Bernie Fine Investigation: Breaking Down Allegations Against Syracuse Assistant

The country is already dealing with a child sex scandal involving a major college sports program. Unfortunately, it sounds like yet another could be on the way.

Per a report from ESPN's Outside the Lines, police are investigating Syracuse basketball assistant coach Bernie Fine, who has been accused of molesting a team ball boy for more than a decade.

The alleged victim in the case is a 39-year-old named Bobby Davis, who served as the Orange's ball boy for six years starting in 1984. Davis claims Fine started molesting him in 1983 shortly before he entered the seventh grade, and that Fine continued to molest him until he was 27 years old.

As Davis tells the story, he was Fine's "constant companion," and that Fine molested him at his home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on road trips.

Now, it should be noted that the police are in the very early stages of their investigation. No charges have been filed yet. Syracuse police met with Syracuse University police on Thursday to discuss the allegations.

However, it should also be noted that Davis initially reported Fine's abuse to police in 2003, but was told that the statute of limitations had run out. Davis was told that police would only investigate Fine if he knew of any boys being molested by him at the time.

Interestingly enough, the chief of the Syracuse police at this time was Dennis Duval, who used to play for the Orange under longtime head coach Jim Boeheim.

As for Boeheim, Davis claims that he was not entirely unaware of what Fine was up to. Davis claims that Boeheim would come into Fine's room and see him lying on Fine's bed, but that Boeheim didn't ask any questions.

Boeheim and Fine have been coaching together at Syracuse since 1976.

Supposedly, Outside the Lines did its own investigation of Davis' story back in 2003, but couldn't find any other victims or enough evidence to corroborate Davis' allegations.

Recently, however, a second man contacted Outside the Lines alleging that he was molested by Fine. This man is apparently a relative of Davis.

So what should we make of all this?

In my honest opinion, it's a little too soon for everyone to freak out. What we are dealing with right now are mere allegations, and the investigation into these allegations is in its infancy. Just because there are allegations doesn't mean that actual crimes took place.

This being said, the part that grabs your attention is the part about Davis' initial attempt to get the Syracuse police to look into the matter back in 2003. That the chief of police at the time was a former Syracuse basketball player is undoubtedly a troubling thought.

For now, all this is is a developing story. We don't have a grand jury report, and we don't have mountains of evidence. 

Make no mistake, we are not dealing with a carbon copy of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Not yet, anyway.