First, any "bad press" is coming from Iowa fans and it's almost out of artificial rivalry banter. The national media wont run with any story because we aren't relevant in any sense to make this into a big story, no matter what story comes of all this, if any. If there is a story, it's going to be written up by some Iowa person trying to throw shade at a program that they remember dominated the Midwest, and therefore, their program, for the last 50 years.
With that, and making absolutely zero excuses for young adults making the bad decision after bad decision, I would venture to guess most of us typing here on this forum come from a rather decent upbringing and have carried that into our adult lives. Things have probably been pretty cookie cutter for the most part for all of us. Unfortunately there are people out there who are not as fortunate as many of us and haven't had it as easy as most of us have. Some of these players in college are not dealt the best of hands growing up and sometimes playing athletics is their opportunity to leave behind the difficulties they had growing up. Sometimes athletics and having a coach and teammates is the first structure in some of these young adults lives. Some of these players have had to grow up far faster than any child should, and grow up without having that structure and guidance.
Reading Coach Frost's comments about it, I am glad Frost has that approach. Some of these young men need sports, need coaches, need teammates. If coaches took a holier than thou approach and kicked a player off at the first wrong doing then they'd be doing that individual no favors. It did seem while Washington was on the team Frost did hold him accountable, and did try to teach him lessons, all awhile giving him all the tools, resources, and opportunities to change his behavior, and most importantly provided him structure and support to be there and help him grow as a person.
I don't agree with Washington's actions or behaviors, but I understand why Frost kept him around. Coaches have a far more important role in these players lives than just teaching them X's and O's, they have to teach them in their most critical times how to navigate through life, and in some cases how to teach them from being a young man to a man. A college coach wears many hats from being a coach, mentor, counselor, role model, etc.
