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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bad Times in Boulder: New Rape Allegation

Aired February 20, 2004 - 06:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about the University of Colorado now. Suspended University of Colorado football coach Gary Barnett is still very much in the public eye. He was on "LARRY KING LIVE" and told a national audience not to rush to judgement.
Joining us now, sports talk show host Chris Cotter from AM 790 "The Zone."

Welcome -- Chris.

CHRIS COTTER, AM 790 "THE ZONE": Welcome. I'm still here (ph).

COSTELLO: Glad you made it, because you ran in here, too.

COTTER: I'm welcoming you onto this set. That was a nice little sprint you had there.

COSTELLO: That was, wasn't it?

COTTER: Speaking of football, you could carry the pigskin, it looks, on that one.

COSTELLO: You know I could.

And speaking of football, let's talk about Coach Gary Barnett. A sixth woman has now come forward with allegations of rape against a Colorado football player. How can this coach continue to stand by his team 100 percent?

COTTER: Well, and again, you know I think that's all part of a police report that was leaked that you know a woman said that Gary Barnett said this. So right now there's a lot of hearsay going on.

COSTELLO: We're talking six women though.

COTTER: A lot. But again, I think this is -- Carol, I don't think this would be that uncommon on many campuses across the country. I think it's been one and then a couple of others, now all of a sudden a couple of others are coming forward. It's become somewhat of a witch-hunt, I think, in Colorado. And I don't think if -- I think if you went in to just about any other state in this union, you'd find very similar circumstances taking place.

The problem is now all of these people are coming forward and more people are thinking they need to come forward and plus there is -- there are a lot of things that have yet to be proven, yet to go through the wash yet. COSTELLO: Well that's what Coach Barnett is saying. But he himself has gotten himself in a bit of hot water...

COTTER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COSTELLO: ... by saying things he shouldn't have. Katie Hnida, the former place kicker for Colorado, he criticizes her playing ability after she makes allegations of rape. He was on "LARRY KING" last night, Coach Barnett that is, and here is what he had to say about that previous statement.

021900CN.V22

COSTELLO: OK, so he's trying to dig himself out of the hole. He wants to keep his job. He says he won't resign. Will he be able to keep his job though?

COTTER: I don't see how there's any way he can. I mean we all saw the press conference with the chancellor and the president a couple of nights ago. He is just the cause of so much embarrassment for the University of Colorado at this point in time. I think that he is going to have to. If not, I think he will be fired.

And I think right now they put him on administrative leave, paid administrative leave, until all of the things are sorted out, because he is through -- he's under contract through 2006. For all the legal ramifications and the contract negotiations and this and that, they have got to figure out a cause, a just cause, for firing him. I think they will when all is said and done with this whole thing.

He is trying to backtrack. And he could have made it a whole lot easier on himself had he been more supportive and had he come out and said this is totally unacceptable, we're going to get to the bottom of it. I don't know all the details, but I'm going to try and find them out. Instead, he goes ahead and attacks Katie Hnida's ability as a kicker when what we're talking about has nothing to do with football at all.

COSTELLO: No, that's right. You know a lot of people are wondering if the sentiments that he expressed, you know, because he doesn't seem to be standing up in favor of the women on campus at all, and many people are wondering if the sentiments he expressed kind of like reflects all of the college football world?

COTTER: I think it's a problem that, as I said earlier, I don't think it's confined to Boulder. I don't think there's an air of sexual aggression in Boulder, Colorado that you won't find on many other campuses around the country. So I think that it is, you know, symptomatic of a bigger problem in college football, on campuses in general. I don't want to just say that it's just happening with football teams and not on the general population, but I think that there certainly is.

There's a thought on football teams where you kids are in recruiting parties and you know sex parties. We have seen it here at Colorado where they are -- where they are, you know, getting strippers. And you do anything you can to win and you want to bring these kids in that maybe don't have the greatest of character.

I mean the University of Miami on signing day here earlier this month signed a kid Willie Williams who had been arrested 10 times in high school. He hasn't even gotten out of high school yet and he's already been arrested 10 times, including two weeks earlier in Gainesville when he was on a recruiting trip to Florida. So I mean you have got to win, so he's the best defensive player in the country, but yet you are recruiting kids that aren't necessarily coming out of the best backgrounds.

COSTELLO: There must be a better way. Chris Cotter from 790 "The Zone," thanks for joining us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com








Aired February 20, 2004 - 06:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about the University of Colorado now. Suspended University of Colorado football coach Gary Barnett is still very much in the public eye. He was on "LARRY KING LIVE" and told a national audience not to rush to judgement.
Joining us now, sports talk show host Chris Cotter from AM 790 "The Zone."

Welcome -- Chris.

CHRIS COTTER, AM 790 "THE ZONE": Welcome. I'm still here (ph).

COSTELLO: Glad you made it, because you ran in here, too.

COTTER: I'm welcoming you onto this set. That was a nice little sprint you had there.

COSTELLO: That was, wasn't it?

COTTER: Speaking of football, you could carry the pigskin, it looks, on that one.

COSTELLO: You know I could.

And speaking of football, let's talk about Coach Gary Barnett. A sixth woman has now come forward with allegations of rape against a Colorado football player. How can this coach continue to stand by his team 100 percent?

COTTER: Well, and again, you know I think that's all part of a police report that was leaked that you know a woman said that Gary Barnett said this. So right now there's a lot of hearsay going on.

COSTELLO: We're talking six women though.

COTTER: A lot. But again, I think this is -- Carol, I don't think this would be that uncommon on many campuses across the country. I think it's been one and then a couple of others, now all of a sudden a couple of others are coming forward. It's become somewhat of a witch-hunt, I think, in Colorado. And I don't think if -- I think if you went in to just about any other state in this union, you'd find very similar circumstances taking place.

The problem is now all of these people are coming forward and more people are thinking they need to come forward and plus there is -- there are a lot of things that have yet to be proven, yet to go through the wash yet. COSTELLO: Well that's what Coach Barnett is saying. But he himself has gotten himself in a bit of hot water...

COTTER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

COSTELLO: ... by saying things he shouldn't have. Katie Hnida, the former place kicker for Colorado, he criticizes her playing ability after she makes allegations of rape. He was on "LARRY KING" last night, Coach Barnett that is, and here is what he had to say about that previous statement.

021900CN.V22

COSTELLO: OK, so he's trying to dig himself out of the hole. He wants to keep his job. He says he won't resign. Will he be able to keep his job though?

COTTER: I don't see how there's any way he can. I mean we all saw the press conference with the chancellor and the president a couple of nights ago. He is just the cause of so much embarrassment for the University of Colorado at this point in time. I think that he is going to have to. If not, I think he will be fired.

And I think right now they put him on administrative leave, paid administrative leave, until all of the things are sorted out, because he is through -- he's under contract through 2006. For all the legal ramifications and the contract negotiations and this and that, they have got to figure out a cause, a just cause, for firing him. I think they will when all is said and done with this whole thing.

He is trying to backtrack. And he could have made it a whole lot easier on himself had he been more supportive and had he come out and said this is totally unacceptable, we're going to get to the bottom of it. I don't know all the details, but I'm going to try and find them out. Instead, he goes ahead and attacks Katie Hnida's ability as a kicker when what we're talking about has nothing to do with football at all.

COSTELLO: No, that's right. You know a lot of people are wondering if the sentiments that he expressed, you know, because he doesn't seem to be standing up in favor of the women on campus at all, and many people are wondering if the sentiments he expressed kind of like reflects all of the college football world?

COTTER: I think it's a problem that, as I said earlier, I don't think it's confined to Boulder. I don't think there's an air of sexual aggression in Boulder, Colorado that you won't find on many other campuses around the country. So I think that it is, you know, symptomatic of a bigger problem in college football, on campuses in general. I don't want to just say that it's just happening with football teams and not on the general population, but I think that there certainly is.

There's a thought on football teams where you kids are in recruiting parties and you know sex parties. We have seen it here at Colorado where they are -- where they are, you know, getting strippers. And you do anything you can to win and you want to bring these kids in that maybe don't have the greatest of character.

I mean the University of Miami on signing day here earlier this month signed a kid Willie Williams who had been arrested 10 times in high school. He hasn't even gotten out of high school yet and he's already been arrested 10 times, including two weeks earlier in Gainesville when he was on a recruiting trip to Florida. So I mean you have got to win, so he's the best defensive player in the country, but yet you are recruiting kids that aren't necessarily coming out of the best backgrounds.

COSTELLO: There must be a better way. Chris Cotter from 790 "The Zone," thanks for joining us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com