Damon Evans’ story not one sports writers relish covering
Georgia AD Damon Evans faces a room full of reporters Thursday evening at UGA. He was charged with DUI Wednesday night. (AJC photo by Curtis Comption)
Athens – It has been a pretty long 30 hours or so. That’s about how long I’ve been following the Damon Evans story.
Normally I wouldn’t be as involved as I have since I am no longer on the UGA beat. Nowadays I cover recruiting on the AJC Recruiting Blog and my talented colleague Tim Tucker normally covers the Bulldogs for us. But Tim, like the better part of the working world it seems, is on vacation this week. So I’ve been having to fill in.
I don’t think I’m off base here in saying I don’t care much for covering stories like these. I talked yesterday to virtually every one of the Georgia beat guys and assorted TV and radio reporters, most of whom I have known a long time, over at Evans’ press conference. I can tell you in all honesty that they all feel the same way.
It was a pretty surreal scene over at the Rankin Smith Academic Achievement Center. Nobody was sure what was about to take place. A resignation? Righteous indignation? But I don’t think any of us expected the soul-bearing admission of guilt that we got.
In the course of doing our jobs, we naturally get to know well the subjects we’re covering. In the case of Evans, I’ve actually known him since he signed with Georgia as a wide receiver out of Gainesville in 1989. I’ve always been impressed at how far Damon has come since he was that tall, skinny, backup wideout for Ray Goff.
Of course, I got to know him much better in the years since he returned to UGA, first as an assistant AD and then as the director of athletics. I’ve always found him to be accessible and fairly forthright. I’ve bugged him to death over hirings and firings and disciplinary rulings such as the one that apparently is about to befall him. I’ve seen him deftly preside over board meetings and articulately speak to rooms full of UGA supporters. I’ve been awed by his knowledge of finance and his vision for UGA athletics.
But when things like this happen, all that must be brushed aside to focus objectively on the facts that are available to us and present them to the public in as unfiltered a manner as possible. And that’s what will be done in this case.
It is often said, “with success comes scrutiny.” That may be even more true with failure.
Meanwhile, PR types argue about whether or not a press conference should have been called. And if you do have one, they ask, what should be tone and content of that session? I’ve heard a few wonder whether he should have fielded questions as he did. So moral and ethical judgments aside, do you think Evans and/or UGA has handled this whole situation properly?
What say you all on that note? What were your impressions of Evans as he delivered his five-minute statement and answered questions for about the same about of time? And finally, how do you think it all affects UGA?
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141 comments Add your comment
The State of Alabama
July 2nd, 2010
4:54 pm
Bama in Atlanta
July 2nd, 2010
4:48 pm
Let’s see how bad Mr. Evans wants his job and is willing to accept consequenses…….not only do you take away his $110,000/yr raise that put him at $550,000/yr, but give him the average salary of the UGA college professors who have been employed with the university as long as Mr. Evans has. Take the excess $$ that UGA would have paid him and contribute that money to various drunk driving educational organizations. If he is willing to do this for 3 to 5 years then he can bring his salary up to match the lowest level SEC AD for another 3 to 5 years. Talk is cheap…..put your money where your mouth is!
Talk IS cheap. I pay the head football coach WAY more than any other person in Alabama.
Florida State Patrol
July 2nd, 2010
4:54 pm
archangeladidas
July 2nd, 2010
To all of you garbagedawgs that unleashed hell on Carlos Dunlap last December I say WOW! Be carefully when you past judgement because karma is a mother. GO GATORS!!!
RIGHT ON
Senator Blutarski
July 2nd, 2010
4:55 pm
A-hem…George W. Bush had a DUI and was later elected President of the United States. I’m pretty sure he was a Republican and not a Democrat.
Mikey SAV
July 2nd, 2010
4:58 pm
This is, as many have said, not fodder for attempted humor.
It is sad and there’s nothing funny about it I don’t care who your team is.
Mikey SAV
July 2nd, 2010
4:59 pm
It really is sad. no humor in that.
Bama in Atlanta
July 2nd, 2010
4:59 pm
State of Alabama: you’re not even making a point. The Bama head coach won a national championship and the UGA AD got caught drunk driving. If Saban got caught drunk driving I would be all for slashing the salary as well.
Dawglover
July 2nd, 2010
5:03 pm
Damon has done an excellent job but he has stepped(driven)way-over-the-line. Goodbye Damon, and I wish you well in your future endeavors.
Florida State Patrol
July 2nd, 2010
5:05 pm
secondguesser
July 2nd, 2010
4:48 pm
The guy rose too fast too far. I couldn’t believe they hired him when they did. He’s at a crossroads with his life. Hope he decides to live the rest of it productively.
That’s called the Peter Principle (no pun intended). Damon rose to a level of incompetence.
Ace
July 2nd, 2010
5:06 pm
Nice job, they don’t fall far from the tree.
Linda
July 2nd, 2010
5:10 pm
As a UGA alum, I say Evans should be given a second chance. He humbly took responsibility for his actions and apologized immediately. Everyone makes mistakes & needs a chance to redeem themselves. He has had a stellar record and has been very successful as AD and 1 slip up should not undo all that. I know of many public figures who have been charged with DUI, but were not terminated. He can use himself as an example of what not to do. I know of a headmaster at a private school in Augusta, GA (an upscale CHristian school) who got a DUI and he survived it and kept his job, even though he has to be a role model for young children and teenagers as their headmaster. One error should not cost someone their career, especially if they have a pristine record as Evans does.
You got to be kidding!
July 2nd, 2010
5:11 pm
I hope the rest of the “Florida State Patrol” is smarter than the one who posts on here. “Incompetence”? He has run one of the top programs in the country with great skill. What happened on the road is “stupidity”, not incompetence. Jeez!
Florida State Patrol
July 2nd, 2010
5:12 pm
If you look at the video of his press conference, you see no real emotion, just a well
given speech. Appeared only to try and keep his job. Very similar to Obama’s speeches, says nothing believable, just trying to keep his job.
Ringleader
July 2nd, 2010
5:18 pm
Saban has already had his record cleaned by the Tuscaloosa Police. He wrecked his Mercedes on his way home one night after midnight, had a wrecker from Mobile immediately dispatched to pick up the remains barely before daylight, and the Tuscaloosa PD did not make any incident report, much less question Saban.
yoda
July 2nd, 2010
5:18 pm
Sad day for the young man, sad day for UGA, but a really really sad day for wife and kids!!!
Just damn.
Grandpa Right (once of Cochran)
July 2nd, 2010
5:21 pm
OMG!!!!!!! Has anyone read the arrest report? Evans tried to use his position to get out of the ticket, and then CRIED LIKE A BABY.
But THAT isn’t the kicker. The arresting officer noted that Evans HAD A PAIR OF RED PANTIES BETWEEN HIS LEGS!!!!!!!
He can no longer credibly lead our AA. He has to go and he has to go FAST.
This is a sad, sad story.
SILLY UGA FANS
July 2nd, 2010
5:28 pm
For all the UGA fans that loved to throw Joe Hamilton’s situation in our faces (GT fans) I’m just wondering how this sits with you? Atleast he had the schools colors in mind when choosing what panties to have in his lap. If your schools president does not fire this guy quick, fast, and in a hurry it sends one hell of a message to all your students and will make any decision he makes towards student/athlete alcohol related events questionable.
Jo
July 2nd, 2010
5:30 pm
Still waiting – what has Evans DONE as AD – except be Adams’ puppet and being known for no integrity and womanizing.
PMC
July 2nd, 2010
5:32 pm
I try not to be one to talk about people needing to lose thier jobs but I’m not sure how you can ever be respected in that position in the way the position needs to command respect after an incident like that.
For his sake I hope he gets to prove himself if that’s even possible… or manages to get a job elsewhere if Georgia has to let him go.
Lethal Weapon Three
July 2nd, 2010
5:32 pm
Jan Kemp, Jim Harrack, and Damon Evans — The real Lethal Weapon 3. “Cesspool of the South” doesn’t even begin to describe UGA’s Athletic Department. What a legacy!
murray county mystic
July 2nd, 2010
5:33 pm
guess ya’ll gonna give Vince the job back…hilarious! Hate it for Damon though. He was correct in getting UGA to schedule better out-of-conference games. God knows you needed the push after years of Vince’s Ga. Southern, Citadel, Southern Conference game of the week snoozers. Florida, Bama and LSU can get away with that because they are national programs. UT made itself a national program by stepping up big outside the conference. UGA needs to do that as much as it possibly can. There is NO national buzz with this program. Outside of Georgia, no one talks about the Georgia Bulldogs. Unless, of course, they wear black jerseys and helmets and get their azzes handed to them on national tv….
API1960
July 2nd, 2010
5:33 pm
I am an Auburn grad and I feel for the man. Maybe all of you have lived a perfect life, but I have been knocked around a few times, done some deeds that have remained undisclosed and have lived a great life. I hope Damon learns from this and that he is given the benefit of the doubt by those close to him.
PMC
July 2nd, 2010
5:34 pm
If Ray Nagin can get re elected though… I mean at least Damon Evans was doing a good job at work anyway.
Trey
July 2nd, 2010
5:34 pm
LMAO
Evans to cop: ‘I am not trying to bribe you’
New details: UGA AD was crying, smelled of alcohol, report says.
Dixie Clear
July 2nd, 2010
5:35 pm
Had a pair of RED PANTIES between his legs!!!!…CRYING UNCONTROLLABLY…. This just can’t get any better. If I owned ant crap with that big G on it i’d burn it now!
HOW ‘BOUT THEM DOGS!!!!
PMC
July 2nd, 2010
5:35 pm
Jo – Damon Evans has presided over an incredibly profitable athletic department and has made decisions that have helped to make it more profitable.
Tide Roll
July 2nd, 2010
5:35 pm
this is great. Red panties between his legs. Uga will never live this down. Goober Perdue, Adams and Uga try to pretend they’re better than everyone else. How many deserving kids have applied to the place and been rejected? it’s a horrble school in a horrible state. What a bunch of nasty rednecks.
Bama fan
July 2nd, 2010
5:36 pm
Ringleader,
Your story about Saban wrecking his car and having his record cleaned by the Tuscaloosa pd is completely bogus.
Cm
July 2nd, 2010
5:36 pm
Like I said, there will be some parents who decide they don’t want their kid to go to uga. It will happen and will be entirely justified.
Legend of Len Barker
July 2nd, 2010
5:37 pm
As a current UGA student, he should step down as AD. I don’t care if Adams has to fire him or he resigns.
With the added details that are currently on main page of the AJC, this is beyond a little mistake. Being busted for public intoxication is a little mistake. A man who is one of the bigtime faces of a bigtime university decides to operate a motor vehicle while drunk, with a woman in the passenger seat that isn’t his wife and leads to all kind of speculation as to the exact nature of their relationship (or “relationship”), he attempts drunkenly to bribe police, his passenger gets belligerent to the point that she’s arrested, and it’s noted that there are a pair of red panties in his lap.
This beyond Mike Price territory and he was fired. Mike Price also broke no laws and wouldn’t have been found out if he had stayed at a no-tell motel.
Anything less than dismissal paints Georgia as a university who stands for all of these things. Which doesn’t mean that these things don’t happen in Athens (or Bogart or Watkinsville). This would mean that the university thinks all of these things are A-OK for people in such high positions.
(And if you folks want the original wild UGA scandal, look up the case of Dean John Drewry.)
SEC fan
July 2nd, 2010
5:38 pm
At least Damon was staying true to the school colors of state’s “flagship” university!
Evans was flippant when first pulled over, according to the trooper. “The subject said ‘I feel pretty good,’ ” states the incident report. The trooper noted that Evans had a pair of red panties in between his legs.”
As Asheville Dawg says, you just can’t make this tuff up. LMFAO!
Don
July 2nd, 2010
5:38 pm
At least the panties weren’t orange or gold
API1960
July 2nd, 2010
5:38 pm
Aren’t the two inputs from UAT just what you would expect? Nothing more needs to be said, as they sid it all.
Jo
July 2nd, 2010
5:40 pm
PMC – Define profitable please – and exactly how did they make money – have you ever checked that?????????? Are you familiar with the Endowment Funds or what the current contribution rates are??? My comment stands Evans does nothing without Adams – nothing. The plan for the AD Dept was laid out long ago and by NOT by Evans
Jacket Backer
July 2nd, 2010
5:41 pm
red panties between his legs?? are you kidding me??? this is priceless…
sharecropper
July 2nd, 2010
5:42 pm
Don’t be so condescending. Of course you enjoy covering stories like this. Any reporter worth his salt would. Just man up and admit it. and report the hell out of it.
Greg
July 2nd, 2010
5:42 pm
Just a friend huh Damon? Just a friend? You lying piece of garbage. Get the he11 out of Athens and the UGA. You disgraced uga and your family.
Tom
July 2nd, 2010
5:44 pm
How do you feel uga fans knowing that not only is your ad a drunk idiot but also a liar.
Dean
July 2nd, 2010
5:47 pm
Good luck selling your athens house in this market damon. Adios mofo.
SEC fan
July 2nd, 2010
5:49 pm
AltamahaDawg -
“The university will not be harmed by this,…”
Are you kidding me? Just follow the Adams/Leeburn/Yoculan behavior and acceptance thereof.
You don’t think your “flagship” university is becoming even more of a joke, especially letting this drag on?
The Board of Regents needs to step in and do some serious housecleaning to send a message and try to regain at least some credibility.
Delbert D.
July 2nd, 2010
5:50 pm
“given the benefit of the doubt”
What doubt? Are there even more sordid details yet to be disclosed?
Ted Striker
July 2nd, 2010
5:51 pm
If it were my decision, I’d keep Evans and weather the storm. Period.
Bama fan
July 2nd, 2010
5:51 pm
archangeladidas,
We had to put up with the same jabs and taunts and jokes about Mike Price and his firing from dawg fans for years. And Price didn’t even break the law or endanger folks by driving drunk. All he did was embarrass the university by having a skanky stripper in his room and that’s pretty much it.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot I don’t think we’ll be hearing any more dawg fans making references to Mike Price anymore. But I take no delight in what has happened to Damon Evans. The whole thing is very sad. Very unfortunate and I feel for the man.
On the other hand there has to be a serious level of accountability with a job that pays a half million a year and has that level of responsibility. On top of the arrest itself is the sordidness of being with a woman other than his wife at midnight and having a pair of red panties in his lap which were obviously hers.
In one of the AJC blogs yesterday it was said that she had several arrests for prostitution. Not sure if that’s true or not but if so then this is really, really embarrassing. The crying uncontrollably bit doesn’t help either.
While I feel for Mr. Evans the classy, dignified thing to do would have been to come completely clean, apologize for embarrassing UGA, and then gracefully step down and resign. I’m surprised that he hasn’t done this and if I were a dawg fan I would be deeply disappointed that he hasn’t done the right thing and resign. The bottom line is that his conduct is unbecoming his position and that if he doesn’t step down then the university president has to fire him. And quickly.
dawgfan
July 2nd, 2010
5:52 pm
SILLY UGA FANS, how does this sit with us? We are obviously humiliated Captain Clueless. What planet are you on? We throw things like Joe Hamilton in your acne ridden faces because you’re a bunch of arrogant, self-righteous, holier than thou, hypocritical snobs. Your **** stinks just as bad as anyone else’s, but you’re just too in love with yourselves to know it. THAT’S why we bring up the Joe Hamilton’s and Reuben Houston’s of your illustrious past Techie. You’re a bunch of damn phonies.
Bob Horner had a sweet compact swing
July 2nd, 2010
5:52 pm
Red panties…she’s a dwag fan…Go Dawgs!!!!
Dixie
July 2nd, 2010
5:54 pm
UGA…what a bunch of losers…..what parent would let their kid go to this pathetic excuse for a university….Total embarrassment to this state.
If I was the State Trooper
July 2nd, 2010
5:55 pm
I would have smelled his right hand middle finger…..but that’s just me…
Beach Dawg
July 2nd, 2010
5:56 pm
“RED PANTIES between his legs!!!!” At least they were not gold!
Unfortunately, there’s obviously more to the story than DUI – female who’s not spouse, midnight, 70 miles from home, I think that he has to go
Jacketbacker
July 2nd, 2010
5:56 pm
RED PANTIES BETWEEN HIS LEGS!!!! you leghumpers will NEVER live this down, doesn’t matter how many games your football team wins..
Go Jackets and THWG!!!!
Red Panties
July 2nd, 2010
5:57 pm
That sonic boom you just heard in Athens was the result of the “red panties”
hitting on Adam’s desk.
Like some baseball announcer, Adam’s said, “It’s (Damon) it’s outa here.”
Bob Horner had asweet compact swing
July 2nd, 2010
6:00 pm
I thought vodka was “oderless..”..???