Editor’s Note: As this semester’s issues of the Daily come to a close, Jeff Raasch, who has been following the Larry Eustachy story since it broke Monday, offers insight from his vantage point on the situation.

Now that everyone and their dog’s uncle seems to have an opinion on the situation regarding Larry Eustachy’s behavior after losses, it may be time to set down a few guidelines.

Some are dead-set on seeing Eustachy fired, while others, including some team members, consider Eustachy’s habits as no big deal. Most realize that Eustachy has no one to blame for this but himself, but who, of the many surrounding Eustachy and the men’s basketball program, should we feel sorry for? And which people should we not show sympathy?

Those who need our prayers, or to at least be in our thoughts

Stacy Eustachy

This woman has been through a lot and it showed as she sat beside her husband Wednesday. On occasion, she had mentioned to Larry that his drinking was a problem.

She said she eventually came to the realization that her husband had to make his own decision to confront his problem.

“I realized that I wanted him to do it for me and it took me a while to realize that only he could do it for himself,” Stacy Eustachy said. “I’m so proud that he got there. I don’t care what it took.”

Even though she looks as if she’s handling the situation tremendously well, the words that have been said about her husband are not kind and can’t sit well with her. Everything that happened isn’t her fault.

ISU media relations

As this public relations nightmare has unraveled in the last week, the phones have been ringing off the hook in the Jacobson Building.

The media relations director, Tom Kroeschell, and his associates are good people and have had to listen to person after person tell them their opinion on the matter.

They’ve had to deal with us at the Daily and virtually every other media outlet in the Midwest and beyond.

All of them are the ultimate middlemen and women. People who call them want answers — answers they usually don’t have. Just because they’re in the same building as some of the top dogs doesn’t mean they know everything going on inside the doghouse.

It’d be easy for them to unhook the phones. They haven’t.

Who not to feel sorry for in the Larry saga

Larry Eustachy

This man doesn’t want your sympathy and his admission to alcoholism was not offering an excuse for his actions.

He made that point clear Wednesday. He’ll be the first to tell you that he acted stupidly and that he was not representing Iowa State the way it deserves to be represented. He’ll also tell you he’s sorry.

But don’t feel sorry for him. He has his life going in the right direction without your sympathy.

Bruce Van De Velde

Van De Velde had a chance to address this issue when the first photo, which included Eustachy posing for a picture with several beer-holding college-aged men and women, was brought to his attention.

The Des Moines Register approached Van De Velde one day after the photo appeared on a Missouri message board and he did not dispute its authenticity. If one was taken, wouldn’t the chances be about 99.9 percent that several more shots were snapped?

Tell you what — if Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson or Missouri coach Quin Snyder decided to party in Ames after a loss, you can guarantee rolls would be taken, not just one isolated picture.

And did he think the Register, with the first photo in hand, would let the issue die? Of course they wouldn’t.

Ultimately, the decision for reporter Tom Witosky to follow the photo helped a man realize his problem, and Eustachy openly thanked Witosky for that during the press conference Wednesday.

I’m sure Van De Velde now regrets his decision not to nip this one in the bud. In fact, at the time, he is reported to have said the photo was no big deal.

Maybe this incident can be a learning situation for more than just Eustachy.