Bryan Pata, a senior member of the University of Miami Football team, was shot to death last night at his off-campus home. The police have not released many details of his death, but have ruled the incident a homicide and are continuing to investigate.

There are no jokes here. There’s no way to make light of the situation. There’s not a smirk or a smile to be had at the expense of Bryan Pata, the University of Miami, their football team, or their leadership. And it is not fair that you, like I, probably thought, when first reading headlines about this story, that “it figures.” It is not fair to Bryan Pata, a person who, by all accounts, was never in trouble before this incident, was very popular on campus, and was very respected by his teammates. It’s not fair to Bryan Pata’s family. It’s not fair to the other members of the University of Miami Football Team.

It is, however, an indictment of the program as a whole that a majority of people’s thoughts are or were someting like, “It figures.” It’s an indictment of the leadership of this university that they’ve let things get so out of hand within this program that people who would otherwise be shocked by this story barely blink. It’s an indictment that, today, the breakup of some pop-music tartlet from her loser husband will get bigger headlines. It is an indictment of Larry Coker. It is an indictment of Athletic Director Paul Dee. And, perhaps most importantly, it is an indictment of University President Donna Shalala.

It’s Donna Shalala who, time after time, allowed this program to continue to spiral out of control. At any point, she could have done what is right to save the reputation of this school. She could have laid down the law. She could have cleaned things up. Sure, in collegiate athletics, the fans love their bad guys. And Miami has played that part like an Oscar winning character actor. But is this really what the alumni and students of the University of Miami want from their school? All collegiate programs have problems, yet only Miami wears the black hat in such a way that it’s simply assumed that their players and coaches are crooked. Do they really want the highest-profile representative institution of their school to be so maligned that, right or wrong, the nation collectively thinks, “It figures?”

It’s time for Donna Shalala to step down. It’s time for this program to recover and regroup from this tradgedy and then clean itself up. Because in the court of public opinion, as wrong as it may be, Bryan Pata was judged to be guilty by association. Bryan Pata deserves better.

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