Like it is

MSU bigwigs go out on limb for Simmons

Mississippi coach Dan Mullen

It is a controversy.

Mississippi State officials knew it would be; how could it not?

Recently, the nation has seen:

A professional football player knock out his girlfriend with one punch.

Another pro football player lift his girlfriend over his head and throw her down as hard as he could.

A college football player, fueled by alcohol, punch out a female student at 2 a.m.

There are numerous reasons for outrage over male violence against women. There is never a right time for a man to hit a woman, and the victims suffer much more than bruises and broken bones.

So whatever you read here, understand it was not right for Jeffery Simmons to hit the woman who was fighting his sister. He should have found another way to defend his sister, a peaceful way to break up the fight.

Simmons' method was as wrong as the one-game suspension he has received from MSU, a too-light sentence that was announced last month. The school announced the penalty when it revealed it was allowing Simmons, a five-star defensive end from Macon, Miss. -- a town of 3,100 near the Alabama border -- to enroll.

Yet, something connected in the heart of Mississippi State's top administrator, Mark Keenum, who has been the school's president since 2009 and is starting a two-year term as president of the SEC, where he heads the seven-man executive committee.

Last week at SEC media days, head football Coach Dan Mullen was not doing a tap dance around the issue or even a song and dance when he said it was an institutional decision.

Athletic Director Scott Stricklin already had faced the media at the SEC spring meetings in June, and in his usual style of honesty and integrity first, he indicated the decision had not been his alone.

People close to the program say there is no doubt Keenum, a native Mississippian and MSU graduate, saw the complete investigation into Simmons and the event -- including the 10-second video in which Simmons tries to pull the women apart and later hits the woman in the back with both hands -- and decided the young man warranted another chance.

That it really wasn't about his football abilities. That until that moment Simmons was known in his community as much for attending church as football. He's a kid who quickly admitted he made a mistake.

Simmons went to Facebook shortly after the episode and wrote a lengthy apology in which he took full responsibility for his actions.

In part, he wrote: "My apology goes out to the Taylor Family and especially to Sophia Taylor. Honestly, I wasn't thinking, all I could think was this is my family and I am supposed to defend my family.

"Many know my deceased nephews were my pride and joy, I do everything I do in honor of the life they never got the chance to live, and to listen to someone speak so terrible about them really caused me to make choices, decisions and act in a manner that was out of character for me. Is that an excuse? ..... NO!"

No one tried to justify what happened in those moments. Simmons was wrong. But Keenum, Stricklin and Mullen decided a life sentence was not appropriate, either.

They have stuck their necks out for Simmons, who will be the SEC's most scrutinized freshman this season. Many are waiting for him to stumble so they can point a finger and say, "See, it was all about football."

Mullen, who comes across as arrogant, and Stricklin, a straight shooter and a man with great character, are supporting the decision of their boss, and all of them are more than willing to help the young man any way they can.

They'd better -- their careers are on the line. But they knew that when they took on this controversy.

Sports on 07/17/2016