Some of the Iowa State coaches are starting to really tick me off. Who do they think they are? Apparently a couple of them think they are above the law.

One incident did not set me off. It’s a continuing series of incidents that has proven time after time that the ISU athletic administration is hypocritical and sets a double standard of conduct for players and coaches.

The latest incident involves a basketball player who was charged with sexual abuse in October. Following the announcement, men’s basketball coach Tim Floyd promptly kicked this player off the team before he was even brought to court. The only problem is that the charges were later dropped against this player.

Not being legal wizard myself, I have no reason to give coach Floyd legal advice. But I wonder if he has ever heard of the American legal precedent of innocent until proven guilty?

In fairness to Floyd, no matter which decision he made regarding the ballplayer’s eligibility could backfire on him. He was, at no fault to himself, put in a tough situation. What would have happened if the allegations against the player would have been held up in a court of law? What would fans have thought then if Floyd would have allowed a sexual abuser to play on the team?

Even though the player was reinstated to the team yesterday, the damage is already done. Because the player was kicked off the team, many ISU fans assumed he was guilty. Because of Floyd’s action this player will always be known as the basketball player who had sexual abuse charges filed against him.

This incident wouldn’t get me so mad, if it weren’t for the way Floyd handled the allegations against his assistant Gar Forman. Forman is accused by the NCAA of illegal recruiting and gaining fraudulent eligibility for some of his players while an assistant at New Mexico State.

What was Floyd’s reaction to the allegations against Forman?

“Gar Forman is a good man and all we have right now are allegations,” Floyd said at the team’s media day on Oct. 10.

Excuse me coach, but weren’t “allegations” the reason you kicked a player off your team?

In past columns I have refrained from criticizing Forman and Floyd because, at this point, the charges against Forman have not been proven by the NCAA yet. The only reason I even brought up the charges is because of Floyd’s hypocrisy in dealing with both cases. I don’t know if I would want to play for a coach who showed more loyalty to his assistant coaches than he did to his players.

I would never want the pressure of coaching a major college basketball program like Floyd does. I don’t know what I would have done if I were confronted with this situation. In hindsight, Floyd should have allowed the player to practice but withhold him from games. That way Floyd would have allowed this player to develop his skills, while the case was pending, without appearing to compromise his own principles.

It would be much too easy for someone like me to sit at a computer and be judge and jury on every little thing Floyd does over the course of the season, but that would not be right. Much in the same way, it is not right when Floyd acts as judge and jury regarding his players.

Bill Kopatich is a sophomore in journalism from Des Moines.