Colorado Mess Gets Uglier

With appalling accusations of sexual misconduct, finger-pointing and political posturing becoming a daily ritual at Colorado, folks around Boulder wondered whether any additional revelations could possibly produce genuine shock.

The answer, unfortunately, is an unqualified yes.

A former female kicker said she was raped by a teammate four years ago, the culmination of ongoing sexual harassment that included teammates exposing themselves and groping her in the huddle during practice.

Katie Hnida, 22, makes the allegations in an upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated, saying she is doing so because other problems with the Buffalo program that have made headlines in recent days “sent me back into that nightmare.”

The mounting problems at Colorado are worse than a nightmare, becoming in the words of Coach Gary Barnett, “a Stephen King novel that’s turned into a Woody Allen film.”

In sworn testimony made public the last two weeks, the Boulder County district attorney accused the Colorado football program of using sex and alcohol to entice recruits to attend the school, rekindling a debate that had subsided after the alleged rape of three women by football players and recruits at an alcohol-saturated party in December 2001.

The players were never charged with sexual assault, but the women have filed lawsuits against the university, claiming their civil rights were violated. The case has triggered an avalanche of allegations that includes strippers performing for players and recruits at parties; an athletic department employee using a university-issued cellphone to call an escort service; and the former strength and conditioning coach operating an unauthorized program that enabled players to work off court-ordered community service by lifting weights.

The coach, Doc Kreis, also is alleged by Boulder police officers to have helped players cover up their involvement in the 2001 sex party. Kreis is now in charge of strength and conditioning at UCLA, and Bruin administrators were unaware of the allegations when he was hired last June.

Reacting to the growing crisis, the Colorado Board of Regents appointed a nine-person committee to investigate the athletic program and report its findings by April 30. The makeup of the committee remains uncertain because two members were asked to drop off because of perceived conflicts of interest.

Also, Colorado announced Tuesday that a special administrator will be hired to oversee the athletic department during the investigation and will report directly to the university president and chancellor, not exactly a vote of confidence for Athletic Director Dick Tharp or Barnett.

It is unclear whether Hnida’s charges will be part of the investigation. The former high school homecoming queen and honor student told Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly that she was watching TV at the house of a teammate when, “He just starts to kiss me.” She said she told him no and tried to push him off, but that he lifted her skirt and penetrated her.

Only when her unnamed attacker reached for a ringing phone did she manage to move away and run. She said she was too afraid to go to police and did not notify Barnett because, “He didn’t want me around in the first place. I thought for sure he’d kick me off [the team].”

Colorado President Elizabeth Hoffman said Tuesday that Hnida should report the alleged rape to the police.

Hnida said she did not inform her family about the incident but did tell her father enough about the groping and name-calling that he met with Barnett and Tharp before the 2000 season, when she left Colorado.

“Talking to Barnett was like talking to a wall,” said Maj. Dave Hnida, an Army surgeon currently stationed in Iraq.

It’s not the first time in recent days that Barnett has been accused of indifference. In a sworn deposition, former Colorado associate athletic director Robert Chichester said the coach was told before the 2001 incident that administrators had grave concerns about recruiting practices, stemming from a 1997 alleged sexual assault by a recruit when Rick Neuheisel was coach.

Barnett, Chichester said, “didn’t necessarily want to know what was going on,” adding, “I felt if the head coach doesn’t know what’s going on with recruiting activities, he has a responsibility to know generally what’s going on and to set the tone and climate. I didn’t get a sense that Coach Barnett was committed to that.”

Barnett and Tharp said Chichester’s characterization is mistaken and that additional safeguards were implemented after the 2001 incident, including a 1 a.m. curfew for recruits and stronger language in a handbook that outlined appropriate behavior for players hosting recruits.

Former players and parents of players have rushed to Barnett’s defense. Several parents spoke at a recent regents’ meeting, saying that he is a man of integrity who would never use promises of sexual favors to entice recruits.

However, Hnida’s allegations could erode even some of that support. Reilly, a Colorado alumnus, is pointed in his criticism, writing: “You show me a coach who maintains he’s unaware of recruiting parties featuring paid strippers, of four alleged rapes, of sexual harassment claims by one of his players against other players, and I’ll show you a coach who is hell-bent on not knowing.

“Makes this alum want to hide his class ring.”

Neither Tharp nor Barnett recalls Dave Hnida mentioning sexual harassment during their meeting.

“If I’d have heard that, I’d have jumped down somebody’s throat,” Barnett told Reilly. “Not one time did I ever see or hear about anybody treating her wrong. I don’t believe she was sexually harassed. I don’t believe our players would do that. They’d be in too much trouble with me.”

After leaving Colorado, Hnida walked on at New Mexico in 2002. She became the first woman to compete in a Division I game when she attempted an extra point in the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl against UCLA and became the first woman to score in a Division I game, kicking two extra points last season. Hnida said she will not sue Colorado or press charges against former teammates.

“I just want to see changes made there,” she said.

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Associated Press contributed to this report.