Society has no problem naming, shaming and blaming women who are victims of sexual and physical abuse. For the men who are predators, or whose disregard allowed the abuse to happen, the standards are far more forgiving.
Infuriatingly so.
On Monday morning, news broke that the New Orleans Saints were giving Justin Tucker a tryout, less than two weeks after the end of his 10-game suspension for being sexually inappropriate toward more than a dozen women.
‘Obviously, there’s been some stuff that’s been unfortunate,’ Saints coach Kellen Moore said.
That’s one way to describe 16 female massage therapists saying Tucker intentionally exposed himself during appointments and, in some cases, brushed his erect penis against them.
“An excellent coach,” athletic director Kevin Fite gushed.
Sure, so long as you ignore Briles turning a blind eye to his players committing gang rape and other sexual violence, and then minimizing the lifelong harm that caused.
Documented cases of abuse be damned. Let’s win some football games
If our society valued women — actually valued rather than patronizing or objectifying them — neither of these two would ever get a second chance. Tucker and Briles would be pariahs, automatically disqualified for their shameful treatment of women and refusal to take accountability for it.
Their actions were not misunderstandings or minor wrongdoings, mind you. The NFL will never be mistaken for a league that values women, yet it saw fit to suspend Tucker for more than half a season after 16 women told The Baltimore Banner of his inappropriate behavior during massages he booked outside his team.
Nineteen of Briles’ Baylor players were accused of sexual assault by 17 different women between 2011 and 2016. That included two players Briles signed even though they’d been dismissed from their previous schools for off-the-field incidents.
Even worse, Baylor acknowledged that Briles knew a female athlete had accused five of his players of gang rape and did nothing. Said nothing. Reported nothing.
But here we are, Briles back as a head coach as if nothing happened with Tucker’s return to the NFL possibly not far behind.
The Saints and Eastern New Mexico are so desperate to reverse their struggles they’re willing to pretend they didn’t find Tucker and Briles in a cesspool. They have no problem abandoning whatever principles they had if it gives them a chance at a few more wins.
Because what matters more: treating women with basic decency and respect, or winning football games?
The answer, sadly, is obvious. Women are expendable, their safety and well-being secondary to athletic success.
Tucker, Briles get their do-overs. But not the women they harmed.
Had Tucker or Briles showed any sincere contrition or recognition what they did was wrong, this would be a much different discussion. But neither have. Far from it.
Tucker has steadfastly denied he did anything wrong despite the women, many of whom did not know each other or work together, telling almost identical stories. Several of the therapists provided corroborating information, and two spas told The Banner that they had banned Tucker.
Briles, meanwhile, said he had never done anything “illegal, immoral or unethical,” and suggested the trauma inflicted on his watch could be fixed with “a good cry session, a good talk session and then, hopefully, a hug session.”
And now both have a chance for a do-over.
The Saints and Eastern New Mexico aren’t simply offering Tucker and Briles a chance at employment. They’re giving them the opportunity to rehabilitate their images and change their narratives.
If Briles leads the Greyhounds to their first winning season in six years, he becomes a reclamation artist rather than the cold and calculating coach who left young women in harm’s way. If the Saints sign Tucker and he makes a last-second field goal, he becomes a savior rather than the predator who stole so many women’s sense of security and self.
The women who were abused by Tucker and Briles have to live with the scars from their abuse for the rest of their lives. It’s not too much to ask that Tucker and Briles should, too.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
