They may be guilty of bad judgment, but Case McCoy and Jordan Hicks committed no crime, at least according to their attorneys. (The San Antonio Police Department has not officially closed the case.) The quarterback and linebacker have been reinstated on the University of Texas Longhorns football team.
Head coach Mack Brown issued the following statement on Sunday:
Obviously when you break team rules, there’s a certain amount of trust that has been broken, and that will be addressed with further discipline. That discipline will be handled within the team.
Hicks attorney, Perry Minton spoke to the Austin American-Statesman last Wednesday. Although he says the case is closed, SAPD says the “case is still being reviewed.”
McCoy and Hicks were suspended from the Texas Longhorn football team and sent home just days before the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. They were suspended for staying out past curfew, which is where the bad judgment started.
According to an SAPD complaint, the two were partying with a young adult woman, who invited them back to her hotel after closing time. At the hotel, again according to the complaint, one of the men had sex with the woman as the other watched.
Bad judgment is not against the law, but when you happen to play college football for the Texas Longhorns, and your name happens to be McCoy, the law means little in the court of public opinion. And expectations for conduct suggest something on the other side of stupidity.
McCoy and Hicks are guilty of stupidity, and they broke team rules on the night before their bowl game. They let down their coaches, their fans and their team.
Brown needs to look closely at the discipline and control he has over the team. If two of his star players — identified leaders — can exhibit such poor judgment, what does it say about the team as a whole and the men who lead it?
Texas Longhorn quarterback Case McCoy
