This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
University of Memphis administrators have responded in the proper way to last month's postgame brawl in the Miami Beach Bowl vs. BYU.
I'm not saying BYU officials got it wrong, just not as right as Memphis. By not announcing the nature of any penalties, BYU subjects itself to questions about whether administrators have been too soft.
Who knows, BYU may have disciplined its players as harshly as Memphis. The problem is that by saying only that punishment is being "handled internally," BYU is relying on everyone trusting it enough to properly administer penalties. That stance can't be fully satisfying to the Cougars' fan base, much less the outside world.
Memphis said it is disciplining 12 players to varying degrees, without naming names. That's reasonable, because it would be extreme to make specific players deal with nearly eight months of public criticism in advance of the 2015 season opener. At some point, the school intends to name anyone who will be suspended for games — having announced that multiple players will miss all or part of some contests, including at least one two-game suspension.
If indeed BYU is suspending any players, the school should take the same approach in August. In 2014, when several players missed the season-opening game at Connecticut, it became almost comical how some of them announced their own suspensions in interviews and other players mentioned teammates who wouldn't be playing. In the end, a couple of suspensions became evident only when players didn't dress that night.
What's apparent here is that Memphis' membership in the American Athletic Conference played a role in its disciplinary approach. The conference likely was involved in making sure the nature of the punishment was announced, even in somewhat vague form. As an independent, BYU was left to its own strategy.
The exact nature of the penalties is not for me to determine. If every returning BYU player who was involved in the Miami brawl ends up playing Sept. 5 at Nebraska, I'll trust that BYU administrators evaluated the issue thoroughly enough. But if our learning of any suspensions requires a process of elimination that day in Lincoln, that will be a mistake by BYU.
Twitter: @tribkurt