Wednesday night Eugene television station KEZI and the Oregonian reported that incoming freshman Oregon football player Tyree Robinson was cited for harrassment, charged with slapping a 19-year-old woman twice during an argument on campus. The incident happened early Sunday morning. Robinson has a hearing on July 30.
It’s the first serious disciplinary issue since Mark Helfrich took over as head coach in January, although James Scales, a reserve safety, was dismissed from the team on January 26th for a violation of team rules.
The incident will be watched closely as a precedent for how Helfrich handles player misconduct issues. He has the reputation as “a nice guy” and “a players’ coach” (LaMichael James called him that during a sideline interview at the Spring Game) so his handling of this situation is a clear signal about what’s going to be tolerated and how discipline will be enforced under his leadership.
Certain critics and columnists will no doubt exploit this as another occasion to vilify the Oregon program and overreact in a variety of ways, linking it to the Cliff Harris arrest, the Will Lyles case and NCAA decision, and unrelated issues in the past. They’ll unfairly characterize it as a pattern of behavior and condemn the entire team for the actions of one person, even dragging out the record of every incident since 2007 and beyond.
All the facts aren’t in yet, but this is an opportunity for Tyree to learn how to handle volatile situations better and develop tools to walk away when emotions get out of hand. Everybody has a breaking point. His future, well beyond football, will be determined by how he responds to this trouble.
Domestic violence and sexual harrassment are serious and sensitive issues, well beyond the scope of this blog. For Robinson, the hope is he’ll get a fair hearing, be accountable, make amends, and change his behavior, making steps to ensure his character isn’t defined by what happened Sunday morning. For the football team, it’s a teachable moment and a reminder to check in with each other. Invariably, stuff like this happens on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Use the buddy system. Know what’s going on with each other. Have someone with you or someone you can call that can encourage you to take a break, step away, and think about what you are doing.
The Ducks must take steps to see that this doesn’t become the storyline of the summer or the identity of this team.
Strictly from a football standpoint, Robinson was likely to redshirt, and a possible suspension or other disciplinary action wouldn’t seriously affect depth in the current season. Of course the other considerations, the welfare of the victim, the future of the young man and the impact on his family, are far more important.
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