This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes,” April 21, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Amid allegations that Duke lacrosse players raped a stripper on March 13, the Duke lacrosse coach of 16 years, Mike Pressler, has resigned, and the university has decided to cancel the remainder of the team’s season.
Joining us now are two former Duke lacrosse players, former Duke tri-captain Maurice Glavin, and his brother, former Duke goalie Gene Glavin.
All right, which one of you is the goalie? That’s a crazy position.
GENE GLAVIN, FORMER DUKE LACROSSE PLAYER: I am.
MAURICE GLAVIN, FORMER DUKE LACROSSE PLAYER: Gene was.
HANNITY: First of all, let’s talk a little bit, guys, about the coach, and about this team, and your initial reaction to this.
Gene, why don’t we start with you?
G. GLAVIN: When I played at Duke, I played two years under the former coach prior to Coach Pressler, and then two years under Mike Pressler.
HANNITY: And?
G. GLAVIN: And I saw no difference, say, between, you know, the way the team was and between the two different coaches. I think Mike Pressler has shown his commitment to the university and to this, you know, Duke lacrosse itself by actually resigning to move this situation forward.
HANNITY: Maurice, I’ve got to tell you something. If I am a parent and there’s no evidence — there’s not one specific piece of evidence we can cite right now that shows these boys did this — did the university abandoned them?
M. GLAVIN: I think that’s a difficult question to answer, Sean. The university has been great, certainly to our families. You see two Duke lacrosse players sitting here, and it really did change our lives.
I think there’s a lot of different challenges that the university is facing. To say that they abandoned them, I don’t know. But I do want to state unequivocally that I think that, going forward, Duke lacrosse needs to get back on campus. I think that it changes many lives for a lot of great student athletes. And I think…
HANNITY: Let me ask you this, Maurice.
M. GLAVIN: Yes?
HANNITY: Let’s talk about — they talked about the culture. And there was some comparison articles made with some of the other sports at Duke, and there were a far higher level of incidents involving the lacrosse players. Some people say there’s a culture, a little bit of arrogance among this particular team, that they push the envelope a little bit more.
I don’t think any good comes from a party like this at all. But is there some truth to the “lacrosse culture,” or is that an unfair allegation?
M. GLAVIN: I think that that’s a broad generalization, Sean. I think that any team, like a Duke lacrosse team or a team on any other campus, gets very tight-knit. And I think that the student athlete, you know, needs to continue to grow and to try and be the best that they can be on the field.
There’s no doubt that athletes have something in them that makes them, you know, strong, the will to win, you know, sometimes aggressive, etc. But do I think that, from a far-reaching standpoint, do they have more incidents on campus? I don’t know if that’s factual or not, frankly.
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Hey, Maurice and Gene, it’s Alan in New Orleans. Thank you both for being with us.
And, Gene, let me go back to you. Did Pressler really have to resign over this? Does it really prove anything? And how does he have any culpability for what might or might not have happened that night?
M. GLAVIN: I believe Coach Pressler is a man of character. He came from Iowa’s own university, where he had a great success there. He came to Duke University my, you know, last two years there.
And I think that his — I believe, in my mind, is that his commitment to the university and to Duke lacrosse, in order to help move this forward, was to step down.
COLMES: But he’s taking an…
(CROSSTALK)
G. GLAVIN: I think that shows his character.
COLMES: It may not even have happened. We don’t even know if anything actually happened that night. And what if we find out that these men are innocent, does he get his job back? Would that be a logical thing to do?
And, Maurice, let me go to you. How embarrassing is this for the lacrosse team, regardless of what happens, because now it’s out there?
M. GLAVIN: Well, I think it’s a tremendous embarrassment to the lacrosse team and to the university. And I think that it gets worse and worse each day.
Getting back to your question about Coach Pressler, and should he be rehired, I think that, once this situation comes to conclusion, and if we do find out that the team is, in fact, innocent and these charges were, in fact, just that, allegations, as opposed to proven fact, then I think there should be consideration of having Coach Pressler back on the campus.
I think that, at the end of the day, what we’re really looking for is for people to do the right thing. And if Duke University is in a situation where they have a choice to do the right thing, I believe they will do the right thing.
HANNITY: Guys, thanks for being with us. Appreciate your time.
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