More Hocutt Shame

Snippet:
"Shapiro took scores of players out on his $1.6 million yacht. It didn’t cost nearly as much as the Orange Bowl spent in 2010 to provide 40 athletic directors and four conference commissioners (plus spouses) with a four-day Caribbean cruise.
Included in that junket? Then-Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt."
Said it once and I'll say it again. Think what you want about Myers but he was no Hocutt when it comes to being connected to this level and variety of scandal. As if the Tech leadership needed to look any worse.
I would rather get rid of Hocutt than see headlines in a couple of years about him looking the other way as our athletic program slid into non-compliance and continuing to be involved in big bowl improprieties.

9 months ago TracySaulRulz 9 comments 0 recs |

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Gerald

Makes empty suits look good and he has major issues…you said to say what we want…:)

"Trust your gut....mine always finds good Mexican food"
-Me

by oldschoolraider on Aug 17, 2011 9:23 PM CDT reply actions

We don't know that Myers didn't also take his share of perks along the way.

Maybe I missed the sarc font, but, we only know about Hocutt because of he greater scandal. Otherwise we wouldn’t know and wouldn’t care. There were 39 other AD’s and 4 conference commissioners there with him on that particular trip. Tar and feather the whole bunch of them? My understanding is that these types of things happen every year and several times a year and almost all AD’s go along for the ride in some form or fashion. Most importantly, it appears that this it sanctioned. Where is the shame? I’d be willing to money down that if anyone cared to dig – they’d find that Myers regularly took advantage of those types of perks.

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Harvey "Big Daddy" Pollitt: "What's that smell in this room? Didn't you notice it, Brick? Didn't you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?"

by Dunka on Aug 18, 2011 9:03 AM CDT reply actions

"Everybody does it" defense

I don’t prescribe to that, nor should it absolve the appearance of improprieties. The shame is that Tech, through Hocutt, is now directly linked to activities that were connected to a major bowl scandal that should’ve cost the bowl its tax-exempt status and its standing in the BCS lineup if the NCAA had any spine. The problem is that nobody wants to bite the hands that feeds them, and feeds them well.
Feel free to go digging on Gerald. Maybe you find something, maybe you don’t. The point is that there are now two very public scandals that our AD has been associated with and no digging was necessary.

by TracySaulRulz on Aug 18, 2011 11:04 AM CDT up reply actions

Missed my point.

My understanding is that the cruise that Hocutt and the others went on is completely acceptable under the established rules. It’s not about “everybody’s doing something wrong – so therefore I should be able to do it too.” You’re indicating that it is against the rules and all I am saying is that I don’t think that it is. Now, without a doubt, in light of all of the transgressions at the Fiesta bowl, there is a new scrutiny about how bowls can spend money. But the Fiesta bowl was using money in ways that flat out was against NCAA rules (personal use type things) and is also being looked into by the IRS. As far as Bowls sending officials on cruises, I don’t believe any bylaws have been broken, as I think that the bowls are allowed to offer those trips. There is no moral issue either. It’s not a sin to accept a legitimate perk that breaks no laws. It happens everyday in all kinds of businesses, and is an accepted practice for doing business.

As for Gerald, my saying that I think he did this is not a knock aimed toward him either. Contrary to what a lot of people on this board think, I think that Gerald did some good for Tech over the years. Not real proud of how his career wound down, but I don’t hold the same animosity that a lot of folks seem to. When he was involved with the NCAA at higher levels, I believe he was offered plenty of those cruise type opportunities and I thing he could take those and keep his integrity intact in that regard.

The 1st sentence in the snippet regarding players on a yacht is a completely different event and completely different issue than the following lines regarding the Orange Bowl sending AD’s/Commissioners on a cruise. The two are in no way related. The way they are presented is an attempt to make the Bowl trips look like they are against the rules and somehow another devious undertaking by Hocutt. (A pattern of behavior!!!) Many believe, and maybe correctly (I’m not sure), that there might be some conflict of interest in the practice. Likely the writer of the snippet is in that camp.

Really, that is a long winded explanation (by me) to say that I don’t think this should be something that Tech should be ashamed of. Today. Right now. Because I have no idea what may come out next, and that could change my mind dramatically.

by Dunka on Aug 18, 2011 12:11 PM CDT up reply actions

So are you saying that Gerald

does not like grapes?

"As we continue to merely "talk about championships""

by blackbeard on Aug 18, 2011 3:12 PM CDT up reply actions

Nooooooooooooo...

Just the opposite ….. the last couple of years I suspect the bowl committees switched over from sending him on cruises to sending him crates of grapes.

by Dunka on Aug 18, 2011 3:43 PM CDT up reply actions

At his age there no greater gift than the gift of regularity

2011 Season - No excuses. Just win!

by mbrown603 on Aug 18, 2011 5:58 PM CDT up reply actions

I'll try again

But with fewer words.

If I have to defend my school because it appears (key word) a high-visibility university employee/athlete was involved, connected, whatever with something deemed, at the least, to be bad judgment, then that employee has brought shame to the school and, by extension, to me.

allegedly broke the law > allegedly broke rules > questionable ethics > questionable judgment
It doesn’t matter when it comes to appearances.

Would you not agree it is humiliating having to continually answer questions about Hance, Bailey and Myers’ actions? This isn’t any different. People don’t want to let facts get in the way so they rely on appearances. Even without proof that Hocutt has done wrong, we will have to deal with that. With Gillispie, you’re stuck with “yeah, well, I guess he was a drunk before, but now he’s changed”. I hate having to defend our school in that way, especially when it involves those we consider leaders.

by TracySaulRulz on Aug 19, 2011 12:32 PM CDT up reply actions

I am tired of it too.

And Hance, Meyers and Bailey unquestionably earned it. But you singled out Hocutt.

As much as I hate to have to defend my university from things like that, I would hate it even worse to know that I would willingly throw a man under the bus, before having a clue if he deserves it. I can believe that Kirby didn’t know what he was getting into, I can believe that the bad guys at Miami felt him out and decided he needed to be out of the loop, I can believe that Kirby began to suspect things, and I can believe that he had no proof and no backing to pursue any of it. I can believe that even with a pristine conscience he simply didn’t have anything concrete in the way of evidence to do the right thing and so he just started looking for a way out of a mess that he had no control over and no power to effect what so ever.

I understand that those all of that may be prove out to be incorrect, but at this moment we are speculating as to how much he knew, when he knew it and what if anything he could have done. There is more than one way to hurt one’s reputation. If Hocutt is a clean guy that was guilty of being in the proximity of a bad situation, I wouldn’t find it very respectable if Tech threw him under the bus because of a potential for an image problem. It would be worthy of high praise if it turns out he wasn’t guilty of anything and we didn’t throw him under the bus. I’d like to think that Tech has that kind of gumption as well.

by Dunka on Aug 19, 2011 12:53 PM CDT up reply actions