Cyclone football kicks off the 2003—04 season this Saturday. Once again, Royce Hooks won’t be taking the field in Cyclone cardinal and gold.

Hooks hasn’t seen action on the gridiron since the 2001—02 season, and was suspended from the team in January 2002 after being charged with second degree sexual assault, along with fellow former teammate Brent Nash. The trial ended July 31 — Hooks was acquitted, and the charges against Nash were subsequently dropped. Hooks is officially innocent, and is still enrolled at Iowa State. But he’s still not a Cyclone.

“Royce Hooks and Brent Nash are not members of our football program,” head coach Dan McCarney said July 31. “With respect to [the] decision, we would assist Royce in finding an opportunity at another school.”

But Hooks doesn’t want to be a member of another team. Hooks is reportedly exploring his options to return to the team, and he should have every right to return. Going solely on Hooks’s innocence, McCarney should allow him to rejoin the team. Hooks did retain his athletic scholarship during the period between his suspension and the trial.

If the coaching staff has faith in the American judicial system, Hooks should be back on the team.

But the Hooks trial uncovered an unpleasant side of the Cyclone football program — a side that made fans cringe and donors tighten their purse strings. Testimony for both the prosecution and defense revealed a night of underage drinking and group sex — not activities looked upon with favor by coaches or university administration, and not behavior becoming of ISU athletes, who are seen as role models, whether they like it or not.

As determined by a jury of his peers, Hooks didn’t participate in illegal activity at that party that January evening, but his behavior wasn’t up to the standards of a scholarship athlete. Neither was the conduct of many of his fellow players.

McCarney has the right to determine the moral standards of conduct for his athletes, and he can dictate who he wants on his team. If the athletic department is willing to provide for athletes representing Iowa State, the athletes should be willing to fully adhere to the department’s standards. The Hooks situation is a good opportunity for the ISU football coaching staff to examine what’s really going on with their players — on and off the field. But it shouldn’t take a rape trial to do this.