Coach-athlete sex, rape and PEDs at Huntington University? Nick Johnson scandal gets grimmer thanks to David Woods expose

They just raised 56.6 million dollars in August. Seems like they have a good chunk of change in their pockets right now. That being said, no chance HU themselves hire a third party investigator team to look into it.

I said it before and I'll say it again, the charges and accusations brought against Nick, Lauren, Curtis, and the School are no joke. Due to the nature of the accusations, there essentially HAS to be some type of third party involved. Wether that's the NAIA, the local police force, or possibly something else, your guess is as good as mine.

In my opinion it seems like the school knows they are in deep trouble and are choosing to go down with the ship. If I had to guess, I think their plan is to "quietly" release Lauren and Curtis, then hopefully settle the lawsuit in court with as little publicity as possible.

100% agree with you, but the coaches also held practice yesterday and ran with the team (this was confirmed to me in addition to Curtis's Strava post). That doesn't sound at all like the university is protecting the students.

Respectfully, bethel isn’t in a tough spot. Tell Lauren Johnson that her team isn’t welcome and if they show up they will not be allowed to race. Very easy decision

I agree with you, I hope that is what happens. I hope Mr Natali does. It just seems insane that this would be the FIRST point of action by anyone in power towards HU. That’s really what a mean by it puts them in a tough spot. They shouldn’t have to be the ones initiating the punishment. The team activities should have been suspended as soon as that IndyStar article was released on Wednesday.

If you read my post again, I said they should do just that. I said it’s on them to not allow HU to compete. Not sure where you came to the conclusion you did. My post was about continuing to allow my athletes to race at that meet IF Huntington showed up but that Bethel should not allow them to.

Interesting video from the NAIA.

If they took it seriously, I don’t believe they’d have allowed this guy onto a member schools roster

tucson.com

Eight former UA athletes detail 'rotten culture' in track and field program

https://facebook.com/CaitlinCSchmidt

The former athletes say they suffered harassment, bullying and assault by teammates. They said coaches dismissed their complaints and failed to report certain allegations as required by federal law.

Open link

The dean of students’ investigation ultimately determined that Sincukovs broke in “with the intent to engage in sexual activity” with the woman, UA documents show. He was found responsible for four violations, including off-campus conduct, endangering/threatening/causing harm, stalking/unwanted contact and discriminatory activities. He was expelled from the UA and then unsuccessfully appealed the decision.
On March 6, a UA panel upheld a November decision by the dean of students office to expel Sincukovs for multiple code of conduct and Title IX violations. Title IX is a federal law that guarantees all students have access to an education free from discrimination, of which sexual harassment and abuse is considered.

I was not disagreeing with you, I was just adding on that Bethel should absolutely be taking action. Sorry for not being clear.

Interesting write up on the first case. I don’t think anyone here expects victim 1 to “turn on” the Johnsons. That’s pretty obviously not going to happen.

The rape accusations coming later, after admitting to a sexual relationship, is completely normal. Very often, people who have been manipulated and abused don’t realize the full extent of what happened until well after the fact. The runners want to believe in their coach. They don’t want to believe that a man (connected to God or something too) is abusing them and taking advantage of them, so they will rationalize as much as possible. I have no doubt that the sexual relationship between Hannah and Nick constitutes rape. Whether or not there’s enough proof of this to do anything seems to be a different story.

I actually think Huntington is preparing to fight this. Sure, they could have Lauren and Chris resign and settle the suit out of court, but these people literally don’t believe they did anything wrong and that they have God on their side. This could actually progress through the legal system.

If that's the case, that Huntington will not settle, are they Hannah and Emma going to need legal funds? Depending on the law firm and agreement they may not be prepared to actually go to trial. Their current agreement could state that the lawyers get x% of money in a settlement. If there's no settlement and Plaintiffs want to take it to trial they would have to enter a new agreement which make include money down or more money down if they don't already have any down.

Bethel, and other schools hosting meets, can also make life hard for the HU coaching staff by requiring that they check in with campus security and watch a mandatory sexual harassment education video upon arrival plus sign a document attesting that they will adhere to that institution's policies regarding sexual behavior and student contact. They are also restricted to a 50 foot radius around their team tent while on school grounds, monitored by a member of that school's campus police. Additionally, designate a tent area significantly away from those of other teams.

Until the matter is resolved, schools should openly boycott any meets hosted by HU or demand that HU provide security and athlete escorts to all visiting athletes while they are on the HU campus.

Make sports participation such a pain in the rear for HU that they have no choice but to make changes.

I hope LRCers will reflect on how they would have treated the athletes if the abuse had remain hidden and they later tested positive for PEDs.

One of the craziest things to me, as has been mentioned or hinted at in other posts, is how the president and board of trustees cannot be counted on to do anything at this point. They are in a league with the coaches ... as if the entire university staff, administration and board are ALL apparently part of this cult. Not sure if I've ever heard of anything quite like this. If at this point the only accountability is to the league and the NAIA, then that seems the only way this can be stopped. Thanks to those who posted those contacts.

It was not germane to the 2020 criminal suit against Johnson, so it wasn't investigated by the police. However, it would be a part of the new civil suit and will likely be investigated by the prosecuting legal team and questioned if the case goes to a jury trial:

What are the details around a 33 year old man claiming he has ED and is on testosterone for it?

In the police interviews he says all of his sexual urges that led to sleeping with athletes came from supplementing testosterone.

No one asked "where did you get a prescription for testosterone to address your ED issue? Which Dr? show us the prescription and/or we need to talk to your physicians about the testing that led to this diagnosis."

some similarities to alberto slazaar and his claims that he had low testosterone.

will there be links between nick johnson's "condition" and the fact that athletes are claiming he was providing them PEDs with apparently no medical oversight

The meet is not on school grounds it's at County park 7 or 8 miles away from Bethel.

This is fairly common. Predators are usually adept at grooming the other adults around them.

I suspect in this case the media attention will force action at the school, probably enough donors will get uncomfortable that they will put pressure on the board behind the scenes.

But most of the time the story never blows up in the media and the people in charge don't do the right thing.

It's flat out amazing that in the child seduction/identity falsification case documents we learn that in the span of time from January 2020-September2020 nick johnson had sexual relations with 2 HU team members and sexually groomed a high school student. which according to the investigation documents they did not have sex "but victim 1 admitted to being naked in the shower together without remembering specific details about what happened after he massaged her body".

Tied to all of that Lauren Johnson knew of the sex with multiple team members.

And the decision they made as a couple was to not tell the university about the teammate sex because they would lose their jobs.

Is anyone well educated on the Title IX reporting requirements related to sexual assault. B/C I would assume a more upstanding organization would have immediately fired Lauren. If they worked at any major company, failure to report sexual assault would be a fire-able offense.

Can you imaging if your co worker slept with 2 of his direct reports and you knew all details. Then it comes to light and the company just says "it's okay you kept secrets. here's a promotion!!"

It's not surprising. Sexual misconduct is endemic in colleges, and not just in the athletics departments - look up the case of Jorge Dominguez, a Professor at Harvard. The colleges ALWAYS close ranks to protect the (usually male) staff until the external pressure becomes so great that they have to act. My advice to anyone who is abused by a member of staff at college would be to go to an external body - a newspaper, safesport, or whatever - because the college will do everything it can to brush your case under the rug. Quite simply: the old men running these institutions don't see anything wrong with their male faculty having sex with female students. There needs to be a culture change and that will only happen when the boomers at the top of the college hierarchies are replaced by people who grew up in an era when it isn't ok, or just a bit of fun, to hit on students.

Some of you don’t understand that the coverup / ignorance of all of this stems from Huntington University’s need to attract paying students. It is one of the hundreds of small, independent, liberal arts colleges (in spite of calling itself a “university”) that are
tuition-dependent and must keep enrollments up if they are to survive.
With an enrollment of less than 1000, even a 5% drop in student registrations means a
big hole in the annual budget. That’s why HU accepts 81% of all applicants – basically, if you can pay, you get in. And HU is hurting. It received a “D” (the lowest grade awarded) and a 1.4 grade point average on the Forbes Financial Report Card, meaning it is one step from bankruptcy.
HU competes with more than 35 other faith-based, evangelical colleges in the
Indiana-Ohio-Illinois tri-state area, 10 in Indiana alone. So, how to attract those crucial, tuition-paying students? HU has to stand out in some way. All these Christian colleges claim “God first,” (see HU’s president’s web page), so nothing original there. Solution: track and field NAIA national champions. And shout it from the rooftops.
Today, at 9:40 Eastern time, the HU website trumpets WILEY WINS LOUISVILLE CLASSIC TO BE NAMED NAIA RUNNER OF THE WEEK, with a full-screen photo of Abby Wiley. It’s not
personal, you see, it’s just business.
Riding on that achievement, the website continues: “The Huntington University Foresters
compete in 17 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade,
Huntington has produced 125 NAIA All-America honors and 449 All-America Scholar
Athlete honors… U.S. News & World Report ranks Huntington among the best
colleges in the Midwest.”
And please don’t expect an announcement or explanation from HU any time soon. Its website still proclaims it is the “Safest School in Indiana.” (Safe for whom?). At most
we may get the boilerplate statement in these cases:
“It would be unfair to comment before all the facts are clear.”
“We don’t comment on personnel decisions.”
“The safety of our students and staff is always our most important priority.”
Depressing yes. That’s why the initiatives started here with the NAIA, Crossroads League,
and other coaches, are absolutely necessary if we hope anything will come of
this.