Do the police usually call the Head coach of a player that gets arrest?

Submitted by ldevon1 on October 3rd, 2019 at 12:18 PM

Jeremy Banks was arrested back in September for having an outstanding warrant after being pulled over for a traffic violation and the arresting officer calls his head coach (Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt). Pruitt tries to talk the cop out of arresting his player. This is golden, and I'm not sure why this isn't getting more attention:

https://youtu.be/k0SBsKoa6Mk

 

bacon1431

October 3rd, 2019 at 12:34 PM ^

Coach at my friend's alma mater was the first contact when some HS players were caught drinking and vandalizing. Parents weren't told. Coach got fired. Cops should have been fired too IMO. 

Family should always be the first contact. If the parents give permission to contact coach that night, then cool. If not, they should find out like everybody else. Personally, I think there should be a person that is part of the athletic department but not part of any individual team's office that is a contact person for this to ensure some independence. Kind of like how doctors make the call for players and not the coaches. 

Sambojangles

October 3rd, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^

I like the idea of an independent liaison between local police and the AD. I would suggest that to be even more independent, it should be an employee of the University at large, not the AD, so it's accountable to the school, not athletic director or athletic department. That is even more independence of an AD incentivized to bury these issues. 

oriental andrew

October 3rd, 2019 at 1:36 PM ^

At this point, though, these kids are 18+ and legal adults. They don't need their parents' permission. While they probably should be the first contact, the legal adult can likely put whomever they want as the contact - and if that's the head coach, then it is what it is. The bigger question is whether the HC tries to unduly influence the legal process. There should probably be a set procedure which applies to all athletes which has greater oversight, though. 

I am not a lawyer, nor have i ever been arrested. But I have watched over probably hundreds of episodes of L&O, L&O:CI, L&O:SVU, and L&O:UK

nerv

October 3rd, 2019 at 1:47 PM ^

There is no such thing as a first contact when you get arrested. It is not policy for any police officer to call someone on behalf of the person they are arresting. Once you're booked and brought back to the station you are either given a chance to call someone or they have a phone in your cell that you can use.

The only exception I can see to this if it's a minor. But in this case it was not. Clearly the UT player tried to use his college football status to get out of this incident and the fact that a call was made at all is already preferential treatment.

Teeba

October 3rd, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^

I've been told that Bo would get notified by the police when one of his players got in trouble. I'm not suggesting he intervened in the process, but he sure as hell would want to know ASAP so he could get out in front of the story, and I bet the punishments he gave exceeded the fines and community service that come with misdemeanors.

Bo, Urban, Tressel, and Dontonio are all offshoots from the Woody Hayes coaching tree. I'm not claiming guilt by association, just they share a common influence. 

https://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=13445329

lilpenny1316

October 3rd, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^

I'm not going to say "don't cast a stone from a glass house" on this one, but back in the day, someone could "injure" themselves in practice and miss a game or be limited in game action, and no one would question it.

Harball sized HAIL

October 3rd, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^

Whatevs.  Not much here.  When I was that age I didn't take a minor traffic violation that seriously and got Failed to Appear turning a $50 ticket into a $400 one.  Whether or not a warrant was issued I can't recall.  I won't throw stones.  I think these days if cops are being cool they will let you call someone to see if they can get your car to avoid towing/storage all that scam. 

And it doesn't look like cops called coach the player did.  The vid does cut out just in time to not show the beatdown down they are about to administer for some perceived attitude problem.

othernel

October 3rd, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^

It shouldn't be, but it clearly is sometimes. 

This is a big part of what happened with PSU. Cops were involved, but they were looking to JoePa on what to do, as he was clearly the most powerful figure in Happy Valley, and he was going to direct the next steps on Sandusky. 

This is why it drives me nuts when people say "Joe Pa didn't do anything wrong...". It's like yeah. He didn't do anything at all, that's the whole point.