No laughing matter -- I agree, wholeheartedly. Our AD is a gem.
Terrence Shannon Jr. to have jersey honored at State Farm Center
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
I talked to Josh a bit at the golf NCAA's and told him that he was doing a great job. He thanked me and said that it wasn't always easy and he didn't feel like that every day, but definitely appreciated hearing it ANY day. So I repeated myself.
This is the best news that I've heard all week! Until Sunday that is 
Nothing will ever make up for his lost time due to this crap. A tear will always form when thinking about "What could have been?".
Now he needs to go join Ayo and bring some titles back to the Bulls!
Nothing will ever make up for his lost time due to this crap. A tear will always form when thinking about "What could have been?".
Now he needs to go join Ayo and bring some titles back to the Bulls!
I remember last year during the Texas game. We were watching on my phone because my mom had a cable outage. I looked at her and my fiancƩe and said this guy might be a better pro than Ayo. I wish them both equal success but man did TSJ do some AMAZING things the last two years.
When you get hit up by 5 of your biggest donors that TJ better be in the dang rafters ... You make it happen ...
Also - Josh respects the crap out of TJ ... Amazed by how he handled this whole process ... On a personal level ... Whitman felt TJ deserved rafters ... He was very clearly the 2nd or 3rd best player in the country last year to anyone that actually knows ball ...
Whitman had to do what he had to do this go around ... Even if deep down he didn't want to ...
Expect changes moving forward ... And not just at our University ...
The key issue in this change is not letting the innocent players play, I think we can all agree on that if they're innocent they should be able to play ... It's letting guilty ones play and continue to be a part of athletics ...
It kind of got brought up in passing to me by someone on Whitman's staff but imagine if one of our coaches was accused of something such as this ... Would we just let the process play out and let him keep coaching, or would we suspend immediately, or would we fire him? The Chris Beard situation at Texas comes to mind ...
I think it's an interesting debate and something I trust Whitman to navigate through and come up with a good solution ...
Illinois lawyers fought in federal court to uphold the suspension, so itās definitely what they wanted to do.
Presumption of innocence still counts for something.
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Would have looked a little fishy if they had tossed their hands up and said āwell you got us, he can playā after he brought suit.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Itās an interesting question.
Not suspending TJ in this situation would have worked out great because he was innocent and there was no evidence from the beginning.
Imagine a crime like this or potentially even worse, where there is evidence and the player likely did do the crime theyāre accused of. Do you let them continue playing the game while the process plays out, even if theyāre a danger to other students?
Federal law changed to enshrine the Lawless decision, so this change already happened and it won't be left up to schools in the future to even think about.
These two things are not mutually exclusive and there would be legal ramifications to Illinois not fighting it in court. For clarification, Illinois created a system for suspension that had been used multiple times in the past. Doing anything differently in this case opens up all past cases they've already used this system on. They are forced to legally defend their system and them abiding by that system. Was the system they put in place fair? No, far from it, and the courts pretty much said that. But they enforced it equally for all athletes during the time it was implemented. Had they not legally fought this in court, automatically it would have been found an unfair and unequal system. And the financial repercussions from that could be massive, or at the very least a lot riskier than what they did, especially if they knew that it was very probable that TSJ would be reinstated and drop his lawsuit.
It is clear though that this will no longer be the system going forward. That said it's a major can of worms. The answer might just be play the person unless there's reasonable evidence that having them still on campus would constitute a safety issue, but that's an ugly situation as well especially in cases where the athlete is later found guilty. Not sure there really is a correct answer here.
Unrelated to the Shannon case, the University simultaneously lost a case in which they suspended a student for tweeting about free food events around campus. Quite frankly it was a bad year for the opaque University legal process.
Elon Muskās X Successfully Defends University Of Illinois Student From Discipline Over Post, Platform Says
The social media platform said it hired a law firm to defend the student from discipline due to a post he made on X that allegedly violated the universityās student code of conduct.
www.forbes.com
ginabackes00
CrazedUIFan
See e.g. Lawrence, Kansasā¦all around
Happy for TSJ. But the bigger thing is the signal this sends future recruits about the support they will get. BU and JW are showing out as HUGE supporters of their guys. This has to be a positive to recruiting. Throw in Fletch and all of the tweets from firmer players and you have a very attractive culture that is going to draw the next gen of players
Whitman did exactly what he had to do at that time. Whitman also helped orchestrate TSJ suing the University over it.
It's simple, Whitman had to suspend him for having a formal rape charge brought against TJ, helps TJ sue the university, TJ wins court case which is the exact ruling Whitman was hoping for. Whitman can be seen as a disciplinarian; however, when you are overruled in a Federal Court that you can't' keep TJ from playing well you have to play him and it takes any responsibility off Whitman/U of I one way or the other. I'm not sure it could have been handled any better.
In house U of I lawyers HAD to fight in Federal Court to uphold the suspension. That is their job, they work to support the U of I's interpretation of rules and laws. Just like the job of any prosecutor, they are paid to win cases that the DA brings to them to prosecute. You don't get to just sit the ones out you disagree with.
Did Judge Lawless say that TJ could play because he hasn't been convicted or was there not enough evidence to prove it prior to trial?
If it is the former, that would mean that anyone no matter the charge or evidence against them could sue and be allowed to play. That's a pretty scary thing for the university and while they may have fully believed TJ was innocent, they had to protect themselves from a dangerous precedent being set.
The fact that they didn't suspend him from the practice facilities or campus was the door they purposely left open that would help differentiate this from a more prejudicial suspension/expulsion and could be used to show he wasn't perceived as an actual threat on our campus/team. I believe Judge Lawless spoke to this in her ruling.
I'm sure Whitman and Underwood both believed his innocence, but they have to protect themselves as well as new evidence or claims may arise that prove more damning to the case.
If it is the former, that would mean that anyone no matter the charge or evidence against them could sue and be allowed to play. That's a pretty scary thing for the university and while they may have fully believed TJ was innocent, they had to protect themselves from a dangerous precedent being set.
The fact that they didn't suspend him from the practice facilities or campus was the door they purposely left open that would help differentiate this from a more prejudicial suspension/expulsion and could be used to show he wasn't perceived as an actual threat on our campus/team. I believe Judge Lawless spoke to this in her ruling.
I'm sure Whitman and Underwood both believed his innocence, but they have to protect themselves as well as new evidence or claims may arise that prove more damning to the case.
Illini in OC
In. The. Alley.
THIS
Well before we needed it, JW had put a construct in place that the University and Athletic department could navigate with honor. The processes put in place obviated the need for BU (and everyone else) to address the situation on the fly. No matter how PR-skilled people may be, the need to balance support for Terrence and doing the right thing (whatever that means) could've easily become a sh*t show that JW ultimately would have to unravel - with lights blazing. Masterful!!!
Schools without similar foresight and leadership were forced to improvise as they deal with their own complex situation.
We can all speculate, but I believe that JW's intention was to create a loophole for Terrence to play while the legal system ran its course. JW protected the University by putting the play/no-play decision in the courts.
University respects the legal system and the accuser - check
TSJ has an avenue to appeal the decision - check
TSJ gets to rejoin the team, only if cleared by outside agency, - check
University can legitimately and honorably deflect questions about handling of the situation while it runs its course - check
Legal system - not the University - appropriately handles the legal questions - check
...
TSJ acts with class and indescribable dignity - check
TSJ gets his day in court - check
TSJ gets his reputation restored - check
TSJ gets the Illini (if not NCAA) recognition he deserves - check
Footnote - I met Josh at the Illini bar prior to the UConn game. All I could say to him was "You're killing it man!!". He treated me with respect and appreciation even though I was acting like a doofus.