Jacob Fields is solely responsible for his actions, which led to the safety’s dismissal from the TCU football team, his arrest, and it was only a matter of time before the specifics of the assault became public.
How TCU’s medical and training staff handled Fields’ alleged assault of wide receiver Dozie Ezukanma in the locker room is not as bad as it sounds; how TCU and head football coach Sonny Dykes handled the messaging and the public relations aspect should be used as a case study in the Bob Schieffer College of Communication.
If mistakes are made, then the priority should be to avoid doing them again. A narrative that could have been handled with two sentences became something it didn’t need to be, and instead cast the coach and the school into an embarrassing national light.
The ugly police report was coming, and it’s not a stretch to predict that TCU and an array of some of its six- and seven-figure earners will be named defendants in a lawsuit.
On Wednesday, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office filed an aggravated assault charge against Fields.
Incident that led to TCU’s predicament
According to people familiar with TCU’s practices, Fields, who transferred to TCU in the offseason from Louisiana Tech, was overboard with his hits, mouth, antics and theatrics. Players who act like Fields are a target. In football, he’s asking for it.
It is usually the job of position coaches to tell the players participating on the field during practice to knock it off. If the player doesn’t understand, he runs “stadiums” until he does.
No one on TCU’s staff made or suggested Fields attack his teammate. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Fields came up behind Ezukanma, who was sitting on bench in the locker room looking at his phone, punched him in the head, and kicked him.
How Dykes and TCU handled Ezukanma and Fields was neither perfect, nor worthy of firing. How Dykes and TCU handled the explanation is astonishingly bad.
Timing of TCU’s explanations require a double take
For the social media crowd that lives to hammer any detail, some of the specific time elements look awful. According to major college athletic officials, law enforcement, legal and medical professionals, none of the timing surrounding TCU’s actions since the alleged assault occurred was negligent.
After Fields allegedly assaulted Ezukanma, he was under the supervision of TCU trainers and medical staff on-site. A two-hour time window from the time of the assault to a trip to the emergency room is not terrible, although an ambulance may have been a better choice than a staffer driving Ezukanma to the ER.
The incident occurred on Aug. 13; on Aug. 18, TCU announced Fields was dismissed from the team for a “violation of team rules.” Dismissing a player does require paperwork, and clearly there was a legal element. TCU officials later said Fields was dismissed on Aug. 15.
For all practical purposes, Fields’ career at TCU ended the moment not when Ezukanma was taken to the emergency room but when he was diagnosed with a brain bleed and required three days of hospitalization.
Had Ezukanma’s injuries not been so severe, there is a decent chance Fields is still on the team.
Where Sonny Dykes and TCU ‘lost’
Dykes and TCU took strong exception to Fields’ family members and his side that he felt “bullied” or targeted during practice, and that the staff did not “de-escalate” the tension brewing between the players.
Rather than flatly deny the allegations with a sentence or two, Dykes and TCU refused to comment. They said the source close to Fields was “non-credible” with bad information.
TCU then closed all previously scheduled open practices, and potential media availability with players, assistant coaches, or Dykes.
All the while, social media was ablaze with rumors about the assault, including Ezukanma’s name. At that point, his name had not been published by the Star-Telegram or any other major news outlet.
On Aug. 21, Ezukanma posted a video of himself on Instagram where he offered details of the incident. He removed the video a few hours later. Then the Star-Telegram named him as the victim.
Shortly thereafter, TCU revoked the Star-Telegram’s media credentials to all TCU athletic events.
Predictably, that announcement created national headlines, and phone calls from athletic directors, and PR professionals from academia, Washington’s political scene, NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, all of whom said the same thing, “You never do this.”
At first, TCU’s dispute was over the original report and the veracity of the information; then its concern was about endangering Ezukanma, who, according to TCU, received threats before his name became public.
TCU athletic director Mike Buddie said in a statement to the Star-Telegram, “Our primary focus is the health and well being of our student athlete. Unfortunately, an unnamed source without first-hand knowledge of the incident provided inaccurate information cited in initial reporting by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which we strongly disputed.
“The inclusion of the misinformation advanced a narrative that endangered a student-athlete and resulted in threats to him and his family. These actions led to the decision to withhold the media credential until additional conversation can be held between athletics and the sports reporting team.”
The revocation become a national story, and a source of embarrassment within TCU’s small, loyal community. There are some who believe the revocation was more than justified, because hating “the media” is now a daily unifier. The majority of people just expressed disappointment at the action.
Two days after Buddie released his statement, at a press conference before the season-opener against North Carolina in Dublin, Ireland, Dykes addressed the assault.
“It’s an unfortunate thing that happened, like anything else. Our guys are resilient,” Dykes said. “It was interesting because I do think, again, this team is unusually tight. The guys get along better than they normally do. The guys are unselfish and love each other, care about each other. It wasn’t anything that we expected.”
Since Fields turned himself into police on Aug. 30, and the subsequent release of the arrest warrant affidavit, those statements read poorly.
Both Fields’ lawyer and his agent are now on record corroborating the initial report that drew TCU’s ire. This is a case of a lawyer and an agent defending their client, and creating any way to reduce the severity of punishment he will soon navigate. This is their side of the story.
All of the TCU media relations people have to wear this one, but Buddie’s comments, even if crafted by someone else, have his name on it. The same for Dykes’ answers.
The allegations will only help Ezukanma if/when he sues Fields and/or TCU.
An Ezukanma case against TCU would never see the inside of a courtroom; it would see the exchange of a nice check.
Where TCU goes from here
TCU losing its first game against an average North Carolina team only served as 150 mph winds on a camp fire.
There is a faction of TCU supporters who simply do not like Dykes, and will use any statistic, sentence, play or anecdote to justify their position. Combine the final score, a few records with how this incident has been handled, and it gives his critics a few more volumes to pray the school uses it to fire him three days ago.
This saga will only help people who believe Dykes doesn’t have control over his team, a flexible narrative that looms over most coaches who aren’t undefeated.
He’s not going to be fired. Neither is Buddie. At least not any time soon. Not over this.
The flap with a local news organization ended, allowing fans to move on to the next point of outrage.
Because TCU is one of the smaller schools in the Power Four, the national impact will be a point of ridicule and mockery, and then mostly forgotten for a team that’s not in the Top 25. Locally, the impact will be felt mostly within its circles where sentiment swings on the outcome of the next football game.
Social media users will use the revocation of media access to beat up TCU whenever the mood strikes.
On second glance, how TCU handled some of the specifics between Jacob Fields and Dozie Ezukanma is not bad.
On first, second, third and tenth glance, how TCU handled the messaging and narrative of the incident is worse because it was avoidable, and as such should now be discussed in the Bob Schieffer College of Communication.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Mac Engel is an award-winning columnist who has covered sports since the dawn of man; Cowboys, TCU, Stars, Rangers, Mavericks, etc. Olympics. Movies. Concerts. Books. He combines dry wit with 1st-person reporting to complement an annoying personality.
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