Dr. Chris Hill Must Be Fired for ‘Lack of Institutional Control’ Concerning Utah Utes Swim Team

Dr. Chris Hill must step down or be fired for the events surrounding our swim team reported yesterday by Yahoo Sports.

I think it’s without question that as we each heard the story come out about Jerry Sandusky and Penn St, our stomachs we’re turned. Sandusky was allowed to continue what he was doing because Joe Paterno and the people around him had created an atmosphere where people did not feel comfortable speaking out against him.  Now, I am not saying the events at Utah are equal to what happened at Penn St., they are not even close, but the atmosphere that allowed it to happen, well that seems strikingly familiar.

I do not even think it matters if Chris Hill knew or did not know what was going on.  The fact is that he should of.

As has been pointed out, Yahoo is doing the best investigative sports journalism out there.  The list of things that the Utah Athletic Department failed to act on is staggering.  This includes information from a professor in the College of Health who was acting as a counselor.  The mountain of evidence ignored by the Athletic Department is shocking.

What has happened is that Dr. Hill has created an atmosphere where we’re allowing coaches to behave with impunity.  It’s the very definition of “LACK OF INSTITUTIONAL CONTROL.”  And to show that it stops now, Hill must go.  Along with him the whole of the office at Office of Equal Opportunity, who blew any attempted investigation.

Would you send your son or daughter to a school that would willingly allow abuses like these to go on, unpunished?

Frankly as a University we should almost consider ourselves lucky the allegations are only this bad.  It’s clear this coach could have taken much worse actions that would have been permitted.