If you were Boeheim what would you have said?

[DeGrozz]

I'm not as high on the presser as most people are tonight. I'm not saying it's bad, but I didn't think it was perfect either.

If I was Boeheim, I would have laid out the facts:

1 - There were three investigations that could not corroborate the story;
2 - The victim brought my name into the situation by saying I saw him on Bernie's bed;
3 - I don't visit other coaches rooms, as has been corroborated through many interviews with ESPN and the Post Standard;
4 - The victim is now saying I couldn't (didn't?) know what was going on

And that is why I came out so harshly against them. Unfortunately, he only brought up point 1. If I was his PR guy (and I have no PR experience) I would have been instructing him to hit points 2 through 4 hard.

So here's the question -- if you were Boeheim, what would you have said?

 

[Marsh01]

 

[Toga]

Juli has a tape. Any more questions?

 

[mark79]

Yep, I'm with you. I'd give him a
grade of B. He tends to talk too much that is for sure. I believe he also said there were three investigations in 2005 which I don't believe is accurate. He probably just got a little mixed up - no one jumped on him for it.


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.600266,-77.826754

 

[SUFan44]

Not perfect, but nobody in their right mind could be perfect given the circumstances.

He did the best he could, and didn't say anything that was remarkable I don't think.

There were three investigations -- SU, SPD and the media's (I'm assuming).

All in all, I think he got his point across that he was saying what he said with what he knew at the time, with all of the facts that he was presented with at the time.

The one thing that this is going to come down to is should he have known about all of this while he was the head coach and the CEO of the program. I don't think anyone (at least most) thinks he knew in detail of what was going on.

We shall see. I don't think the press conference hurt him or helped him, really.

 

[MaxwellCuse]

In situations like this the less said the better. However, JB is JB. You knew he was going to talk and all things considered he handled the questions reasonably well. We have had an hour to think about our answers by now so naturally our responses will all be better than JBs. We could probably all win 2 or 3 more games a year than him too.

 

[Upstate]

I wish he didn't say "We'll find out everything that happened under my watch", because that makes him seem responsible. I wish he said, "We'll find out what happened and if anything comes up pertaining to the program directly, it will be dealt with responsibly."

 

[Tank19]

I wish he didn't say "We'll find out everything that happened under my watch", because that makes him seem responsible. I wish he said, "We'll find out what happened and if anything comes up pertaining to the program directly, it will be dealt with responsibly."

As I said in the chat the, the "I'm responsible for everything on my watch" comments refer to what goes on inside the basketball program. He is defining 'on my watch" by what goes on inside the program. "On my watch" doesn't refer to anything adults do outside the confines of the program.

This comment came after he had mentioned he has no control over what adults do outside the program.

Unfortunately, though, I don't think the media types will take it this way.

 

[DeGrozz]

I wish he didn't say "We'll find out everything that happened under my watch", because that makes him seem responsible. I wish he said, "We'll find out what happened and if anything comes up pertaining to the program directly, it will be dealt with responsibly."

I'm thinking the exact opposite. If Fine is messing around with a kid in his basement, it's not up to JB to discover that. If people are whispering to JB that Fine is molesting little kids on SU basketball road-trips, then JB does have a responsibility as the leader of this program to do something about it. I liked what he said there.

 

[Shenexon]

I liked him being chatty from the standpoint that he came off as genuine and struggling with the pain that the Bernie Fine thing has and is causing him. He got pretty emotional when the questioner mentioned the "on your watch" thing and think JB was very poetic with his rhetoric returning each phrase with the "on my watch" ending. That would make a great clip. He made it clear that even the head coach has boundaries and that it's not HIS program, it's the SU bball program with many responsible entities. The only part I didn't like was when he got flustered not knowing how he wanted to describe the lack of corroboration for the accusations as the basis for his original defense of Bernie.

 

[upperdeck]

what JB wants to say and what he can say are not always the same. he is part of the investigation no reason to make statements that are not thought out in a situation like this that is emotional.

 

[arbitragegls]

...glad he is our coach...he should have read the statement, gone into the game; asked for game questions and left...zilch on anything else

 

[Upstate]

I'm thinking the exact opposite. If Fine is messing around with a kid in his basement, it's not up to JB to discover that. If people are whispering to JB that Fine is molesting little kids on SU basketball road-trips, then JB does have a responsibility as the leader of this program to do something about it. I liked what he said there.

Well, we can't assume that JB was told or wasn't told at this point. Everyone claims he was told nothing, and he says he didn't know, so as far as we know, the only argument contrary to him "not knowing", is "how couldn't he have known". I agree that its not up to JB to find this stuff out. His statement, to me, could and probably will be, misconstrued into JB taking responsibility for anything that Fine did while employed with SU. I don't think he meant it that way, nor should anyone in their right mind take it that way. I was simply implying that it will probably be taken in the wrong context to be made to sound broader than what JB seemed to actually be saying.

 

[DoctorBombay]

One of the reasons Paterno lost the media battle, was because we never heard him speak except in drive-by interviews.
JB stood up there, made his points, explained his reasoning, & stood up to the media. That's HUGE!
The media loves to bully, & JB never lost control or shied away. I think he did a good job.

With that said...watch how the media now edits his comments.:bang:

 

[swish7]

I'm not as high on the presser as most people are tonight. I'm not saying it's bad, but I didn't think it was perfect either.

If I was Boeheim, I would have laid out the facts:

1 - There were three investigations that could not corroborate the story;
2 - The victim brought my name into the situation by saying I saw him on Bernie's bed;
3 - I don't visit other coaches rooms, as has been corroborated through many interviews with ESPN and the Post Standard;
4 - The victim is now saying I couldn't (didn't?) know what was going on

And that is why I came out so harshly against them. Unfortunately, he only brought up point 1. If I was his PR guy (and I have no PR experience) I would have been instructing him to hit points 2 through 4 hard.

So here's the question -- if you were Boeheim, what would you have said?

I'm no lawyer, but I don't think he could say any of that without it leading to a) MUCH more difficult questions, and b) court-admissable statements. The whole point of his presser was that he could not say anything about the events b/c there was an investigation ongoing.