Binghamton just can't seem to stay out of trouble

July 10, 11:19 AMCollege Sports ExaminerJacob Osterhout

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Trouble seems to find the Bearcats.

The saying "Any publicity is good publicity" does not apply to Binghamton University.

The up-state New York center for higher education can't seem to avoid scandal, even as its basketball team excels.

Last season, the Bearcats won the America East Conference and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since transitioning to Division I in 2001. (They lost in the first round to Duke.) But the team was in the news more for their off-court unlawful transgressions than their on-court success.

First there was the sensational case of six-foot-nine, 260 lbs. Binghamton basketball player Miladin Kovacevic, who beat a fellow student into a coma for staring at his woman the wrong way. Kovacevic fled to his native Serbia and the U.S. is still seeking extradition. (Monetary restitution for the victim is more likely.)

Then there was the infamous "condom caper" incident, in which guard Malik Alvin attempted to steal a 36-pack of Magnum condoms from a local Walmart. In his haste to escape store security, Alvin decked a 66-year-old woman who suffered a concussion.

Now, the issues have moved up the ladder to the administrative offices. A former university employee, Elizabeth Williams (no picture available), is suing Binghamton for sexual harassment, claiming that she was used by senior athletic department officials as a "plaything" to ply big-time donors.

According to the AP article:

Williams claims the university officials subjected her to a pattern of harassment beginning when she was hired late last year. She says after they told her to dress provocatively for a fundraising dinner in New York City, a donor asked how much money it would cost to have sex with her.

So it turns out that everything has a price, even an athletic department's jump to Division I. Men's basketball coach Kevin Broadus has been accused of recruiting unsavory players, and according to The New York Times, many of the faculty believe that there is a double standard in academics for the basketball team.

But hey, if the Bearcats keep making the NCAA Tournament, will anyone care? Sadly, probably not.

We can forgive a basketball program that recruits international bullies, condom capers and academic idiots. And we can forgive a program that hires morally dubious coaches and pretty girls to raise money. But we can never forgive a program that loses.