Coach Gregg Marshall Investigation

[Walker]

I thought Ron was going to provide some closure and definitely say he saw HC3GM strike another player. That didn't happen. He was a witness to Shaq hard fouling Zach Brown, and then being thrown out of practice and getting verbally run down while walking through the tunnel. He was a witness to Shaq claiming he got hit. He believed Shaq, but was not a witness to HC3GM striking anyone. He says there are some players that claim to have seen it. Did anybody without an axe to grind actually see Shaq get punched?

It's REALLY starting to look like Shaq got slapped on the back of the head. Humiliating? Absolutely. Crossing the line? Maybe. Possibly. Probably. A "punch"? No.

I think HC3GM is telling the truth in his statement. And it makes sense based on everything we know.

When I saw Taylor’s article about Ron’s interview I was thinking that we finally might have the smoking gun evidence with a first hand account from somebody that wasn’t an anonymous source. Ron’s account, with all due respect to him, just leaves me feeling like he was just a spectator on the grassy knoll not quite sure what happened.

Hard foul happens, coach loses it and everything comes to a halt and then Shaq is kicked out of practice. Did the “hit” occur on the court or down the concourse? If on the court, how did only a couple people see it?

Somewhere G*****n is preparing a video to post on Twitter. “Here you can see Shaq’s head going back and to the left. Back...and to the left.”

[RoyalShock]

He said Marshall followed Shaq onto the concourse, which implies they were in the practice gym. I expect only a few players had the correct angle to see through an opened door or door window.

[shock]

When I saw Taylor’s article about Ron’s interview I was thinking that we finally might have the smoking gun evidence with a first hand account from somebody that wasn’t an anonymous source. Ron’s account, with all due respect to him, just leaves me feeling like he was just a spectator on the grassy knoll not quite sure what happened.

Hard foul happens, coach loses it and everything comes to a halt and then Shaq is kicked out of practice. Did the “hit” occur on the court or down the concourse? If on the court, how did only a couple people see it?

Somewhere G*****n is preparing a video to post on Twitter. “Here you can see Shaq’s head going back and to the left. Back...and to the left.”

The hit occurred in the concourse. However, Shaq specifically said it was as he was helping Zach up and then again before he left the court.

[ShockTalk]

Thanks, pinstripers .

So, we've had all sorts of statements as to what a punch might or might not be.

Is striking someone less or more than a punch? What's the minimum a strike might be considered?

Merriam-Webster says at the least: "to come into contact forcefully". By that, a slap or shove would qualify. So, do most here agree that neither of those things, or worse, unequivocally never happened?

Pretty certain putting your hands around someone's throat is not a strike, so no address in the statement to that.

I just think his statement was overboard and wrong for him to put on record. Not that I would hold the least of a strike against Marshall, as I'm pretty sure that that has happened more than once. So, yes, I do believe at the least, it has happened, thus, personally, I believed he lied, technically.

[bleed yellow]

Even if Ron didn't see the actual punch or slap Marshall put on Shaq. A few other things that we learned about this incident from Ron's interview are

1. Marshall's rage over the hard foul on Brown was over the top enough to draw concern from his players

2. This rage is something that the university should of addressed a long time ago being that there's no way they didn't know about it

3. It was bad enough to make Shaq's story absolutely believable the day it happened

4. If Marshall hasn't apologized or anything yet then this whole thing probably isn't over. By the sounds of it until Marshall makes some kind of statement saying he was wrong for what happened that day then he either doesn't think he did anything wrong which is concerning, or he's a little upset about the situation

[shock]

I think the one thing we know for certain is that whatever comes out about this from now until kingdom come will be nitpicked to death by this board.

[giskard]

The interview also highlighted another way Marshall's second statement doomed him. Sounds like that statement motivated at least Ron, if not other players, to cooperate with the investigation.

[Kung Wu]

The hit occurred in the concourse. However, Shaq specifically said it was as he was helping Zach up and then again before he left the court.

And that's a troubling aspect of this. Shaq described something quite different than Baker.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

And that's a troubling aspect of this. Shaq described something quite different than Baker.

Yep. At least the actual punch part. Shaq said it happened on the court after the hard foul. Ron said it happened in the tunnel or hallway after Shaq was kicked out. Unless there were two incidents at the same practice, there are inconsistencies. If it happened in the tunnel how could there have been 7-8 witnesses?

[Walker]

The hit occurred in the concourse. However, Shaq specifically said it was as he was helping Zach up and then again before he left the court.

That’s what I thought too. Something ain’t jiving.

[Dan]

The interview also highlighted another way Marshall's second statement doomed him. Sounds like that statement motivated at least Ron, if not other players, to cooperate with the investigation.

it also signaled to the University that he was gonna dig in and fight the termination attempt, thus resulting in the big payout. Marshall knew he was toast and was advised to go for the money.

[shock]

After digesting all of this here are my thoughts:
Marshall claims he has never struck a player.
Shaq says he was punched in the side of the head, and then again between the shoulder blades, both on the court.
Ron said whatever happened was on the concourse and he didn’t see it, but Shaq says he was hit and several players saw it.

It is possible that Marshall punched Shaq. It’s also possible that Marshall only shoved Shaq. Both would jive with Ron’s story. What does not jive is the version of events as told by The Athletic and Stadium. What is also concerning is that ******* says 8 players saw it but Ron says it was more like 3. I suspect that the story grew and became unmanageable once Patty Cakes and ******* wanted to use it to ruin Marshall

I still believe Shaq was seeking payment for his story, but not from the media. I think he was looking for hush money.

Ron said Shaq lives in Wichita but is scared to go out in public. I think that is sad.

[Aargh]

There's been some question about why this wasn't handled at the time it happened. Certainly someone in the athletic department knew what was going on and what happened. But what could anybody do in 2015?

Can't force Marshall to apologize or take anger management classes, or really anything. All Marshall had to do is say, "no". And that's the end of the discussion.

Here's the distribution of power in athletics in 2015.

Gregg Marshall: 100%
Darren Boatright: 0%.

I believe the only choices Boatright had in 2015 were 1) Pretend it never happened and hope it doesn't come back to haunt him later - or - 2) Attempt to fire Marshall with cause.

How do you think attempting to fire Marshall in 2015 would have worked out? The answer to that question probably occurred to Boatright 5 years ago.

[Ashockalypse]

You are correct. I believe that the university knew about this incident five years ago and did nothing.
Was it a punch or a slap? Who knows?
Was Marshall over the top or justifiably angry over a player making a lazy move and possibly seriously injuring another player?
Has anybody heard what Zach Brown thinks? Maybe he appreciated Marshall coming to his defense.

Anyway, good luck trying to fire someone for "cause" five years later.
WSU would get laughed out of court.
I frankly think Marshall did the University a favor settling for 1/2 instead of suing.

Baker's comments only prove that he did not see the alleged hit.
Otherwise, it is pure conjuecture and inadmissible in court.

I still think WSU made a big mistake getting rid of someone who was so successful and integrated into the community over this event.

I will bet money Marshall will take a year off, get lots of offers from big schools who want to win.
He will go somewhere else and he will WIN.

Will WSU going forward? Who knows.

I think we treated Marshall very shabbily on such think gruel as these largely unsubstantiated claims.
Welcome to virtue signaling in 2020. Cancel cuture.

We canceled ourselves. Marshall isn't hurt by this. But he has a right to be angry about this shabby treatment.

Agreed.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

There's been some question about why this wasn't handled at the time it happened. Certainly someone in the athletic department knew what was going on and what happened. But what could anybody do in 2015?

Can't force Marshall to apologize or take anger management classes, or really anything. All Marshall had to do is say, "no". And that's the end of the discussion.

Here's the distribution of power in athletics in 2015.

Gregg Marshall: 100%
Darren Boatright: 0%.

I believe the only choices Boatright had in 2015 were 1) Pretend it never happened and hope it doesn't come back to haunt him later - or - 2) Attempt to fire Marshall with cause.

How do you think attempting to fire Marshall in 2015 would have worked out? The answer to that question probably occurred to Boatright 5 years ago.

Another interesting tidbit from Goatlube was the fact that he said he ran in to Boatright around the time of the incident (Sexton was still AD and Boatright assistant). Dougie says Boatright introduced himself and Doug asked him what it was like to have Marshall report to him and Boatright said something along the lines of “oh we all report to him.” I am paraphrasing a bit you get the point.