Brady Hokok Incident

829 Words2 Pages

Case Study: University of Michigan

On November 17, 2014 it was announced that senior defensive end Frank Clark, was dismissed from the University of Michigan Wolverine football team after being arrested for physically assaulting his girlfriend in a hotel room. Clark was charged with “one count of misdemeanor domestic violence and one count of assault”, but pleaded “not guilty” to both charges (Baumgardner, 2014). Apparently the physical altercation between Clark and his girlfriend, Diamond Hurt, began after the two were arguing. Hurt in a fit of rage threw a TV remote at Clark to which Clark responded by restraining her, pushing her head down into the bed, and choking her. Hurt tried to fight back by biting Clark’s nose, but Clark ultimately …show more content…

That following Monday the Michigan head coach, Brady Hoke, dismissed Clark from the team. Hoke commented on the incident stating, “This is a tragic situation. Our student-athletes will be held accountable when their actions fail to meet the standard we have at Michigan. There is a legal process that will occur and we respect that process” (Baumgardner, 2014). It is honorable to see Coach Hoke holding his team members to high standards in their actions not only on the field, but off the field as well. Also, his rapid response to the incident is commendable. Once Coach Hoke heard about the incident he responded promptly and appropriately. His quick response to the issue really demonstrates the severity of domestic violence and how it should not be tolerated at any …show more content…

Therefore, their expectations for athletes are high since cases of violence are more likely to happen at large universities. Although Michigan does not have a domestic violence prevention and training program like the one we are suggesting, what they do have is just as remarkable. Recently, Holly Rider-Milkovich, Director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, teamed up with the Athletics Department to institute a program that provides sexual violence training for coaches and athletes. In a podcast, Rider-Milkovich said that the decision to launch this program was based on the fact that sexual violence is a widespread issue and that student-athletes have different needs and interests from the rest of the campus community that need to be addressed (Fields, 2015). She said that it was important to include coaches in this effort because coaches have “special relationships” with the athletes and could engage them in the program more effectively (Fields, 2015). As a result, coaches received bystander intervention training that provided them with “proactive bystanders tools and resources to intervene” in sexual violence cases, the ability to identify “potential harms”, and tips on avoiding the use of sexist language (Fields, 2015). While receiving this training, the coaches actively collaborated with the entire Athletics Department and the student-athletes to engage them in the intervention as

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