Nikki Moody sues Bill Fennelly over Racial Discrimination...
- Thread starter Chipper
- Start date
For the long time Women's Basketball followers I can name 2 players from SD without much thought, Holly Bordewyk and Alexis Yackley. I remember this posters name and think this guy may have had ties to Yackley who transfered out after 1 year or it may have been ties to Anna Prins.
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Did I say that? I just said it was plausible that fennelly initially said she was a great player albeit with an attitude. Then when she filed the eeo complaint he told his friend (not asked for retribution) and maybe and only if she was truly on the bubble with another player that played a factor into her being cut as a risk issue not a retribution issue. I highly doubt CBF would ask him to cut her because of it nor do I think he would do it if asked. I do think it is plausible it could have played a small factor in a decision to retain her, unlikely but plausable.
I was somewhat surprised she was drafted. I would have been shocked if she had not been cut. In addition to the current year draftees the teams have big tryouts with past year draftees and overseas players. Anyone outside the first rounds is going to have a very tough time making these rosters. Moody and another guard were cut the same day that San Antonio signed Brittany Hrynko (a #19 pick that had been waived by Atlanta earlier). Hrynko didn't make the regular season roster either.
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BF has been at ISU long enough for almost anyone to know his coaching style. Bob Knight was mentioned earlier - was there a kid in America who didn't know how badly he was going to be abused at Indiana? And yet lots of kids went there, and even more wanted to, because they knew 2 things: Knight would make them the best player they could be, and he genuinely cared about them.
I would argue Fennelly has those same characteristics. I believe he really does care about molding these girls into better people, and basketball is just a means of doing that. The feedback thus far is overwhelmingly in BF's favor.
And as for the poster(s) who said nothing good could come of this, I disagree.....if in fact BF is racist, or abusive, then a change would be a good thing. And if he's not, well, labels are tough, but I would imagine Bill is even tougher.
I would argue Fennelly has those same characteristics. I believe he really does care about molding these girls into better people, and basketball is just a means of doing that. The feedback thus far is overwhelmingly in BF's favor.
And as for the poster(s) who said nothing good could come of this, I disagree.....if in fact BF is racist, or abusive, then a change would be a good thing. And if he's not, well, labels are tough, but I would imagine Bill is even tougher.
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And allowed that slacker Mackenzie Bigbee to be earning an engineering degree as well.
And allowed that slacker Mackenzie Bigbee to be earning an engineering degree as well.
CBF is a great collage coach. I made this collage of him yelling slurs... not racial ones. So a collage of a college coach yelling slurs.
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Brynn Williamson is such a mature, thoughtful, well-spoken young woman. I really trust her opinion on this more than anyone else, and her statement more than anything else confirms to me that this was a Fennelly/Moody issue - NOT a Fennelly/black athletes issue.
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Just close the thread after this explanation. There isn't all that much you need know other than this. My experience is that juries don't need actual damages in these cases. They don't like mean people or bullies. Also the fear of fee switching looms terribly to the extent its available. That means that 1% liability can make you pay the actual attorney's fees of the plaintiff. If the plaintiff gets 1 penny, F&T will collect a huge payday. I haven't reviewed it enough to know whether that's available yet or not honestly. F&T can run up a good bill. They are good at that. That being said. I don't know if the state has employment practices liability insurance, but in my experience that's what leads to settling these cases. Insurance companies get antsy, and jerk it out of your hands and pay. That's how my last one with F&T ended.
I did this work on the company side for nearly 14 years. Thank God I don't anymore. I have had good and bad cases with Fiedler and Timmons. The firm is as good as they come at this type of work. (Think Alfredo Parrish on the criminal side). It doesn't mean they have the facts to win but in my experience they don't chase little cases either. They can be and are picky about what they take so they believe they have a valuable case. They also know how to play work the media as well. Remember it's not about truth either. They are interested in painting a picture of a rabid racist using a handful of situations that easily could be taken completely out of context (or not) or that may or may not be supported by any corroborating evidence. All they have to do is to throw out the allegation and watch it burn. For me it was more like they just ran around the house lighting small fires, so you spent your time running around trying to put them out. However, when I trained on this topic, I always told my managers that even if they describe a situation grossly out of context, if it happened and your response on the stand is "yes but..." or you have to explain what the real context was around the conversation then you have lost, and you just don't know it yet. If you have to say "yes we banned her from the facility because... and no we never banned anyone else..." that's a problem, no matter how much she may have deserved it.
I can hear the jury selection questions now:
"Do you, or have you ever had, any association with the Iowa State Athletic Department?"
"Uhhh, no?"
If anything, I would suspect Fennelly was instrumental in San Antonio deciding to draft her. Then she was on her own to stick with the team. Success of his players in the WNBA reflects on the college coach with future recruiting. It behooves the coach to work to get his players a shot.
What will be interesting is where Brynn Williamson sides in this.
She's already spoken out in support of coach I believe. I think someone posted a link earlier.
