Joe Dial "Stepping Down" at Season End

[Old Titan]

Does anyone know the back story on this bombshell announcement?

Take it from someone who used to write this sort of press release for ORU Athletics:  this does not sound like a voluntary retirement; more like a forced move (or at least, and for whatever reason, a heavy-handed "request" from on high).

Joe is one of the all-time greats in ORU Athletics and college track & field; along with wife and assistant coach Shawna. 

28 years at ORU, incredible numbers as the announcement documents, and a 2016 inductee into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame!

Thanks for "the race well run", Joe - best of wishes in your future endeavors!

 

[TrueBlue82]

I had the exact same response as you, OT.  I don't have any insider information on the situation, but there's certainly more to this than meets the eye (either that, or it's a VERY poorly written release).

This is PURE conjecture, but we all know that Coach Dial focused his recruiting efforts on a few very elite athletes, who became individual conference and national champions/Olympians, etc., but never fielded a team to compete for conference titles.  This may have been due to budgetary restraints, and was his interpretation of gaining the most bang for the buck.  This approach was obviously endorsed under Mike Carter's leadership.

Did the recent change in AD create a conflict between the AD's goals and Coach Dial's approach???  Inquiring minds would be interested in more information... 

 

 

[ORUalum]

wow.....just wow!!!!  after 28 years, Coach Dial and his athletes were done dirty.

Joe Dial is with Shawna Dial.

4 hrs · 

Through the 28 plus years at ORU this wonderful woman has stood by my side in all the highs and lows !! Now that I am no longer Employed by ORU, I can speak my peace and tell everyone what has happened over the last year.

Two weeks before conference Championships around may 3rd in 2021 all my administrators brought me into a meeting and told me ORU had lost 8.2 million and there needed to be major cuts in athletics the following year. It would not been the 1st time there has been major financial issues at ORU so I wasn’t completely shocked. Mike Carter the AD and the New AD now, Tim Johnson, said they needed to go to the bathroom, so they did. When they got back, they asked, “Did you tell him, did you tell him?”They were asking Scott Williams, who was my direct boss. Scott says, “We’re getting to that.” (Scott Williams has been good to me over the years) They pulled the roster out and told me to go down the list and start cutting kids. I had to cut down to 15.5 scholarships men and women together and could split it up anyway I wanted. This was not an easy spot to be in especially with no time to process it. After going through the list, Tim Johnson says, “That’s not enough, more need to be cut.” I’m starting to have a little trouble holding it together at this point. Mike Carter speaks up and says, “We have been successful in sprints and jumps in the history of Oru, so Joe.. cut all the distance runners and try to put a team together and enjoy your time coaching till you’re done!” Everyone agreed and that was it.

I had another meeting with my boss m, Scott, about each kid being cut. I started crying because one of the kids, I coached her mother at ORU as well. I don’t know how they got the money but they ended up keeping 3 kids on the list that were seniors and thank God I did not have to cut those 3. I had to write a letter to the NCAA and explain what happened and why we cut the Distance program at Oru. This made it where one of the kids that got cut could take a scholarship at another school. If not, he would have to go home and not be able to run anymore- even though he was my best 800 distance runner. After this, ORU had a huge meeting with all faculty and staff. The President of the University announced that for multiple years in a row, ORU had made money and was in great shape! Me and Shawna said to each other, “Well, someone’s lying!!!”

Weeks after that, I went into Tim Johnson’s office as he is the new AD now and calling the shots. I kid you not, he (Tim) says, “I have been thinking about it and I want to go all distance runners now.” I said, “You just had me to kick off all the distance runner’s!!” What kind of irresponsible person am I dealing with here? I kid you not- these are his exact words.. “You are not scoring very many points in track anyway, 58- 85 points, and your not even trying in distance running.”Wait, it gets even worse! This man says, “Just get 5th place in the distance events and you will score more than that!” Now hang on just a second.. I’m the one that was in some special ed classes in high school and made an 11 on my ACT and had a 5th grade reading level in the 12th grade!! How can someone be athletic director at a D1 school and know nothing about track? I have done track my entire life. I even served on the NCAA coaches executive committee for seven years. I said, “WHAT?!?” We have 4 distance events indoors at our conference meet.. the 800, mile, 3,000 and the 5,000. Fifth place would get you 16 points! Even if you add the distance medley, you would be at 20 points. When I left his office I was so mad wondering what the heck was going on.

I called and talked with my best friends in track and field, Division I coaches, and their just shocked, saying, “Wow, just Wow”!! After a few weeks, Tim Johnson calls and wants to go out to eat and talk. So the new deal was going to be, hire a new distance coach and add some distance kids and he would backfill scholarships with sprinters- because remember now the university is in the best financial shape it’s has ever been the history of the school. Also he said in the last 4 months he has raised 30 million dollars because of the basketball team going to the Sweet 16!! I hired a new distance coach and he is a wonderful person and great coach. But, when he could not come for the amount that typically was paid for that position, the AD ask me to pay for the 8k extra out of my fundraising account. Hindsight, obviously I should have been on to all his lying by this point but I wasn’t!! I was questioning it to myself - if you just raised $30 million but yet you don’t have eight more thousand to pay for a great coach, It’s not adding up. Week after week are going by. Things were going great for team and staff. Me and my new coach were supposed to meet with Tim, but he kept pushing the meeting off week after week after week . Every time I talk with him he’s like, “Yeah we’re going to get those scholarships back.” So, we signed some of the best distance girls in the state! It was time to start offering out more scholarships than I was going to have for the following year.

So each week that was going by we were losing out on kids because I’m not able to offer them.. waiting and waiting on the new A.D. to have the conversation with the President to get the OK since we were in the best financial shape in the history of the University!! The whole time I am believing that we are going to get them back. Late January, one of the financial administrators is starting to tell Shawna that we’re going to have to cut back even more of the following year. They said that if we want to have a schedule more than the minimum track meets NCAA allows you have that we would have to raise the money ourselves. Ok, it hits me now that he has been lying and playing me the whole time!!!

I did a lot of soul-searching late January early February. I didn’t think I would ever leave ORU, but I knew my time was done. I asked Shawna if it was ok with her if I quit/walk way? She said that she is with me in whatever we do!! (What a wonderful and faithful wife she is !!) I have never been about money and I am so thankful for God saving my soul. I entered into this world with nothing and I will leave this world with nothing. I have so much love for these kids that I have coached, not just at ORU but at NEO and OU and Union High school. I am humbled for being able to have had the opportunity !!

Finally , there was a meeting with me, Tim Johnson , Scott Williams, my asst coach and me. I said, “I can save everyone here a lot of time.” I said, “The Bible says in Psalms 90:10 that a man’s life is 70 years by strength 80. Skip on down to verse 12 and it says - teach us to number our days and I have been numbering mine. One thing I know is I don’t want to be associated with people like you!” Tim says, “Are you talking about the university or the athletic department?”I said, “The athletic department!!” I told him that my kids (track kids) are not a percentage point or a number. They are human beings and I’m begging y’all to treat them right!! (I’m crying hard at this time.) This was a very hard time in my life that day!! I told them that I would coach till the end of the year where they could find away to fund the program.

I had my team meeting that afternoon and the whole lot of the administration was there as well as sports information. Before I had even finished with the team meeting I started getting texts about ‘Congratulations on your retirement’!!! Of course Oru wanted to get out in front of it and put out a false narrative!! I still get texts and questions every day about my retirement!!! I’m going to leave y’all with this, I have studied the Bible most of my life and I know that the truth always comes out. I found out last week that Tim Johnson told a great friend of mine that when he took the job at ORU he had 2 problems to get rid of and he has taken care of both of them now!!! I don’t want to say her name cause she was another head coach at ORU and forced out and of course me/Joe Dial.

So everything makes so much sense to me now that it actually didn’t matter what I did or said or how my kids did or didn’t do, he was going to find a way to get rid of me!! He couldn’t fire me cause I don’t cheat to get a kid or don’t cheat to keep a kid! There are only 3 National Champions in ORU History of the Sports programs and I coached all three. Only way to get rid of me is to piss me off and cut my program so much it’s impossible to make it work!! Well, I at least give it to him.. he did a good job at that!! That’s why every time I talk to him he kept changing the story on me. I don’t even know who all was involved. But I do know one thing.. I have showed kids around campus on recruiting visits and went to the prayer tower more times than I can count. Inside there Billy Graham is talking on a video the day Oru was founded and said that this institution (ORU) is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and the day that it turns from that let it be a curse!!!

All those that are involved in this year long lie, I pray that you hit your knees and repent!! When the administration talked with every kid on the track team one of my best athletes on the team asked if their scholarship would be good next year? The answer was that they didn’t know and that it’s all up to the next coach!! What? Mart Green (Trustee Emeritus of ORU, owner of Hobby lobby and Mardell’s) do not let them steal these kids scholarships!! After the kids were not guaranteed their scholarships, the majority of the scholarship kids on the team got scared and went on the NCAA portal. Most got great deals at other university’s but there are those that only have a year left and are great athletes at ORU. Tim Johnson and others used every kid on the team as a pawn!! So wrong so wrong!! I promise you one thing if Tim would have grown up in my home town he would not have turned out like that cause someone would have taken him out behind the woodshed and stopped that crap!!

I’m so thankful that I finally know the truth. I’m ready to move on to another chapter in my wonderful life that God has giving to me! 

[jmg1984]

27 minutes ago, ORUalum said:

wow.....just wow!!!!  after 28 years, Coach Dial and his athletes were done dirty.

Joe Dial is with Shawna Dial.

4 hrs · 

Through the 28 plus years at ORU this wonderful woman has stood by my side in all the highs and lows !! Now that I am no longer Employed by ORU, I can speak my peace and tell everyone what has happened over the last year.

Two weeks before conference Championships around may 3rd in 2021 all my administrators brought me into a meeting and told me ORU had lost 8.2 million and there needed to be major cuts in athletics the following year. It would not been the 1st time there has been major financial issues at ORU so I wasn’t completely shocked. Mike Carter the AD and the New AD now, Tim Johnson, said they needed to go to the bathroom, so they did. When they got back, they asked, “Did you tell him, did you tell him?”They were asking Scott Williams, who was my direct boss. Scott says, “We’re getting to that.” (Scott Williams has been good to me over the years) They pulled the roster out and told me to go down the list and start cutting kids. I had to cut down to 15.5 scholarships men and women together and could split it up anyway I wanted. This was not an easy spot to be in especially with no time to process it. After going through the list, Tim Johnson says, “That’s not enough, more need to be cut.” I’m starting to have a little trouble holding it together at this point. Mike Carter speaks up and says, “We have been successful in sprints and jumps in the history of Oru, so Joe.. cut all the distance runners and try to put a team together and enjoy your time coaching till you’re done!” Everyone agreed and that was it.

I had another meeting with my boss m, Scott, about each kid being cut. I started crying because one of the kids, I coached her mother at ORU as well. I don’t know how they got the money but they ended up keeping 3 kids on the list that were seniors and thank God I did not have to cut those 3. I had to write a letter to the NCAA and explain what happened and why we cut the Distance program at Oru. This made it where one of the kids that got cut could take a scholarship at another school. If not, he would have to go home and not be able to run anymore- even though he was my best 800 distance runner. After this, ORU had a huge meeting with all faculty and staff. The President of the University announced that for multiple years in a row, ORU had made money and was in great shape! Me and Shawna said to each other, “Well, someone’s lying!!!”

Weeks after that, I went into Tim Johnson’s office as he is the new AD now and calling the shots. I kid you not, he (Tim) says, “I have been thinking about it and I want to go all distance runners now.” I said, “You just had me to kick off all the distance runner’s!!” What kind of irresponsible person am I dealing with here? I kid you not- these are his exact words.. “You are not scoring very many points in track anyway, 58- 85 points, and your not even trying in distance running.”Wait, it gets even worse! This man says, “Just get 5th place in the distance events and you will score more than that!” Now hang on just a second.. I’m the one that was in some special ed classes in high school and made an 11 on my ACT and had a 5th grade reading level in the 12th grade!! How can someone be athletic director at a D1 school and know nothing about track? I have done track my entire life. I even served on the NCAA coaches executive committee for seven years. I said, “WHAT?!?” We have 4 distance events indoors at our conference meet.. the 800, mile, 3,000 and the 5,000. Fifth place would get you 16 points! Even if you add the distance medley, you would be at 20 points. When I left his office I was so mad wondering what the heck was going on.

I called and talked with my best friends in track and field, Division I coaches, and their just shocked, saying, “Wow, just Wow”!! After a few weeks, Tim Johnson calls and wants to go out to eat and talk. So the new deal was going to be, hire a new distance coach and add some distance kids and he would backfill scholarships with sprinters- because remember now the university is in the best financial shape it’s has ever been the history of the school. Also he said in the last 4 months he has raised 30 million dollars because of the basketball team going to the Sweet 16!! I hired a new distance coach and he is a wonderful person and great coach. But, when he could not come for the amount that typically was paid for that position, the AD ask me to pay for the 8k extra out of my fundraising account. Hindsight, obviously I should have been on to all his lying by this point but I wasn’t!! I was questioning it to myself - if you just raised $30 million but yet you don’t have eight more thousand to pay for a great coach, It’s not adding up. Week after week are going by. Things were going great for team and staff. Me and my new coach were supposed to meet with Tim, but he kept pushing the meeting off week after week after week . Every time I talk with him he’s like, “Yeah we’re going to get those scholarships back.” So, we signed some of the best distance girls in the state! It was time to start offering out more scholarships than I was going to have for the following year.

So each week that was going by we were losing out on kids because I’m not able to offer them.. waiting and waiting on the new A.D. to have the conversation with the President to get the OK since we were in the best financial shape in the history of the University!! The whole time I am believing that we are going to get them back. Late January, one of the financial administrators is starting to tell Shawna that we’re going to have to cut back even more of the following year. They said that if we want to have a schedule more than the minimum track meets NCAA allows you have that we would have to raise the money ourselves. Ok, it hits me now that he has been lying and playing me the whole time!!!

I did a lot of soul-searching late January early February. I didn’t think I would ever leave ORU, but I knew my time was done. I asked Shawna if it was ok with her if I quit/walk way? She said that she is with me in whatever we do!! (What a wonderful and faithful wife she is !!) I have never been about money and I am so thankful for God saving my soul. I entered into this world with nothing and I will leave this world with nothing. I have so much love for these kids that I have coached, not just at ORU but at NEO and OU and Union High school. I am humbled for being able to have had the opportunity !!

Finally , there was a meeting with me, Tim Johnson , Scott Williams, my asst coach and me. I said, “I can save everyone here a lot of time.” I said, “The Bible says in Psalms 90:10 that a man’s life is 70 years by strength 80. Skip on down to verse 12 and it says - teach us to number our days and I have been numbering mine. One thing I know is I don’t want to be associated with people like you!” Tim says, “Are you talking about the university or the athletic department?”I said, “The athletic department!!” I told him that my kids (track kids) are not a percentage point or a number. They are human beings and I’m begging y’all to treat them right!! (I’m crying hard at this time.) This was a very hard time in my life that day!! I told them that I would coach till the end of the year where they could find away to fund the program.

I had my team meeting that afternoon and the whole lot of the administration was there as well as sports information. Before I had even finished with the team meeting I started getting texts about ‘Congratulations on your retirement’!!! Of course Oru wanted to get out in front of it and put out a false narrative!! I still get texts and questions every day about my retirement!!! I’m going to leave y’all with this, I have studied the Bible most of my life and I know that the truth always comes out. I found out last week that Tim Johnson told a great friend of mine that when he took the job at ORU he had 2 problems to get rid of and he has taken care of both of them now!!! I don’t want to say her name cause she was another head coach at ORU and forced out and of course me/Joe Dial.

So everything makes so much sense to me now that it actually didn’t matter what I did or said or how my kids did or didn’t do, he was going to find a way to get rid of me!! He couldn’t fire me cause I don’t cheat to get a kid or don’t cheat to keep a kid! There are only 3 National Champions in ORU History of the Sports programs and I coached all three. Only way to get rid of me is to piss me off and cut my program so much it’s impossible to make it work!! Well, I at least give it to him.. he did a good job at that!! That’s why every time I talk to him he kept changing the story on me. I don’t even know who all was involved. But I do know one thing.. I have showed kids around campus on recruiting visits and went to the prayer tower more times than I can count. Inside there Billy Graham is talking on a video the day Oru was founded and said that this institution (ORU) is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and the day that it turns from that let it be a curse!!!

All those that are involved in this year long lie, I pray that you hit your knees and repent!! When the administration talked with every kid on the track team one of my best athletes on the team asked if their scholarship would be good next year? The answer was that they didn’t know and that it’s all up to the next coach!! What? Mart Green (Trustee Emeritus of ORU, owner of Hobby lobby and Mardell’s) do not let them steal these kids scholarships!! After the kids were not guaranteed their scholarships, the majority of the scholarship kids on the team got scared and went on the NCAA portal. Most got great deals at other university’s but there are those that only have a year left and are great athletes at ORU. Tim Johnson and others used every kid on the team as a pawn!! So wrong so wrong!! I promise you one thing if Tim would have grown up in my home town he would not have turned out like that cause someone would have taken him out behind the woodshed and stopped that crap!!

I’m so thankful that I finally know the truth. I’m ready to move on to another chapter in my wonderful life that God has giving to me! 

Wow just wow Joe Dial a man of integrity God bless ya you're to good for ORU anyways!

[Bogus Smith]

I so appreciate Joe and Shawna and what they were able to accomplish heading the school's track and field programs.  However, social media is not the manner in which to settle scores.  As we all should know, there are three sides to every story - his side, their side, and the truth.  Joe and Shawna have impeccable integrity but their understanding of the situation may not necessarily have been the total story.  Regardless, it is Joe's story and I respect that.  It is most unfortunate for the Dials and ORU athletics to deal with this on social media.  Private conversations for those that needed to know (which I am sure there are many in the Dial's circle as they are well liked and cared for) would have been a better avenue to travel.  We all endure offenses, but not everyone needs to know those offenses.

[oruvoice]

Been trying to tell y'all. 

Best of luck to Joe and Shawna. They are truly good people and what ORU "should" stand for.

[theeagleman5]

Looks like you were right about a lot of things, Voice....this is very sad......TheEagleman doesn't know what to say...but the truth ALWAYS comes out.....

[oruvoice]

1 hour ago, theeagleman5 said:

Looks like you were right about a lot of things, Voice....this is very sad......TheEagleman doesn't know what to say...but the truth ALWAYS comes out.....

Eagleman...I know my attitude over the past couple of years has been bad and I appreciate you calling me out. It's something that I truly am working on. 

That said, ORU is my alma mater and I want better for the University as a whole and Athletics, especially. 

On a positive note, I will echo what Joe said in his rant. Scott Williams and a few others over there are really quality people. Hopefully, the new guy gets his wish and gets out of ORU asap and the next hire to lead the athletic department is one we can all be proud of...

And, perhaps he will learn that when you need to make a tough decision, with someone who has been involved with ORU athletics since the time he was still wearing Spider-Man Underoos, that you speak plainly and be honest. Whether a Hall of Fame Coach or a low-level announcer guy, being truthful with people goes a long way. 

[ORUJason]

In any organization, whether it is a church, a university, or a standard corporation, there is a lot of “internal sausage-making.”  Whenever a person is relieved of their duties, I understand the desire to tell their side of the story in order to paint themselves in the best possible light.  In doing so, they usually throw their former bosses under the bus with little to no appreciation, in this case, for the 20+ years of employment at their former institution.

This reminds me of the Scott Sutton situation, although in that case it was Scott’s surrogates who threw ORU under the bus.

You don’t get lifetime contracts in coaching and the track and field/cross country areas at ORU haven’t exactly been highly successful in the Summit League over the last several years.

20+ years of coaching at any institution is a rarity today.  I think in this highly competitive environment that ORU has extended a lot of patience to coaches that haven’t delivered and I am honestly disgusted that rather than leaving gracefully and appreciating the rare opportunity that was afforded (20+years of employment with mostly mediocre performance), instead the approach is to try to embarrass and ridicule the institution that gave the opportunity.

I am probably in the minority opinion on this, but when I see how this dirty laundry was aired, I suspect it was absolutely time for a change.

I have found that when you are faced with the opportunity to take either the high road or the low road, it reveals a lot about who you are as a person when you take the low road.

[oruvoice]

Hopefully, in a Church or religious institution, you aren't decieved and lied to, by the leader. Repeatedly.

But yeah, he could have taken a higher road, I suppose. 

He's pissed and I totally understand his feelings.

[oruvoice]

3 hours ago, ORUJason said:

I have found that when you are faced with the opportunity to take either the high road or the low road, it reveals a lot about who you are as a person when you take the low road.

If that's in reference to me, then you have a point. I'm not the best guy around.

If that's in reference to Joe Dial, then you are totally off base. While he may be frustrated and hurt right now, he is a true class act. You should show him some mercy and grace. 

[Old Titan]

3 hours ago, ORUJason said:

In any organization, whether it is a church, a university, or a standard corporation, there is a lot of “internal sausage-making.”  Whenever a person is relieved of their duties, I understand the desire to tell their side of the story in order to paint themselves in the best possible light.  In doing so, they usually throw their former bosses under the bus with little to no appreciation, in this case, for the 20+ years of employment at their former institution.

This reminds me of the Scott Sutton situation, although in that case it was Scott’s surrogates who threw ORU under the bus.

You don’t get lifetime contracts in coaching and the track and field/cross country areas at ORU haven’t exactly been highly successful in the Summit League over the last several years.

20+ years of coaching at any institution is a rarity today.  I think in this highly competitive environment that ORU has extended a lot of patience to coaches that haven’t delivered and I am honestly disgusted that rather than leaving gracefully and appreciating the rare opportunity that was afforded (20+years of employment with mostly mediocre performance), instead the approach is to try to embarrass and ridicule the institution that gave the opportunity.

I am probably in the minority opinion on this, but when I see how this dirty laundry was aired, I suspect it was absolutely time for a change.

I have found that when you are faced with the opportunity to take either the high road or the low road, it reveals a lot about who you are as a person when you take the low road.

Great post; just a sad chain of events for all involved and no one’s finest hour by a long shot. 

Hard to find many cases of trying to move on from a legend that ends well when the legend isn’t ready to move on.  Bear Bryant, Bobbie Bowden, Woody Hayes, Bobby Knight, Nolan Richardson, etc. just a handful of hall of famers who felt done wrong when their world passed them by.

[ORUJason]

ORUVoice I was not in any way referring to you.  I certainly wish you still had your role at the basketball games but it is what it is.

[oruvoice]

10 hours ago, ORUJason said:

ORUVoice I was not in any way referring to you.  I certainly wish you still had your role at the basketball games but it is what it is.

That's nice of you to say.

But in regards to Joe Dial, I hope we'll temper the thought that "he's taken the low road, thus he lacks character" and afford him some grace. He was likely "miscommunicated" with, at best. Probably flat out lied to. Getting over that ain't easy. 

Joe and Shawna are really quality people. And who knows, perhaps this will be a good thing for them long term and perhaps this experience will also be a learning lesson for the young fella leading the ORU athletic department. Honesty, full honesty, is always the best policy. 

[Old Titan]

The problem with so many personnel decisions in the checkered employment history of ORU Athletics is the utter failure to consider The Law Of Unintended Consequences. 

Case in point:  alienating decent former employees such as Blake Freeland to the point they speak out publicly.

I didn’t even think that sort of thing was possible with him. #smh

 

[oruvoice]

If Blake Freeland felt compelled to speak out, that says a lot. He is one of the classiest, most professional guys to have worked in the ORU athletic department...ever. 

This one shocks me. 

[Idig32]

I am not very old, but it seems like I’ve seen this a lot in churches and other organizations. It sounds like the AD wanted to get rid of Coach Dial, but didn’t want to have to deal with the blowback. Classic conflict avoidance. Unfortunately, many people in leadership seem to want to avoid the conflict of making a difficult decision. So, they don’t make a real decision and just hope the problem goes away. In the end, people end up getting hurt more than they would have if the leader would have just told the truth and made the difficult decision. 
 

If the AD felt it was time for the track program to have a change in leadership, then he should have told coach Dial man to man. 
 

Now, I don’t know either the AD or Joe Dial. It’s possible the story isn’t as Joe Dial told it. In fact, it doesn’t sound like there’s any way that Coach Dial could know the whole story. There could be factors beyond what any of us know about that led to things going down this way. However, if the basic assertion of Coach Dial that AD Johnson wanted to get rid of him all along, is true, then the decision should have been made and communicated to Coach Dial as soon as possible. Whether or not Coach Dial should have been fired or not is frankly irrelevant. If the AD wants to fire a coach, then that’s pretty much his prerogative. I just expect when an AD makes that type of decision that they should own it. That’s part of the job of being an Athletic Director. 

 

[Old Titan]

Tulsa World has a story on the front page of the Sports section today, with an official statement from ORU Athletics where they (wait for it) ..... basically "double down" on doing nothing unprofessional or inappropriate in this unfortunate chain of events.

Lordy lord, when will they ever learn that perception is reality in the hearts and minds of everyone, despite their feeble efforts to spin the story? 

It's the Mike Carter/Billy Wilson press conference after the Scott Sutton firing all over again; where how poorly the coach was removed becomes more of a story than whether or not it was justified in the first place.

Unless someone is so inclined, I will reformat the article and post it here Monday night.