Sad but necessary: Damon Evans is out at UGA’s AD
Damon Evans dishonored the big G. You can't do that. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Had Damon Evans been the general manager of, say, the Atlanta Braves, he might have kept his job. A professional sports team exists for two reasons — to sell tickets and win games. Nobody gets a diploma from the University of the Atlanta Braves.
But Damon Evans was not GM of a pro team. He was, to borrow a phrase attributed to him on the infamous police report that clinched his apparent ouster, the athletics director of the University of Georgia. And there’s your difference: An awful lot of people have paid money to receive the diploma that graces their wall, and those people want that piece of paper to mean something.
Had Evans stayed in place, that diploma would have been cheapened by the memory of a regrettable mug shot and the image of red lingerie. The DUI arrest put his job in jeopardy, and the detailed nature of the police report clinched his fall. He might have fought — and might still fight, at least legally — the official charge, but the university could not allow him to fight it on the school’s dime.
Because a university isn’t just in business to sell tickets and win games, no matter how it might sometimes seem. Its mission is to educate its students and enhance its community. Michael Adams has said that the five most visible employees on a campus are the president (meaning Adams himself), the provost, the football coach, the men’s basketball coach and the athletics director. Those five folks are charged not only with performing a task but with burnishing an image.
After Evans’ apologetic news briefing Thursday, a senior Georgia official said he would be surprised if the AD didn’t keep his job. The police report, revealed 23 hours later, was so damaging it made you wonder if the university had any idea what it was apt to contain.
The guess here is that UGA was again blindsided. Would the school have allowed Evans to appear on its campus — seated a table draped in red; speaking into a microphone carrying the red “G” logo; sitting beneath a red backdrop bearing the athletics association’s Web address and the logo of its corporate sponsor — had it known the approximate contents of an official public document sure to surface before the weekend?
In the end, the man seated before the official Georgia backdrop besmirched the brand. He had rendered his “storied program” — again, Evans’ words — the source of ridicule, and that’s the one thing a university cannot be.
Yes, it’s sad. This is a talented man who had, until 11:54 p.m. on the final night of June 2010, conferred honor on his alma mater. Honor, sad to say, isn’t a constant. It can be lost in the wink of an eye.
Damon Evans has been convicted of no crime, but he had to go. In the time it takes to get arrested, he had gone from being the dynamic head of a thriving department to being more trouble than he was worth. Yes, just like that.
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742 comments Add your comment
Tweets that mention Sad but necessary: Damon Evans is apparently out at UGA | Mark Bradley -- Topsy.com
July 4th, 2010
8:59 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mark Bradley and ajc sports editor, colliff. colliff said: Hope this is true! RT @MarkBradleyAJC: Sad but necessary: Damon Evans is apparently out at UGA. http://bit.ly/arnWs2 [...]
Dodaddy
July 4th, 2010
9:02 am
First
Mark Bradley
July 4th, 2010
9:04 am
Kudos, Dodaddy. First on the Fourth.
Mike Jay
July 4th, 2010
9:04 am
i got a feeling more embarassing stuff will come out about Evans. This can’t be the first such incident. Either with the cheating or excessive drinking.
Decatur Tech Fan
July 4th, 2010
9:04 am
First?
unbiased volfan
July 4th, 2010
9:04 am
i am still wearing red pantied on my head to the game in october….
Rebel Lion on Anna Maria
July 4th, 2010
9:05 am
What does the UGA athletic department have to do with the diplomas the University hands out? I thought it was an academic diploma.
Tweets that mention Sad but necessary: Damon Evans is apparently out at UGA | Mark Bradley -- Topsy.com
July 4th, 2010
9:06 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mark Bradley. Mark Bradley said: Sad but necessary: Damon Evans is apparently out at UGA http://bit.ly/d3VgX9 [...]
uncle dude
July 4th, 2010
9:06 am
Great. It’s done. Now let’s move on to better things.
Buzz'in Around
July 4th, 2010
9:06 am
First, cause no one calimed it! It’s about time they got rid of this guy. Typical UGA in their ability to make a decision. With class guys like Richt and Fox around this is embarassing. How can these two fine coaches recruit kids with a guy like Evans…(who proBably is a good guy who made a fatal mistake and appears to be liar) running the program. BAd enough players get arrested but your AD!!!!So nice to have a guy like D’Rad around for at least 5 more years
crosby
July 4th, 2010
9:07 am
Speaking as a Jacket fan it was a move that had to be made. It won’t be hard to replace the guy I’m sure. There is a great foundation set there as far as revenue goes.
Decatur Tech Fan
July 4th, 2010
9:07 am
Dang……oh well. Anyhoo…..If u pig farmers will fire a cheerleading coach for leading her team inna moment of prayer, then u DEFINITELY have to fire this POS. Grats guys for having some scupples….
Ed
July 4th, 2010
9:09 am
Still LOL about the quote from the woman saying that Damon had the “power to make all of this dissappear” because he was Ugag’s AD.
yeah….right
TheAntiMe
July 4th, 2010
9:10 am
The Damon Evans story is unfortunate for him but is no great tradgedy. A 19 year-old young man lost his life on the Ocmulgee River last night. That is a tradgedy.
YampsterDawg
July 4th, 2010
9:11 am
I say we get Vince back. He’s been sprending way too much time gardening…
Joey C
July 4th, 2010
9:11 am
Many more shoes to drop on this, I’m guessing. Can’t imagine this was his first time at the rodeo, so to speak.
potatodawg
July 4th, 2010
9:11 am
Very sad but very necessary. Hope he can find redemption and live for the things that are most important in life.GOD and family.
NeoDawg
July 4th, 2010
9:12 am
The title of the post says it all. Like Gen. McChrystal found out, when you personally do something so fundamentally at odds with the mission – you must go regardless of your past success. Go – Evans and GO DAWGS!
Doug the Jacket
July 4th, 2010
9:13 am
it is done, but apparently not forgotten.
Tony
July 4th, 2010
9:13 am
As a manager I have had to fire people and I always say the same thing I am not firing you, you are firing you. Hopefully you will learn from this and your next job whatever it may be you won’t make the same mistakes again…So with Evans I wish him well, get help……..
pj
July 4th, 2010
9:13 am
glad to hear it. what a dumbass – and sleazebag. next up: his highly publicized and expensive divorce.
Roger
July 4th, 2010
9:14 am
It’s still hard to believe someone in that position, and making $500,000 per year, could be so stupid.
YampsterDawg
July 4th, 2010
9:14 am
On second thoought, we need David Pollack! Now there’s you a AD!
A
July 4th, 2010
9:15 am
Pray for his family. No matter what he has done this is horrible for his wife, their children and their parents. Think about it – where can they go without being confronted with all this? home, church, gym, school, grocery store……………..?
brokebackvol
July 4th, 2010
9:15 am
Sad news for anyone who has compassion for another who made a big mistake and it snowballed. Alcohol has ruined many promising lives, and he is neither the first nor the last. Not judging the man, but he was “livin’ a little too large” and probably was cheating on his family to boot, and rolling in the cash while doing it. Let him go, and move on with your Georgia Pride intact. Too big a job for the man, apparently.
Now let’s move on how some of us readers are hoping the Vols will kick that pride down your throat this fall by New Head Vol Dooley (that’s gotta smart!) Then what’cha gonna do with CMR? Three different UT coaches in a row beating him – what are the odds of that? Hmmm??
Go Vols!!
Dawg '84
July 4th, 2010
9:15 am
I don’t think Evans has seen the worst of it yet. He can land a new job. Another family might be a different matter indeed.
eddiedawg
July 4th, 2010
9:17 am
Mark-
You are exactly right-he needed to go-and I was saying this even before the police report.. But I fail to see how he would have “cheapened” diplomas. I have one from UGA-and if Evans had stayed, I wouldn’t have felt any less proud about having my diploma on the wall. He doesn’t sign diplomas-he was the AD director. I would have been more concerned about negative recruiting than the cheapening of my hard-earned diploma.
YampsterDawg
July 4th, 2010
9:18 am
brokebackvol, didn’t you see your ranking in the Orlando Sentinal? You guys are ranked 70th!!
Keith
July 4th, 2010
9:19 am
Set-up…
What is wrong are you really mad because he was out with one of your white women. That man did’t have a chance you guys where waiting for him to mess up.
CWO
July 4th, 2010
9:19 am
As a UGA grad, I think this is the right decision. I’m sure there is some concern about the ‘Tiger factor’ – in that one could fairly be skeptical in thinking that the only time he ever made a series of bad decisions he got caught – not saying that isn’t the way it went down, but it seems that history suggests otherwise. I hate it for him because I believe until this event he has been a fine representative of UGA, but I hate it more for his wife and his family who have also just lost their dream. Remember too that Evans somewhat bridged the divide among those UGA supports who believe that Adams is a tool and who treated Dooley poorly. I’ll be very curious to see who Adams brings in now…
cwdawg
July 4th, 2010
9:19 am
To the vol fan claiming to wear red panties to the game-how about some sympathy for the wife and kids-show some class!!
Jigger
July 4th, 2010
9:20 am
Unfortunately money does not keep you from making stupid decisions. Michael Adams forced Coach Dooley out & this is what we got. Adams hired Harrick. Is anyone seeing a pattern here? Adams raises a lot of money for UGA, that is why the Board of Regents supports him. They need to wake up. I would not mind seeing Coach Dooley back for a few years to get things back under control.
unbiased volfan
July 4th, 2010
9:21 am
ok so this guy f’d up….we all do it….hope he can work things out w his wife and learn from this mistake. clearly he’s young and has a pile of talent.
Mike S
July 4th, 2010
9:22 am
This was the only possible outcome. Even though Adams had to request it, I am glad Evans ‘manned up’ and submitted his resignation and spared the school having to fire him.
Now the search begins for a replacement.
PTC DAWG
July 4th, 2010
9:27 am
Too bad it wasn’t Adams.
Paddy
July 4th, 2010
9:28 am
Dawg’84….yes he can land a new job. But getting hired by another institution of higher learning is highly unlikely. I believe that when he tried (with the GHP) to say his position should place him above the law and get a pass, he sealed his fate in college athletics. Plus you can’t cry like a baby at 40 years old when you get caught with your (hand in the cookie jar) so to speak. Understand Kohls is hiring!
YampsterDawg
July 4th, 2010
9:28 am
The guy makes $9600 per week and he couldn’t call a cab…
dagtbuzzman
July 4th, 2010
9:28 am
Is Jan Kemp available to be UGA next AD ? She stopped the ” throwing the degrees in cars syndrome” . Maybe she could stop the ” riding in cars with drunk guys syndrome ” that continues to persist
PTC DAWG
July 4th, 2010
9:29 am
I happened to be in Florida when all this happened, believe me, nobody cares. Except apparently a few GT fans.
jerry
July 4th, 2010
9:30 am
Why didn’t the person who allowed Evans to plead his case on the UGA campus read the police report first? Wouldn’t that have been the sensible thing to do?
Margaret
July 4th, 2010
9:30 am
Evans’ ouster wasn’t sad; thank goodness his true character finally has been revealed. The University community can now start to heal. Thanks to the university president for not dragging our misery out and waiting for the sordid tales of all the other women with whom Evans probably has cheated. And thank you to the officer and all the other people who help root out undeserving people who are in power in the university community. Now around the water cooler, people won’t besmirch my two university degrees, of which I always have been proud.
Frank
July 4th, 2010
9:31 am
He had to go. The red panties between the legs sealed it.
Bama Dawg
July 4th, 2010
9:31 am
I really feel for his wife and kids. He needs to go ahead and move in with the woman who was alledgedly in the car with him because it was obvious (in his mind) she was worth him throwing away his life, career, family, and his marriage. You have people out there that would kill to be in the position he was in. Back to his wife. Could you imagine what’s going on in her mind and what her peers are saying about her? She’s probably more embarasses than he is and she had nothing to do with this. Let this be a lesson: it only takes one mistake to throw away a position of prestige that took hard work, and the respect of some higher-ups to place you there. I hope he learns from this and lands back on his feet.
Reality
July 4th, 2010
9:32 am
PTC…you apparently are not a UGA grad….just some trailer trash redneck….
dagtbuzzman
July 4th, 2010
9:33 am
What’s worse ? Drinking, driving & panties in Athens or campus muggings in Atlanta. Gotta admit Ga colleges have a lot to offer prospective students.
Dawg Fan
July 4th, 2010
9:34 am
I’m sorry Damon destroyed his life (career + family). But he made his bed and must lie in it. Time for the Bulldawg Nation to move on.
And time for the UGA haters to … well continue to hate.
Beach Dawg
July 4th, 2010
9:35 am
Typical reaction to Alcohol — makes you see double and feel single!!!
Paddy
July 4th, 2010
9:35 am
PTC Dawg….yes everyone does care. You should see the comments from the Bulldog Nation the past few days. If you are a true Dawg you would care also.
Ben Matlock
July 4th, 2010
9:35 am
Jason Whitlock has written some excellent columns on this subject. P***y Galore is unbeaten. Even Al Gore needs his adductors rubbed now and again. That said, how has Rick Pitino kept his job at UL?
PTC DAWG
July 4th, 2010
9:35 am
Priceless comment above.