For once, I am on Bobby Hurley’s side.

Before I read the report on ESPN.com, I liked Bobby Hurley for only two reasons. The first faded when after being recruited by Carolina he instead signed with Duke. The other will always remain, my dog named Hurley who was given to me by a couple of close friends and Duke fans.

Anyway, I digress to more serious matters.

Hurley is now the basketball coach at Arizona State and in the crosshairs with the school’s athletic director over what Hurley claims is mishandling of sexual abuse charges against a Sun Devils booster, unwanted advances made toward Hurley’s wife and 2 other women.

Hurley wanted the booster disassociated with ASU basketball, and he claims that after the AD took the guy’s season tickets away, he still allowed him to attend home games.

Some may consider this a he said/she said case, but in today’s climate any physically inappropriate behavior, not to mention spoken language, emails or texts, should be treated with the utmost of sincerity, and I don’t blame Hurley for being toasted about it.

Don’t know what the booster gives to the school, but besides Hurley coaching the Sun Devils into the national rankings he deserves the same courtesy as any employee making such a complaint. The booster claims he said or did nothing offensive, but it sure looks like the AD and school could have handled it a lot better.

Now, lawyers from both sides are involved, and you can bet that Arizona State has a new athletic director, or a new basketball coach or a completely ex-communicated booster as a result.

Full disclosure, I never felt sorry for Hurley when King Rice made him cry as a freshman in the Dean Dome in 1990. And I still see in my sleep the brazen three-pointer Hurley took, and made, against UNLV that saved the 1991 Final Four game and launched the Duke dynasty.

But I feel sorry for him this time, because while coaches take all kinds of abuse as part of the job, any employee deserves public support when making such a claim that involves the protection of a spouse.

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