Last week, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema suspended backup safeties Shane Carter and Aubrey Pleasant for violating unspecified team rules.
To start this week, relatives of the players are vowing to fight what they perceive to be an unjust punishment.
And, based on their comments, this situation has a chance to get very, very ugly.
Speaking to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Carter’s brother threatened to get lawyers involved if the school doesn’t expedite the appeals process.
“Shane has called me, and we feel what was done was handled incorrectly,” Butch Carter said. “We’ve requested the university to allow Shane to have an expedited hearing, as he is allowed to in the student handbook.
“I’m going to ask for an expedited appeal, and if I have to, I’m going to hire a lawyer to get one.”
Pleasant’s father went even further, taking the situation to a personal level as he blasted Bielema for the way the coach has handled the suspensions.
“At this point, we’re going to follow the process that Butch is following,” Garner Pleasant told the paper. “I hate to say this, but you just can’t treat people any old way. I think that is what he is used to doing. Maybe this is how they do things at Iowa.
“And I hate to say that… but I hope the guy comes to his senses. Lawyers have been contacted, and we just want the kids’ names cleared.”
Bielema has come under scrutiny of late for the recent performance of his Badger teams on the field last year.
The last thing the fourth-year coach needs is an off-the-field issue to ad to the noise surrounding the program.
Unfortunately for the program, that’s exactly what the relatives of the two players seem hellbent on doing.
[Edit: I had Butch Carter as Shane Carter's father in the initial post. He's not. He's his brother. My apologies to the Carter family for my screwup. And thanks for the heads up, Lori.]
