) would not be able to recall the 2011 rhabdo case. It was news for a few days during the off-season. It became more than it should have been due to Iowa's slow and borderline incompetent response in the first few days it happened. Barta was on a fundraising trip and KF was out recruiting so they sent out Football Operations person, a doctor and Mr. Poggi if I remember correctly. Had Barta and KF been at the initial press conference it would not have been as big a story as it became.
There is inherent risk in going under oath, but if Barta and KF can't handle this then they don't deserve to be in their jobs.
DodgerHawki
Well-Known Member
I would argue that KF is actually quite good at explaining things. His job in media settings is not to tell us fans every piece of information we want to hear. It's to provide some small sliver of insight into the state of his team or the opponent (during the game week press conferences) and to share his thoughts on the game (in the post-game interview).
And Fran and Brands are much smarter than you give them credit for. They will be called in to share their experiences of working with Meyer. If they stick to the truth, they'll be fine.
None of those arguments would have any merit should her lawyer bring them up.
Hiring relatives is extremely common in college sports, as long as the relationship stays professional, and in Brian's case, it's hard to say it hasn't been. Same with the Brands.
Language on a field or court of play is rough and cannot be expected to be clean, and again has no bearing on job performance.
Meyer's problem with Griesbaum is that she knowingly entered a relationship with someone who directly reports to her, which is very unprofessional, regardless of sexual orientation or gender. On top of that, it's been reported that because of this, Meyer may have given Griesbaum's team special consideration and resources compared to other athletic teams.
I really do not see Iowa losing this case. So far, Meyer has relied mostly on character assassination of the athletic department, which, to me, reeks of a lack of evidence on her claims.
One item that will come out is that players went to Meyers to complain about the hockey coach. Meyers told the coach who complained about what. It was when the players figured out Meyers was doing that that they then went to other officials in the Athletic Department. and that got Meyers in more trouble than she was already in. It has nothing to do with her partner or sexual orientation but they must paint that picture to attempt to win the lawsuit.
Do you have this on fairly good authority? If so, that is damning.
EstronHawkKing
Well-Known Member
Word is that Meyer recently applied for an athletic AD sports position within Rutgers. Those at Rutgers who interviewed her asked for some references from the athletic dept at Iowa, she couldn't get one person to give her one. So, Meyer did not get hired at Rutgers. Just shows how despised she was by others at Iowa.
