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@PABaseball posted:

This is rich. Players haze each other in 2018 so the 2022 team will play a shorter non conference schedule. Anything to save a dollar

2020 was last event.  Coach in trouble because it was brought to him by a non-baseball athlete as a problem in 2018 and did nothing. Not to be too much of a "snowflake", I think some hazing in good fun can/should be part of freshman year, binge drinking, especially involving hard alcohol, is really dangerous.

"Critically, drinking also was a recurring theme during the initiation, with multiple initiation events involving the consumption of excessive alcohol. The first initiation event (“Beer Boxing”) was structured so that half of the rookies would drink enough to vomit by their first baseball house1 stop on Saturday morning, near the start of a day of physical exertion and drinking. One of the participants in the 2020 initiation described blacking out by the second stop, after being “the brother who got fucked” in the anchor position of “Don’t Fuck Your Brother.” Another witness described seeing photos of himself lying in his vomit. Yet another said that he vomited during most events, and that everyone vomited at some point during the day. During the last road trip of the season in 2021, two players drank in a restaurant and a number of players drank in the back of the bus on the ride home, despite knowing it was not allowed."



UC Davis was bottom of the league before.  A bunch of players transferred.  They're probably lucky to not play as many games.

@LousyLefty posted:

2020 was last event.  Coach in trouble because it was brought to him by a non-baseball athlete as a problem in 2018 and did nothing. Not to be too much of a "snowflake", I think some hazing in good fun can/should be part of freshman year, binge drinking, especially involving hard alcohol, is really dangerous.

"Critically, drinking also was a recurring theme during the initiation, with multiple initiation events involving the consumption of excessive alcohol. The first initiation event (“Beer Boxing”) was structured so that half of the rookies would drink enough to vomit by their first baseball house1 stop on Saturday morning, near the start of a day of physical exertion and drinking. One of the participants in the 2020 initiation described blacking out by the second stop, after being “the brother who got fucked” in the anchor position of “Don’t Fuck Your Brother.” Another witness described seeing photos of himself lying in his vomit. Yet another said that he vomited during most events, and that everyone vomited at some point during the day. During the last road trip of the season in 2021, two players drank in a restaurant and a number of players drank in the back of the bus on the ride home, despite knowing it was not allowed."



UC Davis was bottom of the league before.  A bunch of players transferred.  They're probably lucky to not play as many games.

Like I said, don't have much of an opinion on the actual hazing. I just think cutting their non conference schedule to teach them a lesson is a bit bizarre. I see it as more of a slick way to cut costs that is being disguised as a lesson learned.

We as parents were terrified during our sons freshman year. We knew that freshman initiation was happening, knew what day it was happening and several parents notified the coaching staff and nothing was done. Luckily all survived and later we found out exactly what took place. It was not pretty and involved dangerous amounts of alcohol. Designated drivers were used, but still not acceptable. Players are not going to opt out, as most see this as team building. Stupid tradition that most coaches turn their heads. This goes on at colleges all the time and not just in sports. When we were on our official overnight visit just before committing, a freshman died at a frat house from alcohol. I remember my wife calling the coach to ask what was his stance. He told my wife that he has a zero tolerance policy and had already talked about with the team that day. Said one thing, but did nothing about his own team. It was easier for him to ignore.

IT NEEDS TO STOP!

On my daughter’s high school softball initiation day she had to go to school dressed like a hooker. Ironically five years later my son had to do the same thing for baseball.

I don’t believe something even this lighthearted would be allowed today (they’re 33 and 28 now). It would be considered humiliating. My kids took it in the spirit of humor it was intended.

@PABaseball posted:

Like I said, don't have much of an opinion on the actual hazing. I just think cutting their non conference schedule to teach them a lesson is a bit bizarre. I see it as more of a slick way to cut costs that is being disguised as a lesson learned.

Very well could be.  For what it’s worth, looks like it will be more expensive to travel than before…they have to bring a UCD supervisor along on road trips😳.   So that may have been part of the problem.  

Lefty,

Pages20-21 and elsewhere clearly confirm the Head Coach reported the 2018 player information to his supervisor, likely an assistant AD in charge of baseball.

The report is conspicuously silent on the action/inaction of the superior who was alerted in January of 2018.

Rather the report comes back and concluded the coach should have done more without being clear on what “more”” should have been done, especially with the report confirming how problematic it would have been to get reliable information from the players.

To me, the HC did what he was mandated to do-communicate the information to the AD. It is a complete mystery why the report is completely silent on any AD culpability

The report clearly concluded the pattern of misconduct was  within the team without confirmation of coaching knowledge or tacit looking the other way.

So the apparently rogue players are reinstated and the HC loses his job. (Hopefully he gets his UCRS retirement)

Administration culpability-silent.

Last edited by infielddad

I find this story to be very disturbing.  As if freshman ball players don't have enough stuff to deal with... from everything I've seen with my son, it takes every ounce of focus and energy to be on your game every day, there is just no time for this stuff.  It sounds like the house cleaning needs to go deeper than the HC and coaching staff.

@infielddad posted:

Lefty,

Pages20-21 and elsewhere clearly confirm the Head Coach reported the 2018 player information to his supervisor, likely an assistant AD in charge of baseball.

The report is conspicuously silent on the action/inaction of the superior who was alerted in January of 2018.

Rather the report comes back and concluded the coach should have done more without being clear on what “more”” should have been done, especially with the report confirming how problematic it would have been to get reliable information from the players.

To me, the HC did what he was mandated to do-communicate the information to the AD. It is a complete mystery why the report is completely silent on any AD culpability

The report clearly concluded the pattern of misconduct was  within the team without confirmation of coaching knowledge or tacit looking the other way.

So the apparently rogue players are reinstated and the HC loses his job. (Hopefully he gets his UCRS retirement)

Administration culpability-silent.

Now that I've read all of the report, completely agree. One year left on his contract that was likely not to be renewed, seems like they picked the easiest scapegoat.  I personally would have gone after the Asst. AD.

It's too bad.  Vaughn seemed like a nice guy, although very reserved and lacking charisma (a bit like my son).  Lefty had some conversations with him at Showball camp just before this happened. Def glad it went nowhere at this moment.

@Smitty28 posted:

I find this story to be very disturbing.  As if freshman ball players don't have enough stuff to deal with... from everything I've seen with my son, it takes every ounce of focus and energy to be on your game every day, there is just no time for this stuff.  It sounds like the house cleaning needs to go deeper than the HC and coaching staff.

Smitty,



The assistant coaches were exonerated completely! One is still working for Davis. By and large this was a player generated fiasco!
One thing every parent of a college player(or HS player with college aspirations) should learn from the report:

”witnesses in misconduct investigations balance complex considerations in deciding what to share with investigators and how to share it. Based on our experience, interviews with members of insular organizations like teams often are influenced by an even broader mix of motivations, including:
 Self-interest/concern about their own conduct
 Interest in protecting the future of the organization
 Concern for the reputation of the organization
 Positive and negative relationships with organizational leaders and specific members
In addition, organizational witnesses often share information about their interviews with many of their peers despite confidentiality requests. Even witnesses who are otherwise more comfortable telling the truth can convince themselves to withhold information when they believe an investigation is unfair and that their peers have not shared information. In contrast, once people know peers have discussed a topic, they are more likely to acknowledge it, even if they are uncomfortable discussing the topic themselves.”

We can certainly hope the Davis team examples are on the fringe.

I, for one, would be hesitant to conclude some type of initiation and at least the use of alcohol isn’t omnipresent in college baseball. Parents will often be among the last to know in my view.

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