Florida State QB Deondre Francois is now a former Florida State QB.
That’s because over this weekend, a woman posted video on her Instagram account of Francois allegedly threatening to beat her and possibly hitting her.
This video ( listen to the audio) is allegedly #FloridaState QB Deondre Francois threatening to beat his girlfriend and potentially hitting her pic.twitter.com/bzam4koXEc
— CFBTalkDaily (@CFBTalkDaily) February 3, 2019
Florida State coach Willie Taggart then announced Sunday that he had kicked Francois off the team. This is what everyone would expect based on the video if that actually is Francois’ voice on the recording. Of course, that didn’t keep some biased towards Florida State from patting Taggart on the back.
Coach Taggart just did something a lot of coaches or programs would never do. He placed character over winning. Proud to see him take this stance. #Noles
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) February 3, 2019
But did that decision really show character? Or did he just have to finally make a decision after an inflammatory video was made public?
The quote in Taggart’s statement that caught my attention was the following:
As we build a new culture and foundation for FSU Football, we have high expectations for all of our student-athletes and we will not shy away from those high standards of conduct. We are moving forward as a program.
FSU is moving forward as a program. They are doing so without Deondre Francois. But did they actually accomplish anything worthwhile by doing so?
Consider part of the statement posted on Instagram by Francois’ alleged victim:
I thought I loved him and thought he could change for the better but it has gotten worse. I lost my first child because of all of the beating and I suffer from post Partum depression. This situation is taking a toll on my life. Yes, I stayed after that because I was stupid and blinded by love.
That’s just heartbreaking.
If true, a woman has been getting abused for more than two years, and has not wanted to report it because she loved her abuser. That isn’t an uncommon occurrence in these types of situations.
This isn’t even the first time the police have been involved between these two. A previous incident in January of 2018 led to this quote from the alleged victim to an officer who responded to the scene.
She advised me she did not want Francois to get in ‘trouble trouble’, but she did want me to speak with him and scare him a little.
Look. I get why Willie Taggart kicked Deondre Francois off the team. If these allegations are true, then that’s standard operating procedure. In fact, not following that procedure is what got Urban Meyer in hot water earlier this season. It’s exactly the behavior I would expect from Florida as well.
But the question I want to ask has nothing to do with Deondre Francois or FSU. The question I want to ask is whether that standard operating procedure is effective?
Deadspin’s Diana Moskovitz has written extensively about how harsh punishments don’t appear to work, and how they actually disincentivize victims to report domestic violence. There is a significant amount of research examining arrests as deterrents with a spotty record at best.
Kicking a player off of the team may make us feel better because the abuser is no longer in our midst. It also makes sense on its face. After all, that guy doesn’t deserve the privilege of playing for our school if he’s going to act like that.
But does that really matter if it merely shifts the problem away from the school rather than actually addressing it?
I’d suggest that it’s well past time for College Football to examine this issue through grown-up glasses. It’s easy for a school to just separate itself from a problem player. It’s a lot harder to decide that its going to do the hard work of actually helping that “student athlete” become a better person, even if it is means the school may risk a black eye.
In no way am I suggesting that someone accused of what Francois is accused of should be playing football anytime soon. But football is a mighty strong carrot to get him – and others accused of similar things – to submit to clinically proven, intensive counseling programs. Don’t we at least have to try?
In a Washington Post exposé after Ray Rice was punished harshly for knocking out his fiancé in an elevator (he never played again), this was the sentiment expressed by wives about domestic violence in the NFL.
You will hear of a wife murdered before you hear another one come forward.
The reasoning was that victims are inexorably tied to their abusers, often through financial and childrearing ties. If the penalties put those ties at risk, the victims are just going to aim to “scare him a little” rather than getting help breaking those ties or stopping the abuse.
I hope nothing like what that NFL wife suggested comes to pass for Deondre Francois or anyone he interacts with. I hope the same for former Ohio State coach Zach Smith and former Florida recruit Justin Watkins.
This isn’t a Florida State issue or even a college football issue. It’s a human issue.
And it’s time that schools start treating their players – and their significant others – like humans rather than commodities to be discarded when the PR gets to be too much.
Not just for the players. For the victims too.