Syracuse Assistant Basketball Coach Berry Fine accused of sexual abuse

Another disturbing child molestation case involving a legendary coach is making waves. Syracuse college basketball icon Jim Boheim is under fire as his assistant Bernie Fine has been accused by a former team ball boy Bobby Davis of sexually abusing him.

ESPN’s Outside the Lines is reporting that Syracuse police are investigating Fine, who has been Boheim’s assistant for the past 35 years. The alleged victim Davis said the molestation begin in 1983 when he was in the seventh grade. This is yet another unsettling case involving a child and a college coach over the past two weeks. The Jerry Sandusky case is still unraveling just as former USA gymnastics coach Don Peters accusations comes to light and now we have another allegation forming. It appears now that with the exposure of the Sandusky’s case that we may have an avalanche of sexual claims coming. Its only natural that once the first case is openly discussed then more victims will have to rehash a terrible moment in their life and will feel more empowered than ever to speak on it. That begs the question is there a big breaking point coming in college athletics?

Coaches are one of the most respected and trusted professions in life. If you participated in sports one way or another, there were in most cases a favorite coach that comes to mind. Parents in every culture of the world entrust their children with men and women they really have no knowledge of. But we all do it in confidence because that’s the way it’s always been. Most every father sends Jr. to a coach who may have coached him as a child or someone he thinks will lead him in the right direction. Trust has always been a given commodity given the profession’s core values. We are witnessing the unfathomable now with Joe Paterno. No one in their right mind knew he would go down in such unceremonious fashion. The script would already be set for Boheim. He has been the coach of one the most sucessful men college programs in NCAA history since 1976, winning one championship and has 856 wins ranking him fifth all time. Now these are just allegations and police are investigating so no one has said to be guilty. Hopefully every victim of child molestation can now tell their story. As unfortunately as these events are, it opens the door for the conversation about sexual abuse in sports. The Sandusky, Don Peters, and now Jim Boheim are the first to break but we all know they won’t be the last.