Wiedmer: Is there no concern for the victim in UT rape case?

Tennessee football coach Butch Jones has, for the most part, chosen his words quite carefully and correctly this week regarding the suspensions of linebacker A.J. Johnson and cornerback Michael Williams for their alleged rape of a UT coed.

"The thing I want to do is I want to be right rather than fast," the coach said when news first leaked of UT players possibly being charged with rape following a party at the Woodlands apartment complex in Knoxville early Sunday morning.

He also said at some point, "Every situation that occurs, just like in life, I treat it as a teaching opportunity, a teaching moment. We spend an inordinate amount of time on that in our Vol for Life program, our character education program, all that."

Then he said what most coaches thrown into this situation will say, do or both: "We'll discuss it, but it'll be business as usual."

Business as usual.

Of course.

There's a very big football game to win on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium against Missouri. It's a game that could propel the Vols into a bowl game for the first time in four years. It's a game, if won, to trumpet Jones's brick-by-brick mantra. And the power of one. And the rest of his motivational library.

But one thing he said shouldn't have been said without broadening the message.

Asked about possibly sitting the popular Johnson for the final home game of his career -- assuming he remains suspended through the weekend -- Jones said, "Obviously, it's very difficult."

Tennessee head coach Butch Jones

A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams

It is, of course. For Johnson and his family and friends. For Williams, his family and friends. For the teammates who must play without the player many see as their emotional leader.

But there's also one person whose difficulties always seem to be ignored at this moment. The victim. If Jones has spoken a single word about the victim of this alleged crime, I've missed it.

Just as former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Rodney Allison, when facing similar charges against his players, once asked the public to pray for his athletes. He never once mentioned the victim until our own David Uchiyama asked if Allison was requesting any prayers for the victim.

Better yet, let's recall former Colorado coach Gary Barnett's remarks to Sports Illustrated in 2004 when he was asked about Buffalos female place kicker Katie Hnida's charges that she was raped by a teammate.

Rather than say he was shocked and that he intended to discover the truth, Barnett told the magazine that Hnida was a "distraction," that football is a "guy's sport and the (male players) felt like Katie was forced on them," and "it was obvious that Katie was not very good."

This is not to assess guilt or innocence on Johnson and Williams in the legal sense. The law will do that. And since it isn't the Tallahassee (Fla.) police investigating or somewhat ignoring charges against a Florida State player, there's a reasonably good chance that justice will be served within the confines of the judicial system.

But guilt or innocence in the eye of the law doesn't mean that Johnson and Williams did no wrong. They obviously upset this young woman enough to make her cry rape. And few women cry rape to the authorities with no reason, given that the victim often seems to be on trial more than the accused.

So at the very least it would seem the decent, gentlemanly thing to do for coaches and administrators to always mention these women, at least in passing, when discussing the plight of their players. Talk about, to borrow a line from Jones, "a teaching opportunity."

But there also needs to be a national debate about the music lyrics banging around in too many of our young men's heads these days, beginning with a rap artist the entire Vols football team, including Jones, has embraced this season: Lil Jon.

In an excellent column in the Knoxville News-Sentinal this week, John Adams wrote that it's time for the Big Orange to cut ties with the rapper following this rape charge. He points to a Lil Jon collaboration with other rap artists on a video titled, "Literally, I Can't," which contains the usual foul language, but also the line, "Girl, I know that you can. I don't wanna hear no."

No. We tell men that's all they should need to hear.

Just say no. Two letters. One word. Nothing could be more simple or succinct.

But the music holding their brain hostage too often tells a different story. It makes them believe might makes right. They don't want to hear no so they don't.

And before you say this is overreacting, a Kent State study on the impact of sexually violent rap lyrics on the male brain showed that men listening to such lyrics were four times as likely to be drawn to such troublesome behavior as those who listened to nonviolent rap tunes.

You can argue that it's only music. The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" didn't make most of us rush out and drop LSD. Maybe screaming, "I don't wanna hear no," has little overriding negative impact on the male mind.

But whenever and wherever a person behaves in a way that makes another person believe they were violated, it would be both decent and respectful to mention that possibly wronged person when showing sympathy or empathy for the person accused of committing the wrong.

I think we all know that we can do that. And should. And no one should argue no to such civility and decency, regardless of how such behavior is ultimately judged in a court of law.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com