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Michael Holmes "Permanently Separated From The University"

By chicagomaroon
Geoff Burke

According to a tweet by David Teel of the Daily Press this morning, Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver confirmed to him that Michael Holmes has been "permanently separated from the university."

Holmes, the Hokies' starting running back to open the year in 2012, had been involved in a physical altercation outside of a popular Blacksburg night club back on April 21st and charged with two counts of simple assault and one of malicious wounding, a felony.

In mid-June at his court date, however, Holmes was plead down to a misdemeanor assault and battery, a charge that would have allowed him to return to the football team if Weaver had so decided based on previous precedent. But Teel's tweet, along with corroboration from other beat writers, confirms that Holmes' fate was not decided by Weaver, but instead by the student judiciary board.

Holmes maintained his innocence throughout the process, claiming to have been drawn into an altercation by a former girlfriend(s) and a relative of one of the girls, who apparently stalked him and his current girlfriend at two separate locations. Holmes claims they tried to leave when they were confronted and the girls began beating on his current girlfriend. He jumped in to stop the fight and was then involved with the other male in an altercation. He denies having hit either of the other girls.

Regardless of how exactly the situation played out, it is fairly clear that Holmes was not the instigator of the fight, simply the victor, as his attorney pointed out in this post-court tweet:

We wrote concerning the Holmes conviction in June:

"Holmes, though found guilty, by having his charge lowered to a misdemeanor, may now be eligible to return to the football team pending the athletic department and coach Beamer's approval. That path would seem likely based on several previous cases of Hokies that have been cleared to resume their football careers at Virginia Tech in the wake of their legal matters being resolved."

It is unclear why this case made it to the judicial board and other ones involving Tech athletes being charged with a felony or found guilty of a misdemeanor previously did not. It is also unclear why he would be dismissed by the judicial board if, again, other previous and seemingly more heinous crimes committed by previous student athletes had not resulted in their dismissal. Or as Weaver put it:

As we said back in June:

"Given the circumstances of each case, while Holmes was still found guilty of a misdemeanor, it would seem his transgression was less severe in nature than Journell's. Therefore, his reinstatement to the team, though not guaranteed, is likely."

Also in our previous post, 87 percent of our readers said that they felt given the circumstances of Holmes' situation at the time, he should have been reinstated or reinstated with conditions or a possible suspension from the team outside of the indefinite suspension he already was on.

As we wrote previously:

"In 2012, Holmes began the season as the Hokies' starting running back, but saw his role dwindle as a member of the four-man backfield of J.C. Coleman, Tony Gregory, Martin Scales and himself. He played in 11 games, starting five and ran for 280 yards on 70 carries, leading all running backs with four touchdowns. He also added 23 yards on 5 receptions in the passing game."

Again, we wish the best of luck to Holmes in this difficult time and hope he finds a landing spot somewhere in the future. Though according to Mike Barber, that might be sooner rather than later:

For everything Virginia Tech football, including news, updates and analysis as we near the start of the 2013 season, Gobbler Country is your #1 online resource.

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