WOU women's coach cleared

[tsull]

After an investigation by a law firm, Western Oregon's women's basketball coach Jessica Peatross, and assistant DJ Marlow, have been cleared of any wrongdoing. This was after the season in which they forfeited the last six games I believe after the team voted to walk off.

I don't know all the exact details. The article on the Salem newspaper said if returning players wanted to return to the program they would have to meet with the coach. I can't imagine that would be a very fun meeting, and if I was a player I would bring a parent, guardian, or someone with me to that meeting.

[Goods]

Wrongdoing or not, the damage has been done. If I'm a prospect, at the least I'm concerned, or if I'm not, I would figure mom/dad would be asking a few extra questions. I hope they can rebuild whatever they lost. A competitive WOU makes the league better.

[tsull]

Agree, it's going to be tough to fight back from this. Instead of any articles on Cali McClave, one of our best players in the history of the school, the only Western Oregon women's news was the scandal. I'm not sure that the women's program will recover from this. I think it will take 5 to 10 years to get even close to 500.

The whole vibe that I'm feeling right now is the de-emphasis of athletics at the school. They're having the worst won-loss record I've ever seen there and I've been following them for a long time. It just feels like they don't care. The president doesn't really speak to athletics or anything other than saying we have a lot of first generation students. He's the one-trick pony in that area. I've never heard his vision for the university. I've also never heard the vision for the athletic department. It just seems like they're happy to have teams and compete. It's disappointing, and this latest news isn't that great. I'll have to trust the investigation, but I feel for the players.