Nov 1, 2014 3 min read

Is this the end of California University’s football program?

That’s what the players, coaches and administrators at the university should be evaluating after the gruesome incident that took place in the early hours of Thursday morning outside a restaurant in California.

That’s when five football players allegedly got into a fight with a 30-year-old man, beat him to the ground and sent him to the hospital with a severe brain injury.

The administration took the right action in forfeiting Saturday’s home game against Gannon, a key matchup in the race for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s West Division title.

Interim president Geraldine M. Jones should go one step further and declare that the team will not participate in the scheduled Week 11 game or in the NCAA Division II postseason.

Then, thought should be given about whether to continue the football program.

Five football players – James Williamson, Corey Ford, Jonathan Barlow, Rodney Gillin and D’Andre Dunkley – were arrested and placed in the Washington County Jail under $500,000 bonds. Witnesses said an argument erupted outside Spuds, a restaurant not far from campus, and the five players allegedly knocked the victim, Lewis Campbell of West Chester, to the ground and stomped on him. Then, they reportedly jumped into a nearby car while chanting “football strong.”

The incident report said the beating sent Campbell into a seizure and left him vomiting. One report said the imprint of one of the attacker’s shoes was left on Campbell’s face.

Later in the day, California police arrested the five at practice at Adamson Stadium.

Violence is not a new phenomenon on college campuses, and California is not the first, nor will it be the last, to have to handle such incidents. Two years ago, Tim McNerney, a running back for Washington & Jefferson College’s football team, was attacked by a group of people just a block away from campus and died after hitting his head on the cement. Three men, none of them students, were convicted.

In October, 2010, a brawl between a group that included football players from Waynesburg and Bethany sent two brothers – Tyler and Zach Fatigante, members of the Yellow Jackets’ football team – to the hospital. Tyler Fatigante was knocked unconscious and suffered memory loss from the incident.

In her statement Thursday, Jones said “it must be clearly understood that the actions of a small group of individuals are not representative of our entire student body, nor of all Cal U. student-athletes.”

She might be right, but that is not the way it’s viewed in the community or the region. A small group of individuals can have a devastating effect on how others view the university. It might give parents cause to rethink whether they want to send their children to that school if they feel the university and police force can’t provide a reasonable amount of safety.

Jeff Shuman, the owner of the restaurant where the fight occurred, said the borough has had to deal with “ongoing incidents” in the area.

“It’s a handful of kids who cause the problems,” he said, “and maybe this will turn the school in a different direction and make them re-evaluate who they’re bringing in.”

So, is this the end of Cal football?

Probably not.

But it might never be the same.

Assistant sports editor Joe Tuscano can be reached at jtuscano@observer-reporter.com.