ESPN digital-only show Debatable may be new, but it’s already producing some entertaining segments. One came Thursday when Mike Golic Jr. addressed this week’s discussion around his alma mater, Notre Dame. This all started with Buffalo Bills’ receiver/returner Isaiah McKenzie, who said on his own show earlier this week that he decommitted from the Irish (he wound up playing at Georgia instead) after finding out the school’s policies against sex: “The coach goes…for you to be able to come here, there’s no sexual intercourse throughout the whole school.” (There’s a little more to the story of McKenzie and Notre Dame than that, but the school policy here, which does exist, may have been a factor for him.) Here’s how Golic responded to that:
https://twitter.com/debatable/status/1446184787228626947
“So there’s this thing called parietals at Notre Dame. We have same-sex dorms all throughout the campus there, guys are in one dorm, girls are in another dorm, all throughout campus. You’ve got to be out of the other sex’s dorm after midnight on weekdays, after 2 a.m. on the weekends, yada, yada, yada. If you want me to say it out loud, I had sex while I was in college! …I can make some calls if you want proof!”
“…Because Isaiah McKenzie wants everyone to believe…recruits, this is not true! What he sold you is a lie! It is perfectly normal what goes on there! Don’t worry about that! That is slander, and I will not tolerate that in public for my alma mater here, because that reflects poorly on me, in ways I’ve already cleared up on this show.”
Golic then tweeted this with a funny caption:
sorry mom https://t.co/qkGlAqEvxi
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) October 7, 2021
And this led to a lot of predictable responses:
— Kyle S (@KyleSkey) October 7, 2021
Congrats on the sex, mike
— Brett Hudson (@Brett_Hudson) October 7, 2021
Hey congrats man
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) October 7, 2021
The thing is, both sides sort of have a point here. McKenzie said he heard this from a coach (it’s unclear if it was head coach Brian Kelly or an assistant), and while that seems like a wild thing for a coach to say to a potential recruit, it does fit with the university’s stated policies. Here’s that full policy from their Guide To Student Life, under Community Standards/Sexual Activity:
The University embraces the Catholic Church’s teaching that a genuine and complete expression of love through sex requires a commitment to a total living and sharing together of two persons in marriage. Consequently, students who engage in sexual union outside of marriage may be subject to referral to the University Conduct Process.
With that said, though, that process includes a whole range of potential outcomes, which can range from “apology” to “dismissal.” And the online site at least doesn’t specify specific punishments for specific offenses, and it seems likely that this particular “violation” may be not prosecuted that often (at least if Golic’s “It is perfectly normal what goes on there!” is accurate). Plenty of private institutions with religious connections have these kinds of policies, but they’re not always heavily enforced. At any rate, it’s certainly funny to have an ESPN personality talking on-air about his own sex life in college in order to refute a claim from a NFL player.
[Mike Golic Jr. on Twitter]
