Solich charged with DUI
- Thread starter chuckd
- Start date
Touchdown Tommie
All-Conference
:yeah
Very well said DaveH!! :thumbs
Eric the Red
Team HuskerBoard
Solich to stay at Ohio, if he meets three conditions
The Associated Press
ATHENS, Ohio — A day after he was convicted of drunken driving, Frank Solich agreed on Tuesday to become involved in alcohol education initiatives on campus as part of new conditions imposed on him to keep his job as Ohio University's football coach.
Ohio athletic director Kirby Hocutt said at a news conference that Solich also has agreed to publicly address his arrest and conviction and that he will be put on probation for the remainder of his contract.
"I cannot crawl in a hole. I cannot take a step backward," said Solich, whose team went 4-7 in his first year after he spent six years as the coach at his alma mater, Nebraska. "I can try to use this as an experience in my life that has happened. There's no way I can take it back."
Solich, 61, was arrested Saturday night by police who found him slumped over the steering wheel in his vehicle, which was facing the wrong direction on a one-way street.
Solich was found guilty on Monday after he pleaded no contest. His license was suspended for 180 days, he was fined $250 and he was ordered to complete a three-day driver intervention program.
Ohio University President Roderick McDavis said: "There is a lesson here. It is a lesson that all of us have to be much more conscientious in our behavior."
Solich apologized in the courtroom on Monday, then apologized several times during Tuesday's news conference.
"Frank's conduct was inappropriate and does not represent the leadership we expect from any member of our department," Hocutt said.
He said he and McDavis met with Solich and discussed the possibility of firing him or asking him to resign.
Solich said he was trying to reach his players and hoped to have a meeting at which he would discuss what he had done wrong.
"My feeling is that when I have an opportunity to get in front of them, we'll have a strong discussion what this all means and where this is going to take us all," Solich said. "We'll try to move forward from there."
Solich had a record of 58-19 in his six years at Nebraska but was fired after the Cornhuskers went 7-7 in 2002 and was fired after going 9-3 in 2003.
The Associated Press
ATHENS, Ohio — A day after he was convicted of drunken driving, Frank Solich agreed on Tuesday to become involved in alcohol education initiatives on campus as part of new conditions imposed on him to keep his job as Ohio University's football coach.
Ohio athletic director Kirby Hocutt said at a news conference that Solich also has agreed to publicly address his arrest and conviction and that he will be put on probation for the remainder of his contract.
"I cannot crawl in a hole. I cannot take a step backward," said Solich, whose team went 4-7 in his first year after he spent six years as the coach at his alma mater, Nebraska. "I can try to use this as an experience in my life that has happened. There's no way I can take it back."
Solich, 61, was arrested Saturday night by police who found him slumped over the steering wheel in his vehicle, which was facing the wrong direction on a one-way street.
Solich was found guilty on Monday after he pleaded no contest. His license was suspended for 180 days, he was fined $250 and he was ordered to complete a three-day driver intervention program.
Ohio University President Roderick McDavis said: "There is a lesson here. It is a lesson that all of us have to be much more conscientious in our behavior."
Solich apologized in the courtroom on Monday, then apologized several times during Tuesday's news conference.
"Frank's conduct was inappropriate and does not represent the leadership we expect from any member of our department," Hocutt said.
He said he and McDavis met with Solich and discussed the possibility of firing him or asking him to resign.
Solich said he was trying to reach his players and hoped to have a meeting at which he would discuss what he had done wrong.
"My feeling is that when I have an opportunity to get in front of them, we'll have a strong discussion what this all means and where this is going to take us all," Solich said. "We'll try to move forward from there."
Solich had a record of 58-19 in his six years at Nebraska but was fired after the Cornhuskers went 7-7 in 2002 and was fired after going 9-3 in 2003.
Have I, yes, but not very often. I normally control my emotions and dont fly off the handle. The difference is, if something like this does happen, I become upset with myself for what I do, and I dont make the situation worse by lying about it and denying it.
Like I said many times, I didnt give a crap about the throat slash, it was the lying/cover up that was embarrassing.
I am curious how many board members have lost a best friend by someone else being under the influence?
Me. One of my best friends on my second ship in 87'. He was on leave in Tennessee and had a head on collision with someone who was DUI.
Estimated combined speed at impact was 115 mph.
He lost his head...literally. Any more questions?
To make matters worse, he was picking his younger brother up from school that afternoon. They both perished.
Drinking and driving always hits a nerve with me. There is absolutely no reason to get behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated.
They have drilled it into our heads here in the military. Yet every year some young sailor, or even those more senior, find themselves in a body bag on the side of the road.
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Having lost TWO brothers and with a former students father currently in the hospital having his face and leg being put back together by the drunk driving of others I have absolutely NO SYMPATHY towards drunk drivers.
Frank got off lucky...jail time AND a mandatory work program in a physical rehabilition center would not be out of the question for drunk drivers.
NO EXCUSE FOR DRUNK DRIVING....NONE...NEVER
Frank got off lucky...jail time AND a mandatory work program in a physical rehabilition center would not be out of the question for drunk drivers.
NO EXCUSE FOR DRUNK DRIVING....NONE...NEVER
I hear you on that. I have heard of people getting worse for DUI when they are .0001 over the legal limit, let alone someone who can't stand, comprehend or operate a power window with a car in drive facing the wrong way of traffic. I read that his punishment was standard for first time offenders, but wow, I would have expected something a little more than what he got.
Since I have explained it numerous times in the past, I dont feel a need to get into it again.
I must commend you on your ability to derail the thread, and your feeble attempts to attack me. Please, in the future, if you dont want to debate me, just post it in the Woodshed.
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junior4949
All-American
How do you define DUI? Do you look to the lawbooks? If you do and you go back far enough, the laws once read where your blood alcohol content could be .2. In Nebraska, the law now reads .08. It has been and continues to be a floating law that changes sometimes every 2 years or so. For instance, a few short years ago a minor could have consumed alcohol but not be convicted of a DUI if their blood alcohol content was not above .1. Now, they have zero tolerance for minors.
If the laws were changed tomorrow dealing with statutory rape raising the age to 21, how many hear can honestly say they've never had sex with a woman under 21? I haven't read what the blood alcohol content was. If it were less than .2, at one point in time he wouldn't even been cited for DUI.
The fact of the matter is this: no one knows whether or not this is the first time he has driven while being intoxicated. It might very well be. You're just speculating if you say it isn't. Would it have been better had he been stoned out of his gored? I mean there aren't many penalties for driving while stoned. Bill Clinton had sexual relations with an intern. Bill Clinton then lied about it to a grand jury. Bill Clinton led a lot more people in his tenure than Solich ever will. If the president gets a free pass, why shouldn't Solich? Obviously if the act is repeated, he should get the boot.
BC so far hasn't committed this big of offense while at Nebraska. However, he has repeated his acts of old with the comments he's made. In his case, he is a repeat offender. So if you're on the bandwagon calling for Solich's job then you should also be calling for BC's job. It's doubtful that BC's comments could be construed as slander, but maybe they could. If so, it's also against the law. The fact of the matter is this: BC has done and said some dumb things. Should he be fired for them? No. Solich did a dumb thing. Should he be fired for it? No. Alabama fired Mike Price for his partying and what not. He either had or had a lawsuit against them.
I'm guessing or speculating that 80+ percent of us who post on here have driven while we could be considered intoxicated. Some have probably even been caught and convicted. Did you lose your jobs? I know of a school teacher that got caught, and he didn't even lose his job. Talking on a cell phone while driving is considered by some states just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. If Solich had been caught driving while talking on his cell phone, would you still be calling for his job?
It is a judgement call whether he should keep his job or not. He is in a very different situation than most people concerning their jobs. Young people look up to Solich. Most people don't have jobs where you have to live your life by example. Solich is in a very sensitive situation. Yes, maybe he deserves one more chance, but you can't compare his job to yours. It's comparing apples to oranges.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=2076420
ATHENS, Ohio - After a whirlwind three days in which Ohio University football coach Frank Solich passed out at the wheel, was convicted of drunken driving and kept his job, a community already wrestling with alcohol abuse evaluates its implications.
Barely a week past finishing a semi-successful season at the helm of the Bobcats - his first at OU - Solich drank heavily on Saturday evening, Nov. 26, at Casa Cantina, witnesses said. Though visibly impaired and cut off from further drinks, he resisted several attempts by staff or patrons to call a taxi cab, got into a 2005 Nissan provided to him by a local auto dealer, and ended up wedged in by police cruisers facing the wrong way on West Union Street, according to witnesses and a police report.
"I guess he had been in Casa at the dinner hour," said Leslie Schaller, an ACEnet official associated with Casa. "I know they gave him a cup of coffee. The bartenders essentially cut him off."
Solich was at the bar for about four hours, said a Casa employee, who noted that the employees tried to get him to take a cab and even called one for him. Solich refused the cab, saying he intended to go fetch some food elsewhere.
Neil Dawson of Athens and a companion also saw Solich at Casa, Dawson said.
"He was drunk when we arrived at the bar," he said. "He was buying people some drinks, and people were buying him drinks."
Most were margaritas, according to Dawson, but Solich also drank some shots of liquor. Eventually, the coach became more obviously drunk, and bartenders stopped serving him booze and gave him some coffee, Dawson said.
"He was laying his head down on the bar," said Dawson. "He wouldn't drink (the coffee)."
After Solich refused a cab, Dawson said he and his companion followed him as he meandered to his SUV, which was parked on Court Street near Goodfella's. There, the two tried for about five minutes to persuade Solich not to drive.
"He pretty much wasn't having it," Dawson said.
When Solich insisted on driving, he hit a parked car in the space in front of him, said Dawson, who last saw the Nissan turning onto West State Street.
A report by Athens Police Officer Krishea Osbourne, who cited Solich, said the coach was ". . . slumped over the wheel of his vehicle . . . Appeared passed out . . .," and ". . . had trouble understanding simple questions and instructions."
According to a witness who asked to remain anonymous, Solich swayed on his feet as police administered a field sobriety test in front of Union Street Market around 10 p.m. After examining Solich's eyes by shining a flashlight, officers stopped the test and cuffed him, the witness said. The coach refused a Breathalyzer test.
OU officials became aware of the incident via a series of "chain-of-command" phone calls, said Interim Dean of University Advancement Molly Tampke. As recounted by Tampke and OU Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt, an initial call went from Director of Campus Safety Tony Camechis to Tampke, who then called Hocutt.
Monday afternoon, Solich attorneys James Sillery and George McCarthy, both of Athens, reached a plea agreement with City Prosecutor Lisa Eliason during the coach's arraignment in Athens County Municipal Court. Solich pleaded no contest to the DUI count and apologized in front of Judge William Grim. A charge of driving the wrong way on West Union was dropped, and Solich paid $339 in fines and court costs, also agreeing to complete a three-day driver-intervention program. Grim suspended his license for 180 days and placed him on probation for two years.
Hocutt, OU President Roderick McDavis and Solich held a press conference Tuesday during which Hocutt announced the coach will stay.
"Frank has agreed to three conditions as we move forward," Hocutt said. These include Solich addressing the situation personally, a "no-tolerance" probation for the duration of his contract, and turning "a negative into a positive" by participating in alcohol-education and awareness programs on campus, the athletic director said.
Hocutt acknowledged "all avenues were discussed," including termination, when deciding Solich's future at OU, and the AD emphasized maintaining a "support system for our football coach."
McDavis addressed the discomfort of dealing with apparent binge drinking by a prominent OU role model amid efforts to control student alcohol abuse and dispel the university's party-school image.
"The incident underscores the concerns that I have," said McDavis, calling it a "community-wide" problem. "The teachable moment is standing back up (after adversity)."
The OU administration's recent "Bring Your Own Judgment" and "Stop at the Buzz" campaigns, however, stress decision-making that avoids situations such as Solich's.
University officials are coping with a major blunder by the man marketed as the savior of its wayward football team. The coach also has been the public face of a responsible-driving initiative.
Solich apologized again at the press conference, and said he had received encouraging calls from some players. "I cannot crawl in a hole," he said. "I cannot take a step backward."
The DUI was a first offense, and there's no apparent pattern of heavy drinking by Solich.
Eliason said Tuesday the terms of Solich's plea agreement were normal, and the court treated him like any other offender.
"He got the same sentence anyone else would have for being a first-time offender," she said. "And he didn't get any special treatment. There was no accident, no injuries, and the judge based it on that."
Solich's refusal of the Breathalyzer test probably helped him, because police and eyewitness accounts suggest he was highly intoxicated, as might his decision not to fight the DUI charge. The degree of intoxication, Eliason said, wasn't really a factor in his sentencing because there was no breath test.
The Ohio Senate has passed a bill stiffening penalties for refusing breath tests, and it awaits consideration by the state House of Representatives. The legislation seeks to close a loophole that sometimes rewards suspected drunken drivers who won't take a test. Although refusal triggers an automatic one-year license suspension, charges are frequently reduced and shorter, court-ordered suspensions often take precedence over the automatic ones.
Suspects who blow into the machine, by contrast, can essentially be penalized for doing so if evidence of high blood-alcohol levels brings a mandatory jail sentence. More drivers are realizing the advantages of not submitting to breath tests, which helped inspire the bill.
Dayton DUI defense attorney Larry Denny said striking a deal so quickly after an arrest - Solich's case was wrapped up within 48 hours - is "very unusual," though not unheard of. The coach's lawyers might have tried to get the DUI count reduced to a "physical control" charge, which Denny said is "like parked-while-intoxicated, sort of."
When Osbourne came upon Solich's Nissan, its transmission was in drive, according to the police report, though it's unclear exactly where it was on the street.
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Wow, that's embarrassing. He was called a cab twice and refused. Cut off by bartenders, given coffee to attempt to sober up, then wobbles to his car and after a standoff with bartenders who begged him not to drive, he hits a parked car then leaves. [SIZE=14pt]GOT TANKED? [/SIZE]
ATHENS, Ohio - After a whirlwind three days in which Ohio University football coach Frank Solich passed out at the wheel, was convicted of drunken driving and kept his job, a community already wrestling with alcohol abuse evaluates its implications.
Barely a week past finishing a semi-successful season at the helm of the Bobcats - his first at OU - Solich drank heavily on Saturday evening, Nov. 26, at Casa Cantina, witnesses said. Though visibly impaired and cut off from further drinks, he resisted several attempts by staff or patrons to call a taxi cab, got into a 2005 Nissan provided to him by a local auto dealer, and ended up wedged in by police cruisers facing the wrong way on West Union Street, according to witnesses and a police report.
"I guess he had been in Casa at the dinner hour," said Leslie Schaller, an ACEnet official associated with Casa. "I know they gave him a cup of coffee. The bartenders essentially cut him off."
Solich was at the bar for about four hours, said a Casa employee, who noted that the employees tried to get him to take a cab and even called one for him. Solich refused the cab, saying he intended to go fetch some food elsewhere.
Neil Dawson of Athens and a companion also saw Solich at Casa, Dawson said.
"He was drunk when we arrived at the bar," he said. "He was buying people some drinks, and people were buying him drinks."
Most were margaritas, according to Dawson, but Solich also drank some shots of liquor. Eventually, the coach became more obviously drunk, and bartenders stopped serving him booze and gave him some coffee, Dawson said.
"He was laying his head down on the bar," said Dawson. "He wouldn't drink (the coffee)."
After Solich refused a cab, Dawson said he and his companion followed him as he meandered to his SUV, which was parked on Court Street near Goodfella's. There, the two tried for about five minutes to persuade Solich not to drive.
"He pretty much wasn't having it," Dawson said.
When Solich insisted on driving, he hit a parked car in the space in front of him, said Dawson, who last saw the Nissan turning onto West State Street.
A report by Athens Police Officer Krishea Osbourne, who cited Solich, said the coach was ". . . slumped over the wheel of his vehicle . . . Appeared passed out . . .," and ". . . had trouble understanding simple questions and instructions."
According to a witness who asked to remain anonymous, Solich swayed on his feet as police administered a field sobriety test in front of Union Street Market around 10 p.m. After examining Solich's eyes by shining a flashlight, officers stopped the test and cuffed him, the witness said. The coach refused a Breathalyzer test.
OU officials became aware of the incident via a series of "chain-of-command" phone calls, said Interim Dean of University Advancement Molly Tampke. As recounted by Tampke and OU Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt, an initial call went from Director of Campus Safety Tony Camechis to Tampke, who then called Hocutt.
Monday afternoon, Solich attorneys James Sillery and George McCarthy, both of Athens, reached a plea agreement with City Prosecutor Lisa Eliason during the coach's arraignment in Athens County Municipal Court. Solich pleaded no contest to the DUI count and apologized in front of Judge William Grim. A charge of driving the wrong way on West Union was dropped, and Solich paid $339 in fines and court costs, also agreeing to complete a three-day driver-intervention program. Grim suspended his license for 180 days and placed him on probation for two years.
Hocutt, OU President Roderick McDavis and Solich held a press conference Tuesday during which Hocutt announced the coach will stay.
"Frank has agreed to three conditions as we move forward," Hocutt said. These include Solich addressing the situation personally, a "no-tolerance" probation for the duration of his contract, and turning "a negative into a positive" by participating in alcohol-education and awareness programs on campus, the athletic director said.
Hocutt acknowledged "all avenues were discussed," including termination, when deciding Solich's future at OU, and the AD emphasized maintaining a "support system for our football coach."
McDavis addressed the discomfort of dealing with apparent binge drinking by a prominent OU role model amid efforts to control student alcohol abuse and dispel the university's party-school image.
"The incident underscores the concerns that I have," said McDavis, calling it a "community-wide" problem. "The teachable moment is standing back up (after adversity)."
The OU administration's recent "Bring Your Own Judgment" and "Stop at the Buzz" campaigns, however, stress decision-making that avoids situations such as Solich's.
University officials are coping with a major blunder by the man marketed as the savior of its wayward football team. The coach also has been the public face of a responsible-driving initiative.
Solich apologized again at the press conference, and said he had received encouraging calls from some players. "I cannot crawl in a hole," he said. "I cannot take a step backward."
The DUI was a first offense, and there's no apparent pattern of heavy drinking by Solich.
Eliason said Tuesday the terms of Solich's plea agreement were normal, and the court treated him like any other offender.
"He got the same sentence anyone else would have for being a first-time offender," she said. "And he didn't get any special treatment. There was no accident, no injuries, and the judge based it on that."
Solich's refusal of the Breathalyzer test probably helped him, because police and eyewitness accounts suggest he was highly intoxicated, as might his decision not to fight the DUI charge. The degree of intoxication, Eliason said, wasn't really a factor in his sentencing because there was no breath test.
The Ohio Senate has passed a bill stiffening penalties for refusing breath tests, and it awaits consideration by the state House of Representatives. The legislation seeks to close a loophole that sometimes rewards suspected drunken drivers who won't take a test. Although refusal triggers an automatic one-year license suspension, charges are frequently reduced and shorter, court-ordered suspensions often take precedence over the automatic ones.
Suspects who blow into the machine, by contrast, can essentially be penalized for doing so if evidence of high blood-alcohol levels brings a mandatory jail sentence. More drivers are realizing the advantages of not submitting to breath tests, which helped inspire the bill.
Dayton DUI defense attorney Larry Denny said striking a deal so quickly after an arrest - Solich's case was wrapped up within 48 hours - is "very unusual," though not unheard of. The coach's lawyers might have tried to get the DUI count reduced to a "physical control" charge, which Denny said is "like parked-while-intoxicated, sort of."
When Osbourne came upon Solich's Nissan, its transmission was in drive, according to the police report, though it's unclear exactly where it was on the street.
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Wow, that's embarrassing. He was called a cab twice and refused. Cut off by bartenders, given coffee to attempt to sober up, then wobbles to his car and after a standoff with bartenders who begged him not to drive, he hits a parked car then leaves. [SIZE=14pt]GOT TANKED? [/SIZE]