The Jans Papers

OK, kids.  So the media has run down the Jans documents, which will allow everyone to understand for themselves what caused Jans to have his position terminated.   I'm glad these things are out because they will let people decide how they feel about the dismissal based on actual facts, and not the rumors that have been bolting around all day.

The termination letter is attached here.  It is pretty clear.

Essentially, while at the bar, Coach Jans was seen lowering a woman's head to his crotch.  He also patted a woman on the buttocks and the letter says he asked her to walk away so he could "enjoy her assets."  He was confronted by a woman who was in the bar who was a student-athlete at another college.  He called her a bitch and then was confronted by some table companions.  An altercation broke out and some other members of the basketball program had to separate Jans from the people who had confronted him.

Again, you can read it yourself.

One of the "table companions" was Ron Tiller, a BGSU alum.  He emailed AD Chris Kingston with his concerns--the thread of which can be seen here.  Interestingly, Tiller did not want to see Jans fired.  The second-to-last email is Kingston asking to call Tiller, this morning after the decision was made.  The last email is Tiller apparently responding following the conversation.

A few things.  First, you do have to view this in terms of what time it occurred.  Back in the day, BG had a hockey coach who was known to have a few too many beers and get relatively wild.  Things were just different.  Again, you might or might not think that firing was appropriate, but I don't think you can justify that because this kind of thing was accepted in the 1970s.

The second issue is the issue is that it impacts women.  There have been high-profile issues in athletics with women, and I don't think that helped the case at all.  He appears to know at least one of the women involved and does not know the second one at all.  Not sure if that matters or not but it seems like it does.

We also don't know the history of this issue---whether there had been other discussions or concerns raised in the past.  Also, this is not the first controversial issue between an athletic department employee and alcohol.  Not going to go into details, but it isn't the first time.

The final element is just the ability for something like this to get higher amounts of publicity.  Mr. Tiller mentions specifically that he considered taking the story "national."  If it goes national and you then are forced to act (hello Roger Goddell) the whole university takes a hit and looks like it condoned the activity until it was forced to do the right thing.  Heard of Deadspin ever?

For all those reasons, I think this on balance was a difficult thing to do but the right thing to do.  It is 100% clear that Jans violated the letter of his contract.  I think the definition of what is acceptable has changed a lot over time, and things that were ok a little while ago are liable to get someone fired.

I highly doubt Kingston did it lightly.  He hired Jans and had seen success right from the beginning.  He can't have wanted to do this.  So, for better or for worse, I'm sure he felt it was the only viable choice available to him.