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Everyone is shocked. At least that's the look they're wearing.
Drunken orgies for recruits? No, the football coach said, I don't recall my players mentioning anything about that.
It's a look we've come to recognize in college athletics. A creased brow, a somber head shake, and immediate disavowal of anything not caught on video.
A hostile and sexist environment? No, the athletic director said, my coach never told me he was encouraging that.
The best part of the shocked strategy is that, when executed correctly, it works for tomorrow as well as yesterday.
Recruiting visits gone wild? No, the NCAA administrator said, our staff must have missed the first dozen or so cases.
This is the fallout from the ever-expanding scandal at the University of Colorado. The accusation is of a football program out of control. Of a coach looking the other way. Most ominously, of multiple sexual assaults.
Yet, we are repeatedly told, no one knew anything.
Fascinating, isn't it?
To see so many acting so proud of their ignorance.
Wouldn't it have been nice if, for a change, the coach accepted at least some responsibility for the behavior of his players? Or the athletic director acknowledged he could have run a tighter ship? Or the university president admitted she might have paid a little more attention to the program?
Instead, everyone feigns shock and helpfully suggests we look lower down the food chain for the persons responsible.
Jobs will soon be lost. Coach Gary Barnett is as good as gone. Athletic director Dick Tharp probably can offer him a ride out of town. Even university president Betsy Hoffman has a local prosecutor and the governor on her case.
Of course, the bigger issue is the reach of the scandal's impact. Not just in the CU offices, but across the nation.
Do you, for one moment, believe Colorado is the only offender?
That other coaches at other schools haven't thought of alcohol and coeds as a way to entice football recruits? That sexual assaults aren't dismissed as youthful hi-jinks? That coaches don't pray for plausible deniability?
If you don't agree, you haven't been paying attention.
One of the more damaging revelations in Colorado was a former associate athletic director's deposition that recalled a conversation with Barnett.
This was after an incident in which several young women said they were assaulted by recruits during an out-of-control party. Barnett, according to the deposition, said it was necessary to show recruits a good time because others schools were doing the same. Barnett has denied the conversation.
Whether you believe the deposition or Barnett, it is not difficult to accept the premise of tawdry recruiting strategies is accurate.
Consider these recent revelations:
A member of Arizona State's female hosting club told a student newspaper that club members often slept with recruits.
Recruits at Colorado and the University of Minnesota said they were taken to strip clubs during their official visits. A Colorado recruit told ESPN that a CU player said he could have a woman sent to his hotel room.
The father of a San Diego State player said his son was offered marijuana, alcohol and sex during a recruiting visit at Oregon the previous year.
Then there's Miami Carol City linebacker Willie Williams. On a trip to Gainesville, Williams was accused of punching a man in a nightclub, groping a woman on campus and setting off three fire extinguishers in a hotel at 4 a.m.
Okay, so not every coach should be held accountable in every case. And, yes, hormones have a way of influencing a lot of decisions.
But shouldn't eyebrows at least be raised? It's one thing to take a recruit to a party and another to allow chaperones to act as pimps.
Shouldn't athletic directors be investigating their own recruiting strategies by, like, yesterday? Shouldn't the NCAA be ashamed of spending so much time worrying about the number of free corn dogs a recruit can be given and so little effort on sexual favors?
At Colorado, the apparent assaults are distasteful enough. But the subterfuge has made it so much worse.
According to lawsuits, interviews and police reports, the reported sexual assault victims say they did not immediately come forward because they anticipated a hostile climate within the athletic department.
That is the greatest allegation. The most dangerous assertion. It may be difficult to control the conduct of individuals, but it is despicable to think a university would aid abhorrent behavior by looking the other way.
And it's just as disturbing to think the NCAA hasn't seen enough clues to have considered making changes sooner than this.
Let's pause for a moment and examine the facts:
Large quantities of alcohol, testosterone-fueled teenagers and a desire to make this university's experience seem more attractive than any other.
And that combination has led to sexual assaults?
Shocking, isn't it?