Michael Holmes will no longer play football for Virginia Tech, per David Teel of the Newport News Daily Press.
Teel spoke with Jim Weaver, who informed him Holmes is “permanently separated from the University.” The decision was made not by Weaver, but by the Student Judicial Board. Holmes was arrested in April and charged with felony malicious wounding, but ultimately was found guilty of misdemeanor assault.
Holmes, who would have been a r-sophomore this season, rushed for 280 yards and four touchdowns on 70 carries last season. He started the first five games of the season, but did not get a carry over the final three games of the regular season.
Do you agree with the decision to permanently dismiss Michael Holmes ? Vote here.
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Since the record of the hearing is sealed, we do not even know if this action is the result of the fight do we?
Oh, this isn’t a polarizing topic at all…
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the team reacts to this action. Regardless of what happened and who made the decision. MH is gone… How will his team mates react to the situation? Will it pull them down, will it be a motivation, will it be divisive… or will it be a non event to them?
I would imagine it will be a non-event. He was kicked out of school, not off the football team, so there are really no “grudges” to be held IMO.
Was Michael Holmes’s ex-girlfriend also kicked out of school?
I agree with the judicial board’s decision. As a VT alum, I am pleased to see that a part of the university other than the athletic department was allowed to handle this disciplinary matter involving a student-athlete. I continue to be surprised and disappointed that many VT football fans are willing to overlook or condone criminal actions by an individual simply because they represent VT on an athletic team.
Should MH’s ex been booted also? Just wondering. She started the whole incident and the justice system completely ignored anything she did, dropping charges against her. Maybe she has been booted, but I highly doubt it. In other words, the justice system and student judiciary committee didn’t do their jobs. Right?
In the judicial system, as in life, “he/she started it” is not a valid excuse for bad behavior and especially not for violence. Period. Re-read the commonweath attorney’s comments on the case. No one denied or ignored how the alteracation began- but Holmes’ actions were way beyond the level of the original provocation.
No they weren’t. He did what he should have done.
exactly. This whole student judicial board decision is a joke, embarrassing for the university, and a total facade. If I were on the team I’d be pissed, and absolutely think it will be a divisive issue. You know if you go to play for VT the football program doesn’t have your back….I guess it depends on who you are, ie Cody Journal, Marcus Vick. A student judicial board is a joke and is not more powerful than the equipment manager, let alone Beamer, Weaver or the schools administration. If someone has more info that this was absolutely the correct decision, please share…..We know he was convicted of misdemeanors for actually being a Man, which is apparently frowned upon by many on this site. The student judicial board has about as much credibility as a tow truck driver in Blacksburg.
Please don’t confuse the “student judiciary board” with the actual criminal justice system, and the appropriate defenses. Apples to Oranges.
Holmes “did what he should have done”? He “was convicted of misdemeanors for actually being a Man”? Hmm, with attitudes like these, it’s easy to see why violence is such a problem in our society.
From the Roanoke Times:
“According to witnesses, Holmes hit Barnes and continued to strike him once he was on the ground. Barnes suffered a broken cheekbone, bruised ribs and swollen eyes, which required a trip to the hospital.”
The article I read said that he struck Barnes until he went to the ground. The is not considered too much force by me.
http://blogs.roanoke.com/andybittervirginiatechfootball/2013/06/13/rb-michael-holmes-guilty-of-reduced-charge-of-misdemeanor-assault-and-battery/
I agree. Also,this may have something to do with the honor code and nothing at all about the fight.
Just like the one in Animal House
Sorry vthokiesaa- definitely not you. I hit “reply” in earmuffs post and the program put it under your post and I don’t think there’s any way to edit.
I would like to see “earmuffs” say that to MH’s face and and go thru one football practice at the D1 level.
Hahah I figured it was to him, but wasn’t sure. I would also be interested in “earmuffs” saying that to him.
And end up in the same state as his previous victim? I think not!
Look, the kid has all the talent in the world. The fact of the matter is his attitude was poor and his behavior even worse. I’d rather lose ten games a year with the JC Coleman’s and Trey Edmunds’ of the world than win with kids like Holmes.
Beating the h*ll out of someone is not simply a youthful screwup. It’s dangerous and unacceptable behavior in our society. I don’t believe he deserves to wear the orange and maroon.
No one has argued against that. My response (along with laphroaig) to you was about you just writing it off because of his play on the field.
You won’t hear me arguing that it is not just a youthful screw up, especially when he’s been here awhile and it seems like he has a history of this.
Well, it didn’t help my opinion of him that his play on the field was sub-par and seemingly lacked desire. He turned out to be quite a bust on-field before he was a bust off-field.
Do you believe Michael Vick deserved to wear the maroon and orange….just curious?
I do, but that’s a different situation. Basically, Vick stayed out of trouble while in school and represented the university well. I was disappointed when the dog fighting stuff came out, but who wasn’t?
Do YOU believe he deserved to wear the O&M?
I hope the young man gets on the right track. I wish him the best.
I don’t know enough details to tell whether or not they made the right decision.
Yes, we deserve to hear from this council, in writing. Who are they, what are they, criteria for appointment/election, and the specifics of this case.
I don’t think we deserve or need to hear the specifics…if the info is normally made available (public records) that’s good enough..if legally it’s not required then so be it.
This amuses me. We *deserve* to hear from them, *in writing*?
smh
All student judical matters and honor court decisions are reviewed by a faculty/administrative committee (usually through the Provost’s office) after the cases has been adjudicated and prior to recordation.
Very mature and rational response. The kid messed up and will pay a big price for it…no need to keep bashing him, especially since any RB didn’t have much of a chance of success last year.
The Student Judicial Board are a bunch of self righteous fools who dare I say hardly have lived life at all. They should not have the power to permanently alter the course of someone’s life. Shame on you Virginia Tech for letting the future of an upstanding student athlete be judged by a group of self righteous, sheltered fools.
As someone who has a pretty good understanding of the Holmes situation, let me say that Virginia Tech made absolutely the correct decision in not letting him return to school.
Chris, Does this Student Judicial Board have to account for themselves by submitting a brief on this decision?
Don’t know. Fortunately I never went through the process when I was in school 🙂
I did, I took a $125 parking ticket to them (I had been diagnosed with mono and the health center was contacting parking services to give me a faculty/staff temporary pass. I went to the parking services building and got a regular temporary pass and marked through it to say faculty staff (in their eyes “falsifying it.” I lost my case and paid my fine.
Nelhini is not incorrect with the assessment of the makeup of the board or how it operates. I can’t speak to who sits on the board now but mine was comprised of self-righteous, t- totalers who showed the worst in their understanding of enacting policy. From my experience, I agree that board should not have had a say in this.
However, from the broad perspective, I’m not sure that Weaver/Beamer shouldn’t or wouldn’t have come to the same decision. Like everyone else- I don’t know enough details to say whether they got it right or wrong but I don’t like that application of due process.
I’m assuming this has more to do with other factors and not just this one incident based on some reports that were floating around during the initial court proceedings. Is that correct?
I don’t know what the board based their decisions on. But there is more to Michael Holmes than this particular story.
Please share!
With all due respect Chris, my brow raises really high on this one, so I need your help here:
First I have never heard anything negative about Holmes. I had been following this issue closely at least I thought (use to live in Harrisonburg) and I personally have not seen or read anything negative about Holmes until now but I know you have really close ties with program news and events. Is there more news than what we know now?
Second, the ex girlfriend is reported to have been stalking Holmes that night. Holmes and his companion- Karoline Seekford left at least 2 locations trying to evade Cira Simms before the confrontation began. Could Cira have been a prideful VT student athlete who didn’t like being upstaged by another female from rival Radford University who was a model and not an athlete?
Third, it sounds like Cira was looking for a “confrontational fight” from the start. Why did she have a fellow friend (Kierra Barnes) from Radford with her and why did her friend have her cousin with them both. Simply put, Cira brought back-up with the intentions to instigate, challenge, and belittle Michael and Michael’s new girlfriend. I suspect the 2 girls together were eventually getting the best of Michael’s new girlfriend and prompted him to step in and pull her out, that’s when things got uglier and Kierra’s cousin stepped in, struck, or engaged Holmes under the perpetual element of being a family protector for his cousin-Kierra. Antoine Barnes learned real-quick that he was no contest to Holmes and that fast & furious movies are all fiction when it comes to fighting a “collegiate professional athlete”.
Like we are all asking, is Cira Simms dismissed for her role in this as well? Or does Holmes take the fall for having a very sloppy domestic dispute erupt in public that leads to male-female violence. VT doesn’t like any form of negative spin so I am sure this event was too close for comfort, especially when it involves individuals on public university scholarships.
Good-Luck to Holmes (He will end up at JMU). But bring on Coleman please. I am an underdog lover, so I have always loved the J.C. Coleman’s and Andre Kendrick’s of the world. I think the Coleman & Trey combo will do just fine.
Love your work and the TSL team.
Please provide more information. I have only read articles and it appears that the ex-gf and her friends were bullying Michael Holmes and his girlfriend … then they attacked his girlfriend … Michael defended his girlfriend and himself … and the bullies got beaten up.
Why were the charges dropped from the ex-gf and her friends? The ex-gf and her friends are not at any fault and are within their legal rights to bully and assault Michael Holme’s girlfriend?
In other words … bullying and assaulting someone is condoned if you the initiator get beat up and injured?
Agree about Student Judicial Boards in general at all schools. Far too much power over fellow students. Not enough information to make a yea or nea call on his guilt or innocence that I have seen. Also, I see no need to rain on his misfortune at this time.
WOW..It does seem like that Board has an enormous amount of power. I have to believe there is some administrative oversight. That said, they may be a ‘necessary evil” at any university tht seeks to let students have a hand in governing or disciplining their own.
As to Holmes, I have really mixed feelings about the specific incident that led to all of this. It showed a serious lack of judgement/maturity IMO to be in that situation, but that is often what being a college student, or 18-19 year old in general IS (at least it was for yours truly). Still, being in that situation, it is hard to fault him for coming to the defense of his girlfriend; albeit over the top. Problem IS, you get in a fight, and you can’t pick how you fight. You’d best just fight your arse off…
Sounds like we accept the punishment and move on. I wish him the best. I really do. I hope he doesn’t let this define him, and I’m pulling for him going forward. There is a real lesson in being accountable for your actions there for those who would learn it.