Utah State's Morrill is quite the coach
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:07 pm
Utah State has 8 JC transfers and, not surprisingly, a bunch of older kids who have returned from Mormon missions. BUT, that isn't the noteworthy part. Their starting point guard (David Pak) is 29 years old...because he spent eight years in prison for raping a neighbor at knife point...he is a registered sex offender in Utah.
Does that mean that it would be okay to bring back Frank Brown? What a joke. It is one thing to allow a rapist on campus, it is totally unacceptable to allow that person to represent your college. Here is the article:
Paola Boivin
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 17, 2005 12:00 AM
BOISE, Idaho
In whose world does redemption equal forgiveness? Yours? Mine?
Are we supposed to watch point guard David Pak today against Arizona and forget that he served eight years in prison for rape? This is the unspoken request of Utah State University, which, remarkably, has managed to keep the junior's presence a dirty little secret. advertisement
Outside of Logan, several Internet message boards and Orange County, where Pak was raised, few know of his dark background.
Now that the NCAA Tournament has thrust the team under a national spotlight, word will spread and questions will be raised about the line that separates second chances from bad judgment. About whether universities should be applauded or scolded for opening their doors to rehabilitated felons. About whether rape should be treated differently from other crimes.
"I've gotten good letters and I've gotten hate mail," said Aggies coach Stew Morrill, who gave Pak his opportunity to play Division I basketball. "But I guess I've become older, stubborn and have gray hair. Those who don't like it ... to hell with them."
Pak is 28 now. As a troubled 17-year-old, he and a friend entered a neighbor's house in Orange, Calif., by climbing through a second-floor window and threatened a 23-year-old woman with a knife, according to court documents. Pak sexually assaulted her and left. Three days later, he was pulled out of El Modena High School by police and arrested.
He pleaded guilty to one count of forcible rape and one count of forcible rape with a deadly weapon and was sent to a California Youth Authority prison in Whittier.
A counselor, Derek Hamaguchi, was worried the penal system would eat Pak alive. He introduced him to the sport Hamaguchi also coached at the youth facility - basketball - and Pak was hooked.
Prison offers few moments of peace but for Pak, basketball was it. During the inmates' one-hour daily recreation break, he would shoot free throws incessantly. It gave him something to embrace, even though he had never played organized basketball, just a few pick-up games in the park. With prison as a backdrop, and intimidating inmates and guards sharing his stage, basketball was the closest thing to freedom inside the barbed-wire fences.
He became good. So good that an employee of the Herman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino, Calif., where he had been moved, called Bill Brummel, a coach at nearby Saddleback Junior College, to see whether he would consider giving Pak a look.
The employee came clean about Pak's background.
Was Brummel skeptical?
"That would be fair to say," Brummel said Wednesday.
Pak enrolled at Saddleback, but Brummel kept the player's background quiet. The coach regularly checked in with teachers, counselors and academic advisers to gauge Pak's behavior and commitment, and all reports were glowing.
Pak was good enough to make the team, but Brummel still told no one.
"I probably should have said something to save my (behind) in case he did something wrong," Brummel said. "But I wanted him to be judged on his behavior now, not his past."
Only after Pak had made strong impressions on Saddleback's administrators did Brummel share the truth. Because Pak had grown into the model student, there were no repercussions.
"There was never a problem, never an incident," he said. "Not one. There was nothing about him that suggested his past, except maybe the tattoos."
Brummel has had a long, fruitful relationship with Utah State, having sent several players there, including former point guard Mack Brown and current Aggies guard Marques Crane. He contacted Morrill about another possible candidate, providing full disclosure about his background.
Morrill has been around long enough - six-plus seasons at Utah State, 18 in coaching - to not worry about scrutiny from the administration. When Brummel told him he truly felt Pak was heading down a positive path, Morrill met with Utah State President Kermit L. Hall and said he wanted to give Pak a scholarship.
"People forgive in this state," he said. "They look forward, not back."
Before this season, Pak met with his teammates and told them the truth, teammates say. He admitted to the crime. He admitted that jail was hard. And he insisted he would be nothing but the model student-athlete.
Pak wouldn't speak Wednesday before practice for today's game against Arizona, but his teammates did.
"I'm sure this means a lot to him," junior forward Nate Harris said. "He still acts like he's 16, catching up on the life he missed. He fits in great. He's unselfish and has been positive all year long."
Morrill said Pak has been the model student-athlete. He's averaging 6.2 points and three assists and had a breakout game against Long Beach State recently, scoring 19 points.
For someone who didn't play organized basketball until he was 25, he has become a solid player. As a freshman at Saddleback College, he made first team All-Orange Empire Conference. As a sophomore, he was conference MVP.
Utah State fans have embraced Pak. The refer to him as Two-Pak, not as a reference to a rapper, but as a commentary of a man getting a second chance.
Aggies fans seem to have forgotten his past.
For the rest of us, it's not that easy.
Does that mean that it would be okay to bring back Frank Brown? What a joke. It is one thing to allow a rapist on campus, it is totally unacceptable to allow that person to represent your college. Here is the article:
Paola Boivin
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 17, 2005 12:00 AM
BOISE, Idaho
In whose world does redemption equal forgiveness? Yours? Mine?
Are we supposed to watch point guard David Pak today against Arizona and forget that he served eight years in prison for rape? This is the unspoken request of Utah State University, which, remarkably, has managed to keep the junior's presence a dirty little secret. advertisement
Outside of Logan, several Internet message boards and Orange County, where Pak was raised, few know of his dark background.
Now that the NCAA Tournament has thrust the team under a national spotlight, word will spread and questions will be raised about the line that separates second chances from bad judgment. About whether universities should be applauded or scolded for opening their doors to rehabilitated felons. About whether rape should be treated differently from other crimes.
"I've gotten good letters and I've gotten hate mail," said Aggies coach Stew Morrill, who gave Pak his opportunity to play Division I basketball. "But I guess I've become older, stubborn and have gray hair. Those who don't like it ... to hell with them."
Pak is 28 now. As a troubled 17-year-old, he and a friend entered a neighbor's house in Orange, Calif., by climbing through a second-floor window and threatened a 23-year-old woman with a knife, according to court documents. Pak sexually assaulted her and left. Three days later, he was pulled out of El Modena High School by police and arrested.
He pleaded guilty to one count of forcible rape and one count of forcible rape with a deadly weapon and was sent to a California Youth Authority prison in Whittier.
A counselor, Derek Hamaguchi, was worried the penal system would eat Pak alive. He introduced him to the sport Hamaguchi also coached at the youth facility - basketball - and Pak was hooked.
Prison offers few moments of peace but for Pak, basketball was it. During the inmates' one-hour daily recreation break, he would shoot free throws incessantly. It gave him something to embrace, even though he had never played organized basketball, just a few pick-up games in the park. With prison as a backdrop, and intimidating inmates and guards sharing his stage, basketball was the closest thing to freedom inside the barbed-wire fences.
He became good. So good that an employee of the Herman G. Stark Youth Correctional Facility in Chino, Calif., where he had been moved, called Bill Brummel, a coach at nearby Saddleback Junior College, to see whether he would consider giving Pak a look.
The employee came clean about Pak's background.
Was Brummel skeptical?
"That would be fair to say," Brummel said Wednesday.
Pak enrolled at Saddleback, but Brummel kept the player's background quiet. The coach regularly checked in with teachers, counselors and academic advisers to gauge Pak's behavior and commitment, and all reports were glowing.
Pak was good enough to make the team, but Brummel still told no one.
"I probably should have said something to save my (behind) in case he did something wrong," Brummel said. "But I wanted him to be judged on his behavior now, not his past."
Only after Pak had made strong impressions on Saddleback's administrators did Brummel share the truth. Because Pak had grown into the model student, there were no repercussions.
"There was never a problem, never an incident," he said. "Not one. There was nothing about him that suggested his past, except maybe the tattoos."
Brummel has had a long, fruitful relationship with Utah State, having sent several players there, including former point guard Mack Brown and current Aggies guard Marques Crane. He contacted Morrill about another possible candidate, providing full disclosure about his background.
Morrill has been around long enough - six-plus seasons at Utah State, 18 in coaching - to not worry about scrutiny from the administration. When Brummel told him he truly felt Pak was heading down a positive path, Morrill met with Utah State President Kermit L. Hall and said he wanted to give Pak a scholarship.
"People forgive in this state," he said. "They look forward, not back."
Before this season, Pak met with his teammates and told them the truth, teammates say. He admitted to the crime. He admitted that jail was hard. And he insisted he would be nothing but the model student-athlete.
Pak wouldn't speak Wednesday before practice for today's game against Arizona, but his teammates did.
"I'm sure this means a lot to him," junior forward Nate Harris said. "He still acts like he's 16, catching up on the life he missed. He fits in great. He's unselfish and has been positive all year long."
Morrill said Pak has been the model student-athlete. He's averaging 6.2 points and three assists and had a breakout game against Long Beach State recently, scoring 19 points.
For someone who didn't play organized basketball until he was 25, he has become a solid player. As a freshman at Saddleback College, he made first team All-Orange Empire Conference. As a sophomore, he was conference MVP.
Utah State fans have embraced Pak. The refer to him as Two-Pak, not as a reference to a rapper, but as a commentary of a man getting a second chance.
Aggies fans seem to have forgotten his past.
For the rest of us, it's not that easy.