It seems to me we have several people who post on this board that likely share the bigoted views of Ron Brown, or have other bigoted views of their own. And, given the laws that govern The United States of America, you are free to have whatever views and beliefs you wish.
The difference between those of us who post on this site, and Ron Brown is that we do NOT work for, or in anyway represent Youngstown State University with our comments on this site. Some of you may well work at YSU, but because this board does not require people to provide their actual name when posting, identities remain anonymous. There are exceptions, such as myself who has their name at the bottom of every post, or others like Ed Puskas and Sean Bryan, who when posting using their real names as their user name.
And, again, Ron Brown is free to have any beliefs he wishes to have, that is NOT THE ISSUE. The issue is his admittedly using his position as football coach at Nebraska as a platform from which to share his beliefs, some of which violate anti-discrimination laws, and laws under which he agreed to work.
Now, all of this took place at Nebraska, so in no way is it the job of Ron Strollo, Jim Tressel or anyone else at YSU to sanction Brown for actions prior to his employment at YSU. But, going forward, it will be up to Ron Strollo, Jim Tressel and others within the administration to make sure Ron Brown is not able to do some of the very things he did while at Nebraska. And, when, not if, Brown uses his position at YSU in a way that violates anti-discrimination laws and/or the Establishment Clause, allowing this to happen without penalty will reflect poorly upon Youngstown State University. The reason I said WHEN Brown acts in this manner is because he has ben quoted as saying it would be an honor to be fired for his beliefs. In some ways, Ron Brown can be viewed as a person who WANTS to be a martyr. A person who is going to say and do whatever he pleases, even if it violates The Establishment Clause, anti-discrimination laws, or the wishes of his superiors. That is what he did at Nebraska for 20+ years, so no reason to believe it will be any different at YSU.
And, when that does happen, there will be a backlash. A backlash from students, faculty, staff, alums and maybe even those in the general public. The backlash will lead to media coverage in local media, and quite possibly nationally. The possibility of national media coverage is made more likely given Browns reputation nationally, as well as, Bo Pelini being a high profile Head Coach, and Jim Tressel being a high profile President.
As of now, Brown has done NOTHING to warrant being fired. I do think his past words and actions are enough cause for concern for him to have not been hired by YSU, but the powers that be have chosen otherwise. As I've said before, I know back when Dan Peter's was Head men's basketball coach, he wanted to hire his friend, Keith Dambrot as an assistant coach. Dambrot had been embroiled in controversy while HC at CMU, when he used the word nigger while addressing his players. He did this while first asking permission to use that word, and no players spoke out against Dambrot when he eventually was fired or forced to resign. While no players spoke out against him publicly, it was similar to the case invovling Bo Pelinin where private conversations with the team were recorded, and then released. In the case of Dambrodt, I do not recall there being any recording made, but what took place in that CLOSED DOOR meeting with his players and staff eventually became public knowledge, and not long after, Dambrot was out of a job.
Peter's wanted to hire Dambrot because he knew the guy. Dambrot was and stil is an excellent coach, as he has proven when he coached Akron SVSM for Lebrons 9th and 10th grade seasons, and with the success he has had in his current position as Head Coach at Akron. Keith was also known to be an excellent recruiter, and it is no secret to anyone with the slightest bit of knowledge of the Dan Peter's era, that he was not found of the recruiting process. In fact, that is likely one reason he failed to have more success at YSU. He relied heavily upon the assistant coach's to recruit. He most likely put too much trust in their player evaluations, and that led to some players that were likely not capable of playing at YSU being offered scholarships. The ultimate responsibility for this lies with Dan.
Dambrot was not hired, largely because Jim Tressel, who was AD at the time saw it as being too controversial of a hire. In essence, what according to players, coaches and Dambrot himself was a poor decision that then got blown out of proportion, resulted in his not being hired by YSU. Not only that, he was blackballed entirely from coaching. That is, until he was given an opportunity by Akron SVSM, and then finally by Akron. Dambrot made ONE mistake, and given the accounts of what happened as I've heard them, I'm not even sure it was a mistake. I say that because of the fact he asked permission from the team to use the word nigger. Having said that, just as no players at Nebraska would come out and speaking negatively of Brown, it is not far fetched that one or more players on the CMU team may not have been comfortable with Dambrot using the word nigger, but refrained from saying so out of fear. And, to his credit, Dambrot to this day will say he made a poor decision. That he messed up, and that it is something he wishes he could undo. Now, compare that with Ron Brown, who has no remorse at all for any of the people he has hurt.
1AA Fan can move this to the BS forum and act as if it has nothing to do with YSU or YSU Athletics. Others can also remain in denial. But, trust me, there are groups closely watching Ron Brown. Groups that will not hesitate to contact YSU and do whatever is necessary to have Brown terminated, IF he crosses the line. The hope is that this will not happen. And, as long as Brown does not abuse his position at YSU, then eventually this discussion will go away on it's own.
Personally, I think a great way to handle this would be to have a press conference to introduce ALL of the new assistant coach's. And, allow ANY member of the media who wants to attend to attend. Not a limited media press conference, like what took place when Bo Pelini was announced as Head Coach. Introduce the coach's. Allow them to speak on their own behalf. Allow them to be asked questions. Just because they are asked questions, they are not obligated to give detailed answers, or say things that will lead to trouble for them or the University. When asked about incidents while coaching at Nebraska, Ron Brown could give a pat answer along the lines of "what happened there is in the past. I'm now coaching at Youngstown State, I'm excited for this opportunity, and look forward to helping build a successful football program, and also help the players and the community in any way possible." He could also pull a Marshawn Lynch, and just answer that he is there because he was told to be there.
The only reason for Brown to go on about his Christian beliefs, and state espousing things that have NOTHING to do with football is if he makes that choice. Even then, simply stating he has a strong faith in Christ would be fine with me. Problems would begin to arise IF he were to state he intended to use his position as football coach to push his beliefs onto players, other coach's and the University as a whole, or he started making comments that violate the anti-discrimination laws and policies of YSU and the Public Education System in Ohio.
