D2 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, JULY 31 , 2020
PRO BASKETBALL
Thibodeau takes over
as coach of the Knicks
Tom Thibodeau brought the
Chicago Bulls to their greatest
success since Michael Jordan.
He returned the Minnesota
Timberwolves to the playoffs
after a 13-year absence.
All the while, there was one
challenge he sought. He has seen
what it’s like in New York when
the Knicks win and wanted to be
the coach to make it happen
again.
“This a dream come true for
me,” Thibodeau said. “This is my
dream job.”
He got it Thursday, when the
Knicks brought the former NBA
coach of the year back to the
organization he helped reach the
NBA Finals as an assistant.
Thibodeau was an assistant
with the Knicks from 1996 to
2003, part of Jeff Van Gundy’s
staff when they made a run from
the No. 8 seed to the Finals in
- He has had success all
around the NBA since he left and
the Knicks have had almost none,
but that hasn’t dampened his
desire to come back.
“Maybe part of that is I grew up
in Connecticut. My father, my
family, we grew up as Knick fans,”
Thibodeau said during a Zoom
news conference. “I think I
experienced it during the ’90s
that there’s no better place to be
than Madison Square Garden.
And so I love challenges, I love
that city, I love the arena, I love
the fans, and I’m excited about
the team.”
Terms of the deal were not
disclosed.
Thibodeau, 62, is 352-246 in
eight seasons coaching Chicago
and Minnesota.
H e was coach of the year in 2011
in his first season with the Bulls,
whom he led to 50 wins in three of
his five seasons....
Napheesa Collier scored 10 of
her 20 points in the fourth
quarter and finished with
10 rebounds, and the Minnesota
Lynx held on to beat the Chicago
Sky, 83-81, in a WNBA game in
Bradenton, Fla.
Damiris Dantas added
14 points for Minnesota (2-1).
Azura Stevens had 16 points
and 11 rebounds f or the Sky (2-1).
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Facing a scathing report that
detailed racial bias against Black
players in his program and
bullying behavior by some of his
assistants, Iowa Coach Kirk
Ferentz said he would not be
making any staffing changes as he
apologized and promised to
overhaul some of his policies.
University of Iowa President
Bruce Harreld said the critical
report by an outside law firm
showed the “climate and culture
must and will change within our
football program.” Ferentz
apologized to Black former
players at a news conference and
promised to build on changes
made in recent weeks to improve
their experience.
“This review brings us face-to-
face with allegations of uneven
treatment, where our culture that
mandated uniformity caused
many Black players to feel they
were unable to show up as their
authentic selves,” Ferentz said. “I
want to apologize for the pain and
frustration they felt at a time
when I was trusted to help each of
them become a better player and
a better person.”
The report said four
unidentified current and former
coaches — including at least two
still on staff — were accused of
bullying, demeaning and verbally
abusing players and would be
considered for potential
disciplinary action.
Ferentz called the behavior
unacceptable, saying it crossed
the line from “demanding to
demeaning.” But he said he
thought that those responsible
could make changes.
Iowa Athletic Director Gary
Barta and Ferentz said that no
football assistants, including
Ferentz’s son, offensive
coordinator Brian Ferentz,
would lose their jobs. Barta said
any punishments would be
handled confidentially, in
accordance with state law.
Barta also said that Kirk
Ferentz, who has led Iowa since
1999 and is the longest-tenured
head coach in college football,
had his full confidence to lead the
program. At the same time, Barta
acknowledged that Ferentz’s
philosophy, the Iowa Way, had
become “perceived by many as
‘the White way.’ ”...
There was a spike in the
number of Rutgers players who
have tested positive for the
coronavirus.
New Jersey Health
Commissioner Judy Persichilli
said the number is now 15 and
noted that even smaller
gatherings can lead to positive
tests.
Rutgers halted all in-person
team activities and quarantined
the entire program this past
weekend after learning six people
associated with the program
tested positive.
The Big Ten Conference
member previously reported four
positive tests since the return to
campus June 15.TRACK AND FIELD
World Athletics gave Russia’s
troubled track and field
federation a second deadline to
pay a $5 million fine by mid-
August after saying the Russian
Sports Ministry promised to clear
the debts.
The Russian Athletics
Federation, known as RusAF, was
fined $10 million in March, with
half of that sum suspended. It
missed a July 1 deadline to pay.
Members of its former leadership
were accused of providing forged
medical documents to give an
athlete an alibi for being
unavailable for drug testing.
World Athletics said it will call
on its congress to vote virtually on
expelling Russia if the $5 million
fine and another $1.3 million in
costs aren’t paid by Aug. 15.
Russia also must provide a plan
for further anti-doping and
governance reforms.MISC.
Paris Saint-Germain Coach
Thomas Tuchel has only a “very
small” hope Kylian Mbappé will
recover from injury in time to face
Atalanta in the Champions
League quarterfinals Aug. 12.
The 21-year-old forward, who
has 30 goals in 34 appearances
this season, was ruled out for
about three weeks after suffering
an ankle ligament injury last
week against Saint-Étienne in the
French Cup final....
Formula One driver Sergio
Perez i s out of Sunday’s British
Grand Prix after he tested positive
for the coronavirus.
The Racing Point driver, who is
Mexican, will go into isolation.
The race will be the fourth in
the pandemic-affected season
that should have begun in March.
— From news servicesDIGESTBY RICK MAESEThe abusive doctor performing
unnecessary rectal and genital ex-
ams was an open secret for de-
cades on the University of Michi-
gan campus, but the administra-
tion failed to take any action de-
spite nearly a dozen reports of
misbehavior to school officials,
coaches and trainers, according to
a federal lawsuit filed against the
school Thursday.
Even the school’s legendary
football coach, Bo Schembechler,
was alerted to the abusive behav-
ior and improper medical treat-
ments, the complaint alleges. But
Robert Anderson was allowed to
continue treating students and
athletes for years, until his volun-
tary retirement in 2003. Anderson
died in 2008.
More than 50 students, includ-
ing 26 former football players,
sued the university Thursday in
the U.S. District Court for the East-
ern District of Michigan. The com-
plaint states that Anderson sexual-
ly abused hundreds, “if not thou-
sands,” of boys and young men
during his time at Michigan. The
lawsuit is one of dozens that have
been filed against the school, and
the known accusers number
around 600. The university an-
nounced an investigation in Feb-
ruary.
The 193-page complaint claims
university officials ignored warn-
ing signs and explicit reports of
abuse. It also outlines all of the
school employees who were in-
formed of the doctor’s behavior,
including a gymnastics coach; a
wrestling coach; track coaches; a
football team trainer; a school
counselor; the school’s health de-
partment; a university vice presi-
dent; the school’s longtime athletic
director, Don Canham; and even a
state licensing office. And, perhaps
most notably, Schembechler, the
legendary coach who died in 2006.
“I think in the other cases, it was
generally known and kind of an
open secret that Anderson was a
bad guy doing bad things to the
students,” said Steve Estey, the Cal-
ifornia attorney who filed Thurs-
day’s lawsuit. “But in this case we
have specific notice that not only
Schembechler but more impor-tantly Don Canham, the athletic
director who kind of ran the cam-
pus back in those days, received
reports of Anderson’s abuse.”
Anderson was a doctor at Michi-
gan for parts of five decades, start-
ing in the early 1960s. He served in
a variety of capacities, including as
a physician treating members of
the wrestling, football, track and
field, hockey and other athletic
teams.
Allegations of Anderson’s sexual
abuse began emerging in February
when dozens of accusers, almost
all of them men, started coming
forward. In April, the school said it
was developing a process outside
the court system to address the
growing number of claims against
Anderson with the goal of provid-
ing “more certain, faster relief.”
The university says 394 com-
plaints against Anderson are being
investigated on the school’s behalf
by WilmerHale. That investigation
was effectively paused, though, af-
ter a federal judge instructed the
school to refrain from speaking
with potential victims. The school
says it is hopeful the investigation
can resume as soon as possible.
“At the University of Michigan,
we condemn all sexual miscon-
duct,” Rick Fitzgerald, a school
spokesman, said Thursday. “This
type of conduct is reprehensible —
and whether it takes place now or
took place in the past, it is unac-
ceptable.”
Thursday’s lawsuit is among the
first to explicitly mention Schem-
bechler, an icon in Ann Arbor, with
a statue on campus and his name
attached to buildings. According
to the complaint, in 1981, a student
play-by-play announcer for the
football team, identified as John
Doe, told Schembechler he was
suffering from migraine head-
aches. The coach referred the stu-
dent to Anderson for treatment.
“Instead of treating John Doe
EB-17 for his migraine headaches,
Dr. Anderson digitally rectally
penetrated John Doe EB-17 under
the guise of medical treatment,”
the complaint states.
The student saw Anderson in
1981, 1982 and 1983 and twice re-
ported the abuse to Schembechler.
The football coach referred the
student to Canham, who “took noaction and failed to investigate the
allegations of sexual abuse com-
mitted by Dr. Anderson,” accord-
ing to the complaint.
“His response literally was just
to blow me off. He did nothing,” the
former student told reporters on a
video conference call Thursday.
“In effect, in my opinion, Canham
perpetrated Anderson’s abuse.”
The former student said he
placed more blame on the former
athletic director, who died in 2005,
than he did Schembechler, a man
he considered a friend. He called
Schembechler “powerless” in the
situation.
“When it came to these kinds of
issues, there was absolutely noth-
ing he could do except to direct the
students and student-athletes over
to the boss, who was Don Can-
ham,” the former student said.
Canham, who served as the
school’s athletic director from
1968 to 1988, when he was suc-
ceeded by Schembechler, had p re-
viously been made aware of abuse
allegations, according to recent
news reports. A former wrestler
named Tad Deluca lodged a com-
plaint about Anderson with his
coach in 1975 and says he was
stripped of his scholarship and
kicked off the wrestling team. He
appealed to Canham and told the
athletic director about Anderson’s
abuse.
“Canham ran that entire cam-
pus, and he ran it with an iron fist,”
Estey said. “Even someone with
the stature of Bo Schembechler,
even he didn’t have the power that
Canham did. For some reason — I
don’t know if he covered for Ander-
son or what — he allowed it to
continue despite multiple people
at multiple levels, not just trainers
and coaches. It went all the way up,
and no one did a thing.”
According to the new lawsuit,
the first known incident of abuse
occurred in 1968, when a former
student reported Anderson to the
school’s department of health ser-
vices. That marked the first of sev-
eral instances in which the school
failed to act, allowing Anderson to
continue abusing students, the
students allege.
Anderson’s behavior was well-
known around the athletics de-
partment, the lawsuit charges.One former track and field athlete
said his coaches were both aware
of the ongoing abuse and one
coach joked, “ ‘So you have a sore
throat, you have to go to Anderson,
drop your drawers, and get your
hernia checked,’ while laughing
about the matter,” the complaint
states.
The lawsuit claims that one
complaint, in 1979, resulted in
what should have been Anderson’s
termination as a school physician.
But “instead of terminating Dr.
Anderson from the University, U of
M ‘demoted’ Dr. Anderson effec-
tive January 14, 1980, and moved
him to the Athletic Department to
be the primary care physician,”
according to the complaint.
“Thereafter, Dr. Anderson had
free rein to abuse thousands of
male students with impunity,” the
former students allege.
The allegations against Ander-
son are similar in nature to scan-
dals that have roiled campus com-
munities at Michigan State and
Ohio State, in which former stu-
dents say university doctors were
allowed to abuse students for years
under the guise of medicine.
Forty-seven of the 53 victims in
this latest complaint said they
were digitally penetrated by An-
derson. The complaint recounts
the experiences of all the accusers,
only five of whom attached their
names to the lawsuit. One is a
former cross-country runner
named James Barahal, a Michigan
student in the 1970s who sought
treatment for a sore throat. The
complaint alleges that Anderson
“performed a digital rectal pene-
tration and groped and fondled
James Barahal’s genitals under the
guise of ‘prostate and hernia exam-
inations.’ ”
That kind of allegation is com-
mon among the lawsuits filed
against the school, with hundreds
of former students saying Ander-
son performed genital or rectal
exams for unrelated illnesses.
“Dr. Anderson knew the repre-
sentations were false,” Thursday’s
filing states. “He conducted the
sexual abuse and assaults for no
reason other than for his own em-
powerment, sexual gratification,
and/or pleasure.”
[email protected]Lawsuit: Schembechler knew of abuse at Michigan
BY CHUCK CULPEPPERThe SEC, that Tyrannosaurus
rex of college football, announced
Thursday a narrowing of its season
to 10 games per each of its 14 teams,
all within the conference, begin-
ning near the end of September
rather than the outset. With that, it
became the fourth top-tier confer-
ence to enter the national resched-
uling fray that owes to the novel
coronavirus pandemic.
The approach of the league that
has claimed 10 of the past 14 na-
tional championships plus five of
the past 14 runners-up also dif-
fered from the fresh intent the
ACC revealed Wednesday. That
league allowed for 10 intra-confer-
ence games and the loud one-year
presence of Notre Dame but also
for one nonconference game per
school. The SEC’s decision for a
schedule entirely insular means a
strange one-season hiatus for cer-
tain SEC-ACC rivalries that often
can seem eternal: Florida vs. Flori-
da State, Clemson vs. South Caroli-
na, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech and
Kentucky vs. Louisville.
The new schedule also nixed
two other familiar kinds of SEC
nonconference game days, one ararity and the other not.
It ruled out the smattering of
games in which SEC teams dare to
tack on and take on teams from
other Power Five leagues, the most
prominent being the visit Texas
had planned to LSU for Sept. 12,
seen as something of a barometer
for both a wobbly former power-
house (Texas) and a defending na-
tional champion (LSU).
It also canceled paydays for the
usual horde of lower-tier pro-
grams on which SEC schools an-
nually fatten their records — from
Georgia State (which was to play
Alabama) to Eastern Washington
(Florida) to Nicholls (LSU) to
Abilene Christian (Texas A&M)
and back to East Tennessee State
(Georgia).
Also going kaput was the tradi-
tional mid-November cupcake
weekend, which for years granted
SEC teams a respite between
bouts with their bruising brothers
while wreaking sneers from fans
around the country (as well as
from within the SEC). It remains
to be seen whether fans will con-
sider that development an unin-
tended boon. This year’s dessert
menu included Tennessee Martin
at Alabama and Massachusetts atAuburn on Nov. 14, and Louisiana
Monroe at Arkansas, New Mexico
State at Florida, Georgia Southern
at Mississippi, Alabama A&M at
Mississippi State, Wofford at
South Carolina and Troy (which
won at LSU in 2017) at Tennessee
on Nov. 21.
The SEC’s plan proved similar
to those announced earlier this
summer by both the Pac-12 and the
Big Ten, and it served to reiterate
the inchoate nature of a sport that
lacks a governing body or commis-
sioner. Whereas the ACC move
Wednesday provided about
24 hours of hope for the suste-
nance of those SEC-ACC rivalries
plus games such as Auburn-North
Carolina for a richer schedule all
told, the SEC snuffed out those
possibilities in the messy national
board game.
By beginning its games Sept. 26
rather than the Labor Day week-
end, the SEC aimed to give itself
more time to cope with a pandem-
ic that has kept administrators,
both in sports and in general, in an
extended state of guesswork. An
inescapable uncertainty has
reigned over whether student
bodies in general and then ath-
letes in particular should return tocampuses, some of which already
have seen cases spread at gather-
ings. “The Southeastern Confer-
ence has established Septem-
ber 26 as the new kickoff for its
2020 football season,” the league
announced, “to allow its universi-
ties to focus on the healthy return
of their campus communities and
the gradual reintroduction of ath-
letics, as the 14 members of the
SEC continue to monitor develop-
ments related to COVID-19.”
The league that sprawls across
11 states reached the decision, it
said, after discussions among its
presidents and chancellors, ath-
letic directors, conference office
staff, medical advisers and a task
force. The league said it would
announce specific schedules upon
determination by its athletic di-
rectors.
One game did get a set date,
moved from its old set date: The
SEC’s annual conference champi-
onship game, which has sharp-
ened six of the 12 teams to reach
the College Football Playoff na-
tional championship game in the
six years of the concept. The SEC
title game, set for Atlanta, moved
from Dec. 5 to Dec. 19.
[email protected]SEC opts for 10-game football season
DUANE BURLESON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
B o Schembechler, Michigan’s longtime football coach, and others were told of Robert Anderson’s improper acts, a new lawsuit claims.TELEVISION AND RADIO
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