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

1) Which article says that "nothing was done"? Every article I've seen says the criminal investigation is "ongoing." In the real world, unlike TV, it takes time to investigate crimes and collect enough evidence to justify charging someone.

2) You are right about one thing: You "don't know how these law suits work." In the US, it is very hard (ie, usually impossible) to sue police or prosecutors because of how they handle a criminal investigation. The reason is obvious: If everyone who filed a police report could sue when they did not like how the police or prosecutor handled their complaint, the courts would be jammed with such suits.

The instagram account can post that a recruiting visit occurred whether a visit occurred or not.

Tase Like Chicken, You selectively quoted me by omitting part of what I wrote to make it appear that I was saying something that I didn't. Regardless, the earlier malfeasance that NJ got himself into is relevant to this new case and lawsuit, is it not? That is why Woods brought it up in the interview. The earlier case establishes NJ's modus operendi.

You act like these kids are 12 or 13. What is the age of consent in Indiana? Haven't new coaches been put in place? What danger are these students in? If they want to end their season, however, then by all means, but at least 3 don't, and probably more.

And, just as a reminder, the Johnsons are sick and gross. They and all the other potential lawbreakers should get what's coming to them.

What’s the age of consent in Oregon?

Age of consent in Indiana is 16.

The police report indicates Nick didn't really talk to Victim 1 until she qualified for state as freshman. I'm not sure how much interaction he had with her between then and completion of her sophomore year. While he may have been "grooming" her during this time it likely doesn't mean the legal definition. Once she turned 16, the age of consent in Indiana, then he could groom as much as he wanted legally.

The 4 things Johnson was charged with were all kind of grey as I mentioned earlier in the thread. As long as victim 1 said they were consensual they were going to be tough to convict. They actually did well to get the felony plea considering she was going to be totally uncooperative. Imagine him being acquitted of all 4 counts back in February at trial. The Johnson supporters would be pointing how he was found "innocent" in a court of law and call this a witch hunt.

His affair with Hannah was also in the original police report. Victim 1, Lauren and Nick all discussed it with police. It's highly probable that victim 1, Lauren and Nick colluded on this story since Victim 1 continued to have contact Johnsons any chance she got. There was also a 2nd affair mentioned with another athlete as well. The original police report may be why Hannah later had issues getting Huntington Police or other police with jurisdiction to take action. It's also possible they had read texts between Hannah and Nick during the original investigation. Even if Hannah was a willing participate 99% of the time that's not good enough. Rape is rape. Unfortunately it becomes harder to prove which may be why it never went anywhere.

While many in the mob will want to downvote this response because it makes them angry or sad, I'm simply pointing out the system and reality we live in. Huntington University and their lawyers will likely not act in a way to satisfy the mob unless there are legal or financial consequences for not.

While the petition from alumni is great. It's not beyond the admin type to run a cost analysis on that petition especially since it's potentially their jobs online. If the 200 people that signed only donate $10k/year total then they may decide to just ignore it or have a couple people fall on the sword. Based off their past history they may just rehire after the mob disperses. I don't have much faith in Huntington University doing the right thing long term. To be fair I don't have much faith in most universities to do the right thing.

If you want to make real change to stop something like this from happening again then push your state congressman to increase age of consent to 18. I'd also like to see law that makes it illegal for any college that accepts federal funding to have professors or coaches of that university having sex with the students.

You consistently continue to miss the point. Do you remember the dumb decisions you made in college. Looking back do you realize how impressionable you were?

18-22 year old kids should not be the one's deciding how this situation is handled. It took the two brave girls years before they felt comfortable speaking out. What if in another 2-3 years time we have more athletes speaking out? The top priority right now is making sure that every athlete is safe now, was safe in the past, and will be safe going forward. Once again this is my opinion, but I think it would be best to put a halt on the entire season, let the investigation play out, and wrap up this mess once and for all. No loose ends.

I second this notion since Huntington is a religious organization. The Johnsons will attend some sort of pastoral marriage counseling at Huntington and come out of it with a "stronger marital bond sanctified by Almighty God and his everlasting blah...blah...blah.". After a year in exile, Lauren will probably be re-hired. Nick will be perma-banned from holding any title at the school but will probably lurk in the shadows once the wife is back on the job.

Hines will be the scapegoat for violating some sort of reporting rules but, will be forgiven as he has seen the error of his ways and has repented before The Lord. He will not get his job back and will likely also be shown the door at the high school as well. Look for him to show up at some other Christian NAIA school within two years.

If Huntington survives this financially, it will return to business as usual since the institution seems more interested in sweeping this under the rug rather than cleaning house and enacting real reforms.

Yay! LawsVsMorals completely gets it. ALL of that post is correct.

PHJ's overall main perspective on how this is likely to end up could very well occur.

ForFusion, I appreciate that you have a valid opinion (as do I) and you at least will engage in good faith. I do not think 18-22 year olds are the one's deciding how this situation is handled. An entire criminal justice system, school administration that is accountable to stakeholders, parents of the student-athletes, news media, etc etc are all involved. In a small town like Huntington, everyone is aware of the scuttlebutt surrounding this situation. At this point, I don't see the immediate danger for the kids that they wouldn't also have at any other school or situation. I don't see how anyone has the ability at this point to make good on your suggestion to "make sure that every athlete was safe in the past" unless there is some time travel ability that I am not aware of. However, I do agree that the investigation should be done to wrap everything up followed by appropriate punishments and changes to prevent this from happening again.

I think you are missing the fact that Huntington had the opportunity to stop this mess when Nick Johnson was first arrested. They should have never hired Lauren Johnson. That is where the negligence comes in and that is why people are calling for the Board, the administration, and the athletic department to resign/go to prison, etc. To make matters worse, they allowed Victim #1 to transfer to their University, knowing full well she would still be visiting and possibly living in the Johnson's home.

What's the bigger picture?

Yay again - Some actual thoughts beyond the only acceptable mantras in this thread!

I TOTALLY agree that there very likely could be unintended developments that we don't want. Unless a lot more comes out (and maybe it will, who knows), this will all be forgotten. Those of us here will think there is a cloud around any superstar runner from Huntington, but that is like 0.1% of runners. To most, we would just look like petty jealous runners who don't want others to run well. However, this whole thing has been a gigantic advertisement to driven HS runners (who may not quite be upper tier) with flexible morals to look into Huntington. They wouldn't know how to begin to get access to PEDs, but it sure seems like they'd have a shot at scoring some in Huntington! You've got LJ who went from marginal in HS to top-tier. There's the current miler. There's the 2 "national champions" (NAIA). In his interview, Woods said that he doesn't think any of the PEDs could have possibly helped because they apparently were administered so haphazardly, but it's hard to argue with the results. If you were the Johnsons, and you wanted to let people know you got the PEDs, this has been a great! Hey kids - It's PEDS-R-US!

And, yeah, small town dynamics... there is significant distrust of all the big city slicker folk that does allow for a notable degree of denial, overlooking, whataboutism, etc. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the general perspective of all this there is significantly different than what we think. Also, there is often a weird dynamic between small towns (with townies) and colleges located there that bring kids in from all over the place. The towns need the school, the educators, etc... but they (the townies) don't like the students much. I wouldn't be shocked to learn that a number of people there think Nick is a flawed individual with sexual addiction who is the victim of seducers who have a lack of reverence for marriage. Case in point, the additional affair that you mentioned... that person and the teammate she was engaged to appear to be handling this much differently, and I believe they are from nearby areas.

Your comments about people who went to Salazar after the initial allegations have gotten me to re-think that a little bit. Of course, hindsight is 20/20.

Here’s a copy of the petition: https://imgur.com/a/FnDFek9

The university receives state and federal money, so I imagine this situation will trigger an investigation from a state or federal agency, the results of which will "help" the university take proper corrective measures.

I can't really tell based on the NAIA's drug testing consent form as to whether it can test athletes out of post season NAIA competition, or if it only conducts random urine samples from athletes at NAIA championship events. However, I'm curious if the NAIA can immediately require all of HU's current athletes to submit to comprehensive drug testing. The allegations in the complaint are so specific and startling that if drug testing is allowed it should be conducted on the athletes. I'm not saying it to be punitive towards the athletes, but if they were unknowingly subjected to PEDs it would be helpful for them to know what the hell they were given.

Thanks for posting this.

There is at least 1 current XC/TF member who signed this petition.

Must have been a heck of a recruiting trip the other day.

The NAIA is full of religious universities like Huntington. They're similar to the original European settlers in that they want to teach their religious views in the community/school and want everyone else to leave them alone. So you have a several hundred schools that don't want anyone telling them what to do. As such their sports organization, the NAIA, is weak when on creating and enforcing rules. They basically want the schools to discipline their own however they see fit.

Frankly they don't have the money to enforce any kind of PED testing, especially on a sport that likely brings in no revenue. They're only bringing in about $10 million total for all 27 sports. So don't hold your breathe on some mass testing at any NAIA school.

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That is well written and strongly worded petition - I like it! Who wouldn't want to sign that?!?

Out of the last 4 years (2018-22) and the current classes, I count a grand total of (drumroll, please)...... 7 XC runners. So, only about 20% from the people best positioned to see? That's extremely discouraging. I thought it would be much better.

As for the drug testing, the lawsuit sounded like the defendants "encouraged" everyone to take it for "research" purposes. But, then in the Woods interview, he said that only the top two or were injected (and it was not team-wide). So, I absolutely think that if some current (or recent) athletes wanted to get checked out, the school should pay for that testing. Perhaps someone will find something, and that would be quite notable. As far as catching anyone in season or around a national meet, I think there is really only one sure-fire athlete to test.

I heard from someone that every athlete at HU will be tested but idk how reliable that source is.

NAIA drug testing has always been a joke. When I went All-American during indoor track not a single runner in the final was tested. The only athletes that were tested were the ones that didn't make it through prelims. I had a teammate later that year that DNF'd her 10k due to injury and was pulled aside afterwards to be tested.

Seems kinda pointless to drug test an entire university, but at least it shows that the NAIA is taking this somewhat serious I guess. I'll be really curious to see if HU races at Great Lakes in a week. That should tell us a lot.

In other news, HU Men stayed ranked #13 and the Women dropped one spot to #17. Our hypothesis that coaches may drop HU from the rankings seems obsolete at this point.

Just to continue to keep awareness...HU canceled their upcoming gala and there is a new petition to remove President Sherilynn Emberton, VP Russ Digitz, and AD Lore Culler. It stand at nearly 500 signatures at this point.