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College coach fired over sexual abuse allegations
Source: Agencies |
November 29, 2011, Tuesday
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Syracuse University in the US has fired assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine amid allegations he sexually molested boys.
The school said: "At the direction of Chancellor (Nancy) Cantor, Bernie Fine's employment with Syracuse University has been terminated."
Fine, who had been on administrative leave since November 17, is the target of a grand jury investigation into accusations that years ago he molested a former ball boy, Bobby Davis, now 39, and at least one other boy, his stepbrother Mike Lang, now 45, when they were juveniles.
Fine's boss for the past 35 years, Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, said he supported the firing, withdrawing the support he had extended to Fine when the allegations resurfaced this month.
Boeheim said: "I have never witnessed any of the activities that have been alleged. What is most important is that this matter be fully investigated."
The firing came hours after ESPN reported it had an audio recording of a 2002 conversation between Davis and Fine's wife Laurie in which she said she knew about the alleged molestation but felt unable to stop it. Neither the tape nor any additional witnesses surfaced when the university conducted its own investigation into Davis's allegations in 2005.
Now that a police investigation is under way, the school has hired an independent law firm to "review our procedures in responding to the initial allegations. We need to learn all we can from this terrible lesson."
Fine has called the accusations against him "patently false in every aspect."
The firing was the latest jolt to major college athletics already reeling from allegations of abuse and possible cover-ups at football powerhouse Penn State, where former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky faces 40 sexual abuse charges involving eight young boys.
Legendary football coach Joe Paterno and school president Graham Spanier lost their jobs for failing to tell police about the abuse once they had learned of it years earlier.
The school said: "At the direction of Chancellor (Nancy) Cantor, Bernie Fine's employment with Syracuse University has been terminated."
Fine, who had been on administrative leave since November 17, is the target of a grand jury investigation into accusations that years ago he molested a former ball boy, Bobby Davis, now 39, and at least one other boy, his stepbrother Mike Lang, now 45, when they were juveniles.
Fine's boss for the past 35 years, Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, said he supported the firing, withdrawing the support he had extended to Fine when the allegations resurfaced this month.
Boeheim said: "I have never witnessed any of the activities that have been alleged. What is most important is that this matter be fully investigated."
The firing came hours after ESPN reported it had an audio recording of a 2002 conversation between Davis and Fine's wife Laurie in which she said she knew about the alleged molestation but felt unable to stop it. Neither the tape nor any additional witnesses surfaced when the university conducted its own investigation into Davis's allegations in 2005.
Now that a police investigation is under way, the school has hired an independent law firm to "review our procedures in responding to the initial allegations. We need to learn all we can from this terrible lesson."
Fine has called the accusations against him "patently false in every aspect."
The firing was the latest jolt to major college athletics already reeling from allegations of abuse and possible cover-ups at football powerhouse Penn State, where former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky faces 40 sexual abuse charges involving eight young boys.
Legendary football coach Joe Paterno and school president Graham Spanier lost their jobs for failing to tell police about the abuse once they had learned of it years earlier.
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