Former Duke lacrosse coach tells his story

His book says university buckled

Jim Nesbitt, Staff Writer
The News & Observer
May 4, 2007

In an upcoming book about the Duke lacrosse scandal, former coach Mike Pressler accuses university officials of caving in to pressure from intense media scrutiny and protesters both within and outside of the school.

Pressler says university officials initially showed support for his players following the March 2006 team party at which Crystal Gail Mangum said she was raped by three players. But as harsh nationwide publicity intensified, Pressler says in the book, he was forced to resign on the same day university President Richard Brodhead canceled the season.

Those April 5, 2006, actions helped harden public opinion that Mangum's allegations were true, the book says, almost a year before Attorney General Roy Cooper dismissed sex offense charges against three teammates and described the escort service dancer as an unreliable witness.

"It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered" offers Pressler's first extensive comments about the case. He recounts the meetings among parents, team members and university officials that took place between the night of the team party and his forced resignation.

It is one of two books on the case that will go on sale June 12, with a third book scheduled for release in September.

In one passage, Pressler, now the head lacrosse coach at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., rues the damage to his reputation after 16 years as Duke's coach:

"Until a year ago," Pressler lamented in early 2007, "if you looked my name up you found stories about good lacrosse. Now, if you Google the words 'Mike Pressler,' 'Duke,' and 'rape' you'll come up with more than one hundred thousand hits. Those stories will be out there forever."

Written by former Sports Illustrated investigative reporter Don Yaeger, the book is not a first-person account by the former Duke coach, who gets a partial credit under Yaeger's name. Instead, the book quotes dozens of key characters and relies extensively on newspaper accounts, including The News & Observer's coverage.

In an author's note, Yaeger wrote that he interviewed Pressler, the one university employee who was fired as a result of the scandal. The coach told Yaeger he had kept a diary and planned to write a book; Yaeger proposed a combined project.

Likely more to come

The three books slated for publication so far will probably be joined by others, said Sara Nelson, editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly, the leading trade journal on book publishing and sales.

While Yaeger's book is fast copy, Nelson said the scandal has all the elements necessary for a more analytical book, including a miscarriage of justice and overtones of class, privilege, race and sex.

"I generally think when the subject has larger social implications, which fits in the Duke case, it needs to have perspective," she said. "A quickie book about what happened, which is a rehash, isn't going to be all that effective."

Yaeger's book covers familiar ground -- from the party and Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong's marathon of damning interviews to the unraveling of the case against Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and Dave Evans.

Pressler recounts the slow erosion of support for players among university officials. In another passage, Pressler describes an April 5, 2006, morning meeting with Duke athletics director Joe Alleva hours before the coach is forced out. Alleva tells Pressler the team's season will be canceled.

Words he'll remember

" '... Joe, you told the players and the parents you believed their story, you believed in them, you believed that they were telling the truth,' " Pressler recalls saying. "Alleva looked right at me and made the statement I'll never forget as long as I live: 'It's not about the truth anymore,' he said."

Pressler won a short reprieve by pleading with Alleva to await results of DNA tests on his players. But when a violently worded e-mail message from player Ryan McFadyen became public later that afternoon, Alleva called the coach into his office again, Pressler says in the book.

The athletics director told Pressler that Brodhead would hold a news conference to announce the suspension of the season and Pressler's resignation, leaving the coach little more than an hour to negotiate a severance package.

Alleva could not be reached for comment Thursday. Duke spokesman John Burness said Thursday that Brodhead and other university officials did not succumb to public pressure.

"The university made its decisions at the time based on what it believed was in the best interest of the university and everyone involved," he said. "We were relying on the legal system to ultimately get to the truth, and that's what ultimately happened with the attorney general's actions."


Staff writer Jim Nesbitt can be reached at 829-8955 or jim.nesbitt@newsobserver.com.


Ex-lacrosse coach to be at Regulator



Mike Pressler led the Duke lacrosse team onto the practice field in March 2006 as the uproar grew.
Staff File Photo by Chuck Liddy

The Regulator Bookshop will be host to former Duke lacrosse coach Mike Pressler, who has cooperated with author Don Yaeger in the writing of the book "It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered" at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 21, for a discussion and book signing. This event is free and open to the public.