Carter Starocci faces allegations of sexual assault and theft

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

21 minutes ago, wrestlingfan22 said:

Basch has brought up PSU haters multiple times to categorize those who are complaining about his coverage. That was practically the extent of what he said. Last time this topic was brought up, he called it a nothingburger 2-3 times, now he is simply saying he won't comment on allegations. 

Ah... but he previously commented by saying "nothingburger," so maybe now he is thinking "something burger?"

[GV4444]

Wow, I read a couple of pages of comments, then went back and read the article.  I expected the article to be way more damning, especially of Cael.   While a fan of Penn State, I was never a big fan of Starocci.  He was always a bit too much, a la AJ.  

What is amazing is the level of Schadenfreude on this forum, including the Iowa/Bo Bassett divorce.  I imagine Caveira to be a guy who sits at his computer, types a comment, then does a little dance around the basement, then back to keyboard to write another troll post about the Penn State situation.  Let me know when he hits 100 posts on the subject.

Another observation is all the comments about wrestlers and their proclamations of their faith.   Lots of schadenfreude every time one of them has a failure.   But, I never thought Straocci was one of those guys of faith.   Like AJ, it would seem more like a facade, whereas Kirk was far more genuine and quiet about it.  Cael isn't outspoken about it either, maybe because Mormonism isn't quite the same.

So, Starocci was one of those guys.  It's pretty common in high school and even in college.   Cocky a-hole that does s*** that he thinks is funny or cool and people and teammates put up with, even pretend to like the stuff they do.  I remember being a lowly sophomore running back on the varsity team and feeling this warm water hitting my leg in the big group shower area.   It was the all-conference lineman peeing on my leg, laughing the whole time.  That crap has been going on for a hundred years.  (Ironically, we were friends later while on the wrestling team)

At this point in time, he has been found guilty of nothing, charged with nothing.   He is accused of something or things.  As for Cael, it is easy to second guess his inaction, but I'm not really sure it's reasonable to expect him to have done much else.  We will know more later.

 

[Elevator]

4 hours ago, lu_alum said:

Penn State University police investigating? Nothing has changed since Paterno and Sandusky. It’s a community driven by athletic department interests.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is wrong.   Very robust reporting requirements and frequent training and reminders for everyone at PSU.  Strong leadership on these issues and strong whistleblower protections.  Nobody posting here has any idea what was reported or what the investigations have revealed.   Unfortunate cyber lynch mob.   

[Dogbone]

22 minutes ago, wrestlingfan22 said:

Basch has brought up PSU haters multiple times to categorize those who are complaining about his coverage. That was practically the extent of what he said. Last time this topic was brought up, he called it a nothingburger 2-3 times, now he is simply saying he won't comment on allegations. 

So he did a show to say he won't comment about the biggest news in the sport right now?? Now that's a nothing burger. 

[Elevator]

1 minute ago, GV4444 said:

Wow, I read a couple of pages of comments, then went back and read the article.  I expected the article to be way more damning, especially of Cael.   While a fan of Penn State, I was never a big fan of Starocci.  He was always a bit too much, a la AJ.  

What is amazing is the level of Schadenfreude on this forum, including the Iowa/Bo Bassett divorce.  I imagine Caveira to be a guy who sits at his computer, types a comment, then does a little dance around the basement, then back to keyboard to write another troll post about the Penn State situation.  Let me know when he hits 100 posts on the subject.

Another observation is all the comments about wrestlers and their proclamations of their faith.   Lots of schadenfreude every time one of them has a failure.   But, I never thought Straocci was one of those guys of faith.   Like AJ, it would seem more like a facade, whereas Kirk was far more genuine and quiet about it.  Cael isn't outspoken about it either, maybe because Mormonism isn't quite the same.

So, Starocci was one of those guys.  It's pretty common in high school and even in college.   Cocky a-hole that does s*** that he thinks is funny or cool and people and teammates put up with, even pretend to like the stuff they do.  I remember being a lowly sophomore running back on the varsity team and feeling this warm water hitting my leg in the big group shower area.   It was the all-conference lineman peeing on my leg, laughing the whole time.  That crap has been going on for a hundred years.  (Ironically, we were friends later while on the wrestling team)

At this point in time, he has been found guilty of nothing, charged with nothing.   He is accused of something or things.  As for Cael, it is easy to second guess his inaction, but I'm not really sure it's reasonable to expect him to have done much else.  We will know more later.

 

Good analysis except we really do not know what the actions or inactions of the coaches have been and University procedures apply and may impose limits.   There are of course properly protections in place even for those students that are the subject of complaints and investigations.  If the allegations in the article are accurate, obviously the just consequences for at least Starrocci are quite serious.      

[Rassling2]

2 minutes ago, Elevator said:

Good analysis except we really do not know what the actions or inactions of the coaches have been and University procedures apply and may impose limits.   There are of course properly protections in place even for those students that are the subject of complaints and investigations.  If the allegations in the article are accurate, obviously the just consequences for at least Starrocci are 

 

If I’m Cael, I’m trimming the fat ASAP. Doesn’t matter how good a kid is, if he’s known to bring negative attention to the program then let him go. I’m sure there’s 3 guys waiting in his place who could be developed into AA’s.

 

[ionel]

3 minutes ago, Rassling2 said:

 

 

If I’m Cael, I’m trimming the fat ASAP. Doesn’t matter how good a kid is, if he’s known to bring negative attention to the program then let him go. I’m sure there’s 3 guys waiting in his place who could be developed into AA’s.

 

You thinking throw someone under the bus?  Do you fire Casey or Cody or both? 

[headshuck]

Carter might drag the coaches down with him.

[Rassling2]

1 minute ago, headshuck said:

Carter might drag the coaches down with him.

 

2 minutes ago, ionel said:

You thinking throw someone under the bus?  Do you fire Casey or Cody or both? 

I’m still not convinced like others who are drawing parallels to the Sandusky case.

[nhs67]

1 hour ago, jackwebster said:

As has been suggested, I think Rash is really close to the principals here. His initial response to the discussion about anonymity kinda tipped his hand. The article and the message board pointed out that the women involved might want to remain anonymous bc they feared retaliation. His first objection was that Carter already knew who could speak out, so anonymity an illusion. The assumption is that Carter would be the one to retaliate. what an egomaniacal thing to say. It's like Rash is so distracted by the potential blowback against CStar that he fails to see the all the other (institutional) dangers whistleblowers face. The "retaliation" wouldn't be from Cstar; it would come in the form of university and law enforcement officials "pursuing the facts," making this person's decisions (good and bad) public.  Internet misogynists then follow suit with even less info. The fact that this didn't enter Rash's mind makes me think it's him or a close friend.

This part here?

He doesn't need to be the one to personally retaliate for his words to have serious consequences. Even subtle comments or rumors spread in private circles can escalate quickly. Words can easily incite others to act - sometimes even violently. We’ve seen this play out repeatedly in recent years: hateful rhetoric online often translates into real-world harm. So it’s not egomaniacal to consider this risk - it’s a realistic concern, given the current climate where accountability is often lacking. To ignore the power of words and the ripple effects they can have is naïve at best.

[nhs67]

10 minutes ago, Rassling2 said:

 

I’m still not convinced like others who are drawing parallels to the Sandusky case.

We as a community should fear indifference to bad, evil, or incompetence just as much - if not more - than the acts themselves. 

Bad is bad. Evil is evil. Incompetence is incompetence. Once a certain line is crossed, it’s unacceptable by any standard.

Letting a wrestler stick their thumb up a training partner’s keester is simply bad.

Grooming underage people - regardless of gender - is unequivocally evil.

Failing to follow proper procedures to ensure a thorough investigation is the definition of incompetence.

To act as if these things are not bad, evil, or incompetent is just as damaging as committing the act itself, because you are verbally excusing the acts.  Words have value, and so does our courage to call out what’s truly wrong.

Yes, there’s a legal process that must play out to determine guilt.  But even before that, defending any of these actions - or trying to claim they aren’t evil, bad, or incompetent - is phucking abhorrent.

Edited 6 hours ago by nhs67

[Rassling2]

This really sucks for our sport, it truly does. 

[nhs67]

Just now, Rassling2 said:

This really sucks for our sport, it truly does. 

Yep.

[Rassling2]

3 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

We as a community should fear indifference to bad, evil, or incompetence just as much - if not more - than the acts themselves. 

Bad is bad. Evil is evil. Incompetence is incompetence. Once a certain line is crossed, it’s unacceptable by any standard.

Letting a wrestler stick their thumb up a training partner’s keester is simply bad.

Grooming underage people - regardless of gender - is unequivocally evil.

Failing to follow proper procedures to ensure a thorough investigation is the definition of incompetence.

To act as if these things are not bad, evil, or incompetent is just as damaging as committing the act itself, because you are verbally excusing the acts.  Words have value, and so does our courage to call out what’s truly wrong.

Yes, there’s a legal process that must play out to determine guilt.  But even before that, defending any of these actions - or trying to claim they aren’t evil, bad, or incompetent - is phucking abhorrent.

Just reading some of these allegations again just blows my mind. I can’t get my head around it as truth. If any of this is true then the hammer must drop on all involved, and quickly too. 

[jackwebster]

23 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

This part here?

He doesn't need to be the one to personally retaliate for his words to have serious consequences. Even subtle comments or rumors spread in private circles can escalate quickly. Words can easily incite others to act - sometimes even violently. We’ve seen this play out repeatedly in recent years: hateful rhetoric online often translates into real-world harm. 

we are talking past each other  I'm not talking about retaliation against CStar. The article wasn't either  I was talking about the fear of retaliation  against the alleged victims if they chose to go public. 

I think it would be egomaniacal (of Cstar or his proxies) to think that the alleged victims fear CStar's retaliation.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by jackwebster

[ionel]

2 minutes ago, Rassling2 said:

Just reading some of these allegations again just blows my mind. I can’t get my head around it as truth. If any of this is true then the hammer must drop on all involved, and quickly too. 

"If" ... you think all of this could be made up or just thinking the sauna could be true but she was lying about being 17?  

[nhs67]

Just now, Rassling2 said:

Just reading some of these allegations again just blows my mind. I can’t get my head around it as truth. If any of this is true then the hammer must drop on all involved, and quickly too. 

I don't think the coaching staff would have simply stood by and allowed any wrestler to act however they wanted and plausible deniability might not even be a factor here.  It’s possible Bartlett brought something up - maybe hinting at events without stating them outright - and wasn’t explicitly shut down, but may have felt shut down.  Speaking up against a teammate, especially someone considered a brother by most of your closest friends (and by you, at one point), might require more than just courage to fully follow through.

This isn’t a defense of anyone’s actions - just an attempt to suggest how things might have played out.  It’s ambiguous for a reason: I imagine it was just as ambiguous in the moment, especially to those in authority.

[nhs67]

2 minutes ago, jackwebster said:

we are talking past each other  I'm not talking about retaliation against CStar. The article wasn't either  I was talking about the fear of retaliation  against the alleged victims if they chose to go public. 

 

I was too.  Were Starocci to mention someone who mentions to someone who mentions to someone... who is to say who is safe in that scenario?

I was defending them remaining anonymous.  That said, as you also said - he (Starocci) knows what he did to who and when.  They aren't going to be anonymous were Starocci to want to take an aggressive, retaliatory approach.

[BarSeries]

[jackwebster]

16 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

I was too.  Were Starocci to mention someone who mentions to someone who mentions to someone... who is to say who is safe in that scenario?

I was defending them remaining anonymous.  That said, as you also said - he (Starocci) knows what he did to who and when.  They aren't going to be anonymous were Starocci to want to take an aggressive, retaliatory approach.

Gotcha. I misread you. i totally agree that remaining anonymous is rational and perhaps the best course of action.

Edited 6 hours ago by jackwebster

[Rassling2]

8 minutes ago, ionel said:

"If" ... you think all of this could be made up or just thinking the sauna could be true but she was lying about being 17?  

Not sure about any of it, but I do know quite often allegations jump from one person to another so many times that the story no longer remotely matches what the first person had to say. It’s now in the hands of law enforcement and they will get to the bottom of it. 

[jackwebster]

1 hour ago, nhs67 said:

Speaking up against a teammate, especially someone considered a brother by most of your closest friends (and by you, at one point), might require more than just courage to fully follow through.

This was my experience. Exhibit A: We were riding home from the Keystone Classic in a couple of 15 passenger vans. We stopped at a conscience store, and guys started walking out with the weirdest sh#t: sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs ... mostly dairy stuff from what I remember. Again, seemed pretty weird, but I wasn't really paying attention (cracked a rib). We get back on the highway, and it became clear that the two 15 passenger vans were going to have a food fight.  They guys in the passenger seats started hurling the dairy at the other van. I wasn't at the rules session, but apparently the driver (both Grad Assts) was responsible for avoiding the incoming ordinance.  They would speed to to 60-70 mph and then slam on the brakes. They would swerve from lane to Lane, take to the burn, tailgate, slam on the brakes in front of the tailgater, etc. Everyone was laughing, having a great time. I'm in the back row fearing for my life. I finally told them to pull over and let me out. They belittled me for a while and refused to stop. I tried to suck it up  IDK about 15 minutes later, I freaked out and insisted that they pull over. They did, scolded me for being a p*ssy, and then let me know that they were out of ammo. They pulled over just to tell me that I was a p\say. And then we went on our way. 

I told coach and nothing: said I was making too big a deal of it. 

Point is I came around. Never p#ssed out at hazing, vandalism, assh÷lery again.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by jackwebster

[BarSeries]

 

[Sublime607]

3 hours ago, Rassling2 said:

This really sucks for our sport, it truly does. 

Also heard rumors of a documentary coming out about Ohio State that's potentially damaging. The sport might be under some serious fire

[BarSeries]

1 minute ago, Sublime607 said:

Also heard rumors of a documentary coming out about Ohio State that's potentially damaging. The sport might be under some serious fire

The documentary that is already out??