Coach Q & The Orange Women Move Forward

It's been a rough couple days for Coach Q. Well I guess technically its been a rough 9 months or so since the sexual harassment complaint against him was first thrown out there during the summer.

There may be a lot more to the story but from the initial report, the complaint boils down to two specifics.

1. Q's proclivity for chest bumps and butt-slaps.

2. A text that the alleged victim received saying, "I love you, I miss you, I can't wait to see you."

In a vacuum, yes those both sounds like icky things to do. But like everything else in life, it's all about context. And that's where this whole issue seems to get murky (not that I intend to figure it out right here and now, I am the farthest thing from a law expert. Paging the Orange44 fellas...).

Q not only refutes the accusation but he openly admits to sending the text. As expected, context changes the way you might interpret it.

In a statement released by the university, Hillsman called the allegations "untrue and hurtful to me and my family." He said he utilizes text messaging to communicate with players and staff and the text in question was sent to multiple players and "reflects my sentiments about the team, not a specific player."

Lampkins' father spoke with the Post-Standard and discussed how even if Hillsman's intentions were chaste, it's irrelevant .

Lampkins said his daughter felt "abused and sexually harassed" by Hillsman from the time she arrived in mid-December 2008 after receiving late academic clearance for her freshman year. He said in addition to text messages, some of which were directed solely to his daughter, there were "several occasions where he patted her on the butt" in the course of games or practice.

"I had an organization where I was in charge of 250 girls and I wasn’t going to touch one of them on the butt," said Lampkins, a longtime youth coach. "Would you want a coach to chest bump your daughter? Would you want a coach to pat your daughter on the butt?"

The article also notes that Lampkins' father has a bit of a history of clashing with his daughter's basketball teams. Whether that's relevant or not, well that goes back to the whole context thing.

In the meantime, all Q and the Orange can do is play basketball. That they did on Saturday, crushing USF 78-57. After the game, current members of the team put their support behind their coach.

"We focus on basketball," Morrow said. "That situation is definitely ― has nothing to do with us. What we're here for is to play basketball games and win basketball games for Syracuse University."

A little rehearsed, but noted nonetheless. One more person put their two-cents into the ring as well. USF head coach Jose Fernandez..

"I’ve got a wife and five daughters. If any one of them (the daughters) were to play for Q and he pats one of them on the behind or gives them a hug or a high five or a chest bump, I’d be fine with it because she’s an athlete. That’s my opinion."

"You can ask every kid in that (USF) locker room ... I don’t see a problem if she makes a good play, why am I not allowed to do that?" he said, while giving Hogan a quick slap on his behind. "Hey, great job. Or give one of my girls a hug," he added while giving Hogan a quick hug. "It happens on the men’s side. Why can’t we do it? They’re athletes."

And so, like Q, we all move forward. We'll find out when we find out, I guess.