For what its worth, I don't there was a 'correct' time for Shaq Morris to come forward. If he came forward as a player, how would we have reacted? We probably would have backed Marshall, and put Shaq forever in our bad graces. Not to mention, at the time he was already in the doghouse as far as the fans were concerned right as this happened. If he came out his senior year, there would be a 'why bring this up now' feeling and it probably wouldn't have gained traction. The only difference that came from waiting on it is that Shaq was further removed from dependence on the university and Marshall and wasn't risking his scholarship and future career. I'm not saying this to justify what Shaq did, just to say that I think the fanbase would have reacted the same way no matter when things came up. This was always going to be nasty.
That said, I don't think one reported incident can explain what happened. This had to be a last straw situation, and I think the team's record and the departures over the past few seasons played as big a role as anything. As an outsider looking in, it looks to me like Boatright lost confidence in Marshall's ability to right the ship and the allegations pushed him over the edge. It doesn't seem to just be a moralistic knee-jerk.
That said, I don't think one reported incident can explain what happened. This had to be a last straw situation, and I think the team's record and the departures over the past few seasons played as big a role as anything. As an outsider looking in, it looks to me like Boatright lost confidence in Marshall's ability to right the ship and the allegations pushed him over the edge. It doesn't seem to just be a moralistic knee-jerk.
Comment