A violation is a violation. So just because someone else does it makes it ok for other to do it. Violating the rules no matter how severe is still wrong. It's amazing how we seem to overlook these things when a team is winning. No one is saying that OU has never broken the rules. I just think it's pretty sad when people admire a coach who has knowingly broken the rules. She knew it was wrong when she did it but winning at all cost seems to be ok with some people.
Let's ask a question or questions.
If Sherri were to have made all of those phone calls and contacts that were deemed petty by the NCAA, would we feel that they were petty? Isn't that what Kelvin did---phone calls. He was pretty much shoved out of OU and Indiana for that. We speak of Kelvin (I still think phone calls are over-rated as a crime) as though he were the devil incarnate.
Let's add to that the fact that there was some illegal recruiting going on that Sally Jenkins and Michelle Voepel stated was not good for women's basketball. Kim had an excuse. How would we feel if Sherri had had the national press censor her rather than praise her?
But, let's add some behavioral issues. We have seen Baylor's players:
---pull a player's hair
---hit a player in the face with a fist
---deliberately hit a player in the face with an elbow
---start fights on the floor
None of this received anything other than excuses (well, when the Big Twelve stepped in, there was an apology) by the coach. The players in the hair-pulling incident had a melee in which some left the bench to become involved, an automatic suspension (they weren't suspended). Would you feel like Sherri were representing OU if she were to do this?
Can you see Harvard, Notre Dame, Yale, Columbia, Duke, or Stanford accepting a coach's approval of such actions? Woody Hayes at least got fired for hitting a player. Curiously, Knight did not get fired for throwing a chair. What would you accept as responsible behavior by a representative of the University of Oklahoma? Where do you draw the line?
