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	Victim Rights Activist Calls Jim Boeheim "Cowardly" By Marlen Garcia USA TODAY November 21, 2011 http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/bigeast/story/2011-11-21/victim-activist-calls-jim-boeheim-cowardly/51335550/1 SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A leader from a sexual abuse recovery group had harsh words Monday for Hall of Fame Syracuse men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim, who has strongly defended long-time assistant Bernie Fine against allegations of child molestation and condemned Fine's accusers, calling them liars and saying they are looking for money. Multiple groups are standing up for Bobby Davis, 39, and Mike Lang, 45, step-brothers and former Syracuse men's basketball ball boys who have accused Fine of sexually abusing them in the 1980s and 1990s. Last week Fine called the allegations patently false in a statement issued through his attorney. The university placed Fine on administrative leave pending an investigation by the Syracuse city police. The Rev. Robert M. Hoatson, founder and president of the New Jersey-based non-profit Road to Recovery, said Boeheim is trying to intimidate the alleged victims and other potential victims who want to come forward. STORY: Boeheim all in with defense of Fine MORE: Syracuse players leave Fine's seat empty "We would like Syracuse to change its mascot (color) from orange to yellow because Jim Boeheim has been cowardly," Hoatson said. "(He) hasn't said a right thing yet. He just wants to protect his program, and the program isn't worth a hill of beans if it has exposed children to pedophilia." The gathering was touted as a rally but was more of an informal news media gathering at an intersection on Syracuse's campus. At Hoatson's side were former Marine and New York police officer Dick Regan, 68, who began speaking publicly in the last seven years about being sexually abused by a Catholic priest as a child, and Marianne Barone Trent, a former Catholic school teacher in Oswego, N.Y., whose two sons were abused by a Catholic priest in 1987. Richard Tollner of the NY Coalition to Protect Children, which lobbies for tougher laws on sexual abuse against children, also joined Hoatson. Hoatson criticized Syracuse Chancellor Nancy Cantor. "She should have gone back to Boeheim and said, 'You are not going to speak like that,' " Hoatson said. USA TODAY has made repeated unsuccessful attempts to reach Cantor. Lost in the back-and-forth between Boeheim and Fine's accusers is loyalty owed to Davis and Lang, according to Hoatson. "They were part of the program," he said. "For these guys to give service to the university and be treated this way is unconscionable." When ESPN's Outside the Lines reported the allegations by Davis and Lang, Boeheim told the network: "I know this kid, but I never saw him in any rooms or anything. It is a bunch of a thousand lies that he has told. You don't think it is a little funny that his (relative) is coming forward." Boeheim should measure his comments because he is an influential figure, according to Hoatson. "A lot of people listen to him and victims go into further silence," he said. Barone Trent said her testimony is proof that multiple members of a family can be sexually abused. Regan said he and five siblings were sexually abused as children. "They need support," Regan said of Davis and Lang, "not sarcasm and retribution." After his team defeated Colgate on Saturday, Boeheim said: "I've said everything I needed to say and probably more than most people would like me to say. I'm very confident I've taken the right stance and said the right things. Now we'll let this thing play out."
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