CONNECTICUT — Central Connecticut State University sanctioned its athletic departmentand head men’s soccer coach Tuesday, after the coach dumped copies of the school’sstudent newspaper.
CCSU PresidentJack Miller announced that head coach Shaun Green will be suspended for 60 dayswithout pay, suspended from coaching four games next season, is required toissue a written apology to the Recorderand financially compensate the paper for destroying the copies.
The athleticdepartment will also face a $100,000 penalty and one of Green’s assistantcoaches will not return next season.
In a press release,Miller said the university has “built a culture of freedom of expression andfreedom of the press and personally defended those freedoms even when theresult is criticism of us.”
Outgoing Recorder Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Prochestimated the 150 trashed copies were valued between $400 and $500.
“I’m happy with whatthey’ve done, and on behalf of my staff I can say that. They did everythingthat they could do, I’m assuming, inside of the university,” Proch said. “I’mhappy that they took it seriously and it wasn’t just a slap on the wrist. Itwas a true sanction, in my opinion.”
Green was caught on a securitycamera May 3 collecting copies of The Recorder from thestudent center and placing them in trash cans and recycling bins. Proch, whorecently graduated, noticed empty bins after one of his classes that day andcontacted police.
According to the Recorder, Green was unhappy with a storythat reported the soccer team would be disqualified from the postseason nextyear because of academic sanctions.
CCSU also announcedthat assistant coach Paul Wright’s contract with the university will not berenewed. Wright was walking along with Green on the security video, but did notactually carry any papers, Proch said.
“I think it was fairand I also think that even though he (Green) is not a representative of theentire athletic department, and I don’t think that other people in the athleticdepartment should be tied into the same image, it was important that they putthe athletic department on notice… to at least train or show other coaches inthe system or future coaches that this is an important issue and that itshouldn’t be taken lightly going down the road,” Proch said.
Proch said he maypursue the matter further and is looking into possible legal action.
By Nikki McGee, SPLC staff writer