University of Iowa remains silent on when they knew about Coker assault investigation
Former University of Iowa running back Marcus Coker played in as many as five games after UI officials became aware he was the subject of a sexual assault investigation, an investigation that concluded last week.
Iowa City Police Lt. Doug Hart said Wednesday that UI officials were notified about the investigation either Friday, Oct. 28 — the day the unnamed victim reported the assault — or the following Monday. However, UI officials refused to disclose Wednesday when they learned about the investigation or who was first notified.
“University of Iowa sophomore and running back Marcus Coker was suspended from participation in the 2011 Insight Bowl for violating the UI Student-Athlete Code of Conduct and subsequently withdrew his application to enroll in spring semester classes,” UI spokesman Tom Moore said in an email to the Press-Citizen. “The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits the university from providing further details.”
Iowa City Police say that Coker was under investigation for a sexual assault alleged to have occurred Oct. 28. On Dec. 20, UI football coach Kirk Ferentz suspended Coker for the 2011 Insight Bowl, which was played Dec. 30. Iowa City Police say that the investigation into Coker closed without charges being filed Jan. 3. The University of Iowa has acknowledged that it was aware of the investigation into Coker.
The university’s silence leaves it unclear as to who at UI knew about the investigation and when they knew it, and why Coker was suspended for the bowl game. If his suspension was related to the assault investigation, why was he allowed to play in the team’s five remaining regular season games?
Coker, a sophomore running back, requested and was given his release from his football scholarship Tuesday, three weeks after Ferentz suspended him and 10 weeks after the opening of the sexual assault investigation.
According to an Iowa City Police Oct. 28, 2011, Incident Report obtained by the Press-Citizen in an open records request, an unnamed woman reported to police at 4:53 a.m. that she was assaulted by Coker. The assault allegedly occurred between 1:15 and 1:30 a.m. at Coker’s residence at 618 Iowa Ave. An incident synopsis notes the responding officer was called to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for a sexual assault.
Iowa City Police Lt. Doug Hart, head of the department’s investigations unit, told the Press-Citizen on Friday that Coker was investigated for an assault, but the Johnson County Attorney’s Office ultimately decided not to prosecute. Hart said the alleged victim did not wish to go forward with the case.
On Wednesday, Iowa City Police Sgt. Denise Brotherton said the department conducted a “thorough investigation” that concluded Jan. 3. The case could be reopened within five years, Brotherton said, but noted that without the alleged victim’s involvement, there was little the police department could do.
“There’s nothing more for us to do until something else changes,” she said. “Everything just kind of stopped. We can’t have a sexual assault investigation without the victim.”
Brotherton said the case was submitted to the county attorney’s office at the end of November. She said that typically, the county attorney’s office takes a week to review the case before discussing it further with police.
Janet Lyness said Wednesday she was not asked to make the determination about whether to pursue prosecution because the victim did not want to go forward with the case. While the county attorney’s office could prosecute without the alleged victim’s approval, Lyness said her office defers to the victim when appropriate.
“We will try to honor the victim’s wishes in sex abuse cases,” Lyness said.
Lyness did say she approved the Iowa City Police Department’s request to allow UI officials an opportunity to review their investigative reports. Lyness said when an agency such as the University of Iowa is conducting its own internal investigation into a matter that could involve criminal charges, it will sometimes ask to review investigative reports. At that point, the investigating department will request permission to allow that agency to review those documents.
Lyness said the request from the university to review the police department’s documents related to the Coker investigation came sometime in late November. Lyness said she doesn’t remember what UI office asked to see the investigative reports nor did she keep any record of that request.
“To be honest, I don’t remember which office,” Lyness said. “I just don’t know.”
Lyness speculated the office was either the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity or a university office that works with EOD. She said she doesn’t know if it was the athletic department that requested to see the documents.
Coker has not publicly commented on his suspension or his reason for leaving the university. His attorney, Leon Spies, said Wednesday that Coker will continue not to discuss his departure.
“I think his wishes are to focus on his family and the big changes that are coming up in his academic and personal life,” Spies said. “I think he’d prefer to be with himself and his family.”
Spies — who represented former UI football players Cedric Everson and Abe Satterfield in past sexual assault cases — declined to comment on remarks that Coker made on his Facebook page indicating he was punished for something he didn’t do. Spies also said he was “honor-bound” to not discuss Coker’s suspension.
“There’s not a lot I can tell you,” he said. “(Coker’s) mission is to continue to strive to be the best student and teammate and citizen he can be. He’ll strive for those goals somewhere other than Iowa City.”
The university has been under close scrutiny before for how it has handled alleged sexual assault cases, particularly in the athletic department. The handling of the case of Everson and Satterfield ultimately led to the firing of two University of Iowa vice presidents and an overhaul of university policy surrounding such cases.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
This thing is far from done.It seems there are more questions every day.Sooner or later the university is going to need to be more forthcoming.
A little damage control is needed before this thing gets way out of hand.This is all over ESPN as it is.
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“More forthcoming”? You are aware the University of Iowa doesn’t owe you anything.
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Stop being an apologist. These cover-ups are getting tiresome, even for Hawk fans.
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OMG. This cover-up started with Ferentz, then the university, even Coker’s lawyer is refusing to discuss the details. How deep can this go? The Federal government is even a part of this with some privacy act. This may stretch all the way to Obama!
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THURSDAY HEADLINES: University of Iowa STILL remains silent on when they knew about Coker almost being charged with assault. The University is still hiding behind the federal privacy laws while continuing with the cover-up conspiracy.
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what cover ups are you referring to? The only ones I’ve heard about have been made by delusional cyclone fans only
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You are so wrong with that statement, but you can go ahead and believe your little fantasy.
It only makes you look like the fool you are.
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What cover up are you talking about?
Iowa City police is one of the best police departments in the state for getting this information out there quickly.
Every reporter or sports talk show host in the State of Iowa lives on the Iowa City Police web site looking for this kind of stuff.
There was nothing to report, they don’t report investigations when no charges are filed.
Have you ever heard of the constitution or the bill of rights?????
Don’t these rules and civil liberties apply to all citizens of the country?
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I say that with “tongue in cheek”. This story has been beat to death and is absolutely rediculous. For the life of me I can’t understand why this is even a story. There were no charges filed. It remains a suspension which is covered in the privacy act. Ferentz has been villified as smug and aloof for not commenting when the reporters know that he can’t because of privacy issues. The kids involved are forbidden to speak to media about their suspensions. These reporters know this, but yet they call these kids at home and try to get them to talk. They run these stories over and over knowing privacy issues are involved. It is just plain dumb for them to be throwing these stories up over and over.
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Well said!
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ESPN is a joke. Smart people pay no attention to its “news” reporting. For more honest coverage, watch TMZ.
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northiowaguy:
You have no real concept of what privacy is protected by law and what isn’t. Until you do, perhaps it’s best you don’t comment on it as an “expert”. There’s actually quite a bit of information that could be gleaned yet (some from UI) but they’re not talking, putting everything under the guise of “privacy”. Some facts are protected, some are not. Period.
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There is no story, no crime committed. The suspension is between the school and the player. There were suspensions at ISU but they were barely reported. There were all kinds of arrests and citations at ISU with little acknowledgement. This suspension at Iowa has been blown out of porporion. There were kids kicked off the ISU team but barely a story. There was a first degree armed robbery right charge before the OSU signature win, but barely reported. The kid arrested for armed robbery still played in the OSU game.
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I’m trying to understand why it took a public records request to get a police report that should have been public the morning after the police call. Not the investigative report, but the face sheet that tells what address the cop went to and the subject of the call.
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probably because there was no arrest made or charges filed. Learn the law. You don’t have a right to know a nothing story
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You are an idiot. Every police call is a public record, whether it’s a stray cat or another Hawkeye player raping someone. Pull your head out of the sand and give it a shake.
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Don’t be dumb. Not every public record gets published in the paper. You still have to request most “public information” if you want it.
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Do a search for 2011 Iowa universities football player arrests. There are no Hawkeye player rape charges. You will find a lot of owi, public intoxications, assaults, assaults on a police officer, breaking and entering, bulguries, first degree armed robbery, etc. You will be very disappointed to find only 2 owi citations for Hawkeye players. The rest are for other team.
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Not if it’s still under investigation.
What are you doing in the sports pages skip? Shouldn’t you be guiding Iowa’s educational system?
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skipbone…how long are you going to beat this dead horse. This happened almost 10 years ago. It’s ancient history. The player was suspended for a year. He was given a second chance but messed up with the rape charge and was kicked off of the team.
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“The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits the university from providing further details.”……DUH. WHAT A DUMB STORY. The Register tells why the University and coaches have not commented on this in the second paragraph. Is this story planted to encite reader outrage????????
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This is a story about a student who was not charged with a thing. There was an investigation but no charges were filed. The details CANNOT be released because of the Federal Privacy Act. Is this so hard for all the writers to understand!
I’ll say this again……..DUH!!!
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I don’t think we’re concerned about the charges so much,it’s more about what the university’s part is in all of this.
I,personally don’t care about the Federal Privacy Act.
I want to know more about the timeline of when the university first knew about it.
“If his suspension was related to the assault investigation, why was he allowed to play in the team’s five remaining regular season games?”
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I’m sure you wouldn’t care about any privacy act. You don’t have to pay the fine. No charges were filed. Why wouldn’t he be allowed to play? There is another school that had a player charged with first degree armed robbery the day before a big game in this state and he wasn’t only allowed to play in that game but finished the season and played in a bowl game. This guy was actually charged not almost charged.
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typo correction…..he was allowed to play in the big game after the first degree armed robbery charge.
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too much hawkeye kool-aid, dude. same old stuff, diff year.
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You need to do a search of the arrest records for the past 2 years for ISU and Iowa football players. A lot of changes have been made at Iowa and team rules are very strict as you can see by the suspensions. Compare the 2011 ISU team to the 2011 Iowa team arrests. True, Iowa had a lot of problems in 2007-2008 and they have made efforts to correct that. When you do your search you will see the results.
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How many Press Citizen employees continue to work when they are charged with a crime??
We, the readers, are OWED that list just as much as the PC feels its owed to know everything about Iowa athletics.
Coker, while not charged, probably shouldn’t have played during the investigation. However, that’s NOT WRITTEN anywhere in the Univ. code. Now, maybe it will be.
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Once again Coker was not suspended. He was investigated and no charges were filed. Arrests and citations are public records. College suspensions are not. Another school let a player play in a big game and the rest of the season including the bowl game after being charged, not investigated with first degree armed robbery. Where does it say that the suspension was a result of this investigation. The only information we have is it was university rules.
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Coker was suspended for violations of university rules.
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Hiding behind FERPA is the ultimate cowardice here. The reason we don’t know anything is right there in Coker’s post on social media. He was frustrated with being unable to tell his side of the story because they muzzled him. Ferentz puts gag orders on the very students he is punishing. Cute, isn’t it? FERPA covers Coker’s rights, not the right of the school to stonewall about its possible misconduct. Besides, thy are quick enough to announce the suspensions in the first place, aren’t they? The Iowa Attorney General needs to investigate the situation.
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Ferentz didn’t suspend or punish anyone. Coker was suspended by the University. Why is this so hard for some of you folks to understand?
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I don’t believe following a federal law if cowardice. This federal law is meant to safeguard his and everyone else’s rights. From the little information that has been printed about this investigation, Coker has been villified all over the internet message boards as a rapist and a person of low character…and hasn’t even been charged with a thing.
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A sexual assault took place and was reported by UIHC officials to the ICPD, as required by law.
The victim decided not to pursue charges. Without a victim/witness, the county attorney(with a history of failed high-profile prosecutions) backs out.
Five year statute of limitations is ticking. Coker slinks out of town. Administration “lawyer’s up”, and, hopefully, quietly moving on.
Next.
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Sorry for your disappointment that there were no felony charges filed. Why did she decide not to pursue? If only you knew her name you may be able to get her to change her mind and everyone would be happy to finally get the felony arrest charge that you seek.
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[...] development in the Marcus Coker saga: Former University of Iowa running back Marcus Coker played in as many as five games after UI [...]
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Who were the players that were actually charged with burglary, assault on a peace officer, breaking and entering, first degree armed robbery, assult, owi, public intoxication and more who actually played in the 2011 year? These guys were actually charged with a crime not investigated. It is public record. Do a search for all Iowa universities football player arrests for the 2011 season. Then see if you want to talk about Coker.
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Really, would any of you want your son or daughter to be ruined because of a he said she said incident. And being kept from following their life roll before anything is proven. I mean many things happen that at a later time seems to be different than they were earlier.
I know many guys who were treating girls with drinks and thought they had a done deal only to find out that they suddenly change their minds and !!!!!!!!!!
My opinion of what a young man or woman should do if drinking is not go home with anyone, or be at a home where drinking is going on. Make a date to go out.
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This story is only being covered to start trouble for the Kirk F haters and believe you me there are a ton of then out there. He was investigated but no charges filed. So basically there is no story but you still report this garbage.
What is going here, I tell you what is going on we have a DOUBLE STANDARD going on and that’s it in a nut shell.
Question why was he able to play while under investigation even thou no charges were filed.
Here’s your double standard.
a least 3 players either convicted or charged with a felony were able to play on ISU’s football team last year and this year.
No questions asked, no outrage, the press remained silent. WHY?
Answer because Iowa is held to a different standard. PERIOD!
I could care less who plays for ISU but why don’t the same rules apply to ISU that seem to apply only to Iowa?
Kirk gets a bad time for his strict disciplinary rules and when he does suspend a player, but it seems that other coaches or programs part of the State University system are not held to the same standard he is.
Why does the University of Iowa Football program have to play by a different set of rules???????
Fair and balanced journalism is dead
ON Iowa
Go Hawks
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that’s it in a nut shell.
An apt receptacle, in your case.
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Congrats! First time I EVERY saw “Kirk” and “strict disciplinary rules” in the same sentence! Probably the last time.
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So what changed between Oct 28th, the date the investigation began and Dec 20th, the date Coker was suspended for the Insight Bowl? At what time did the aledged victim decline to proceed with charges?
Apparently, during November, while there is some aspect of an investigation in place, he’s allowed to play. Then on Dec 20th things changed and he is suspended. Why?
It would appear that by Dec 20th the results of the investigation would clarify the fact that no charges were going to be filed. Yet he’s allowed to play during the course of the investigation and not play once his name is cleared. Again, why? What changed?
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The end of the season and the realization that even with Coker Iowa was unlikely to beat Oklahoma….
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Read my below post. Truth is we will likely never know the answers to your questions. But it is likely that the cheating during finals week is why he was suspended, not the investigation.
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Northiowaguy wins sycophant of the year.
And it is only January 12.
Quite an accomplishment, niaguy.
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Resorting to name calling are you…..is that the best you can do?
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I’m just a little miffed about this overblown story. The 2011 Cyclone team also had suspensions, kids kicked off the team, owi’s, public intoxications, assaulting a police officer, assault of a woman (300 lb lineman tackled her and punched her in the face), breaking and entering, burglery charges, first degree armed robbery right before the OSU game and the guy played in the game. All of these things combined received less than a third of the press that this single suspension has received. All of the things listed above are online and can be easily found with a search.
All of these kids with the exception of the 2 who were kicked off the team played the 2011 season.
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I love how so-called squawk fans always bring up other teams when Iowa has problems. It is like ‘yeah, but look at those guys, they did it too!’. No one wants to take ownership of this problem program in Iowa City. Blame must always be deflected by hawkie fans.
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Do yourself a favor and avoid reading or posting on hawkcentral.com. The autors of the “articles” are stirring the pot, this is the only way readers will go to the Gannett-owned site (and we all know that ad sales are down for newspapers), so they are a tabloid that reports nothing.
There is a reason why Ferentz can’t stand Harty and his other “writers”: they’re ambulance chasers.
And there are so many trolls here, they just want to wind you up. You’re a Hawkeye, be proud of that and stand behind Ferentz. But don’t expect to prove a point on this site, you’ll only get mad. Take it from me.
This is how you really make the “writers” (who basically cut and paste quotes or ask reader polls, a la Randy Peterson)angry and agitated:
In Kirk We Trust.
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Wow! Impressive! When all else fails, start the name calling. That will fix him!
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Wow I had to google the word.Impressive use of the English language.
I gotta keep that word around…..and hope I don’t misremember the definition.I’m from Muscatine and we have little use for fancy words like that.BTW I’m serious.
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Admitting your problem is the first step to resolve. It is better to remain silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth (or keyboard) and remove all doubt.
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To everyone who is confused on the timeline of why he was allowed to play for 5 games while under investigation and then was suddenly suspended in Dec 20th, take a closer look at the various circumstances that have been “rumored” to happen.
1. He was accused of sexual assault by a woman who decided that she really didn’t have a case and didn’t want to press charges. She probably realized if she did press charges, her name would be public and her false (apparently) accusations would make her out to look like an idiot. Any why should she ruin her reputation when she had already ruined Coker’s?
2. He also supposedly helped someone cheat on their final during finals week. Wouldn’t you know it, that just happens to coincide with the December 20th date?!?!?!
Given those two items in the timeline, one would be able to deduce that the cheating during finals week is why he was suspended, and the investigation was just that, an investigation that resulted in nothing other than a bunch of people to going crazy and demanding answers that they will never get.
There you have it folks, straight from some random Iowa native Hawks fan (and not a journalist).
Good luck Marcus, keep your head up and I wish you the best of luck down the road!!
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Iowa didn’t remain silent. You just aren’t good enough reporters to get the information. U of I doesn’t owe you a phone call every time there’s an incident. Do some spade work. Earn your pay.
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Hell, if the U of I made a phone call every time it had “an incident” they’d have to put in a dedicated phone line!
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[...] permalink Originally Posted by Clark finishing my previous post…it doesn't make her right either. My post offered no comment on the validity of Roxanne Conlin's statement. The dates and events I used as a basis for my comment come straight from the Iowa City Police Department's mouth. http://hawkcentral.com/2012/01/11/un…investigation/ [...]
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ANOTHER TIME LINE:
Brotherton said the case was submitted to the county attorney’s office at the end of November. She said that typically, the county attorney’s office takes a week to review the case before discussing it further with police.
Janet Lyness said Wednesday she was not asked to make the determination about whether to pursue prosecution because the victim did not want to go forward with the case. While the county attorney’s office could prosecute without the alleged victim’s approval, Lyness said her office defers to the victim when appropriate.
So, to be clear as of today there have been no charges filed. Why was Coker allowed to play the five games while under investigation some people ask? Innocent until proven guilty. If there were substantial evidence of a crime the County would have been obligated to move forward with charges, they would actually error on the side of the victim. My read on this is simple. The U of I did not interfere with the investigation, they allowed it to come to a conclusion. After the investigation was completed and closed they requested a copy as they are allowed to do. We can only speculate what led to Cokers suspension and or departure from the team. I am never amazed at the lows some will stoop to take shots at our program. I can only imagine what shots all the shoe clerks and arm chair quaterbacks would be taking if Coker was suspended the last 5 games andthe Investigation ended with no charges like it did. I think this was handled responsibly and hats off to those involved!
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From the Daily Iowan, February 2002: 2 ISU football players were charged with rape. ISU refused to comment until the case is complete.
Dan Mcarney refused commen until the case is complete. INTERESTING!!!!!!
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The big shot lawyer who brokered a deal to get Pierre Pierce’s charges reduced, freed Pierce and got him back on the street and back on basketball team………ROXANNE CONLIN!!!!! The students at the University of Iowa protested this decision but with no success. If Roxanne had let the original charges stand Pierce would have been in jail 2 years earlier and the offenses in Des Moines would never have happened. Unbelievable!
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IF every single U of I coach and official who knew of this doesn’t get “The Joe Paterno Treatment,” then every single Hawk fan should have their hypocrite Hawk beaks glued shut! As a taxpayer in the state, I demand a full kangaroo court, oops, I mean full-scale investigation. WHAT did Ferentz know, WHEN did he know it and why did he put wins on the football field ahead of the public safety? Time to clean the dirty coop at the University of Iowa. The people of the state of Iowa deserve more from THEE elder statesman/head football coach of The Big Ten Conference and one of the highest paid football coaches on planet Earth to boot.
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Helped someone cheat? A little evidence, please or is it an irrelevancy to ask for that in Innuendo World? Jeez, no wonder he left! I would not stick around to have my name slandered either. What a disgrace!
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