Vanderbilt rape case mistrial makes Derek Mason's job even tougher

Just what Derek Mason didn't need: a mistrial in the Vanderbilt rape case.

At a date yet to be determined, the long public nightmare will be repeated. And the man who was not hired as Vanderbilt football coach until seven months after the crime was perpetrated will again be forced to deal with the ugly residue of an ugly incident.

With all the other things Mason is fighting — an undermanned roster, a restructured coaching staff, an eight-game SEC schedule, a disenchanted fan base, inevitable comparisons to his predecessor — this is one more hurdle in his path.

The hits keep right on coming.

Mason, a rookie head coach last season, is to be commended for the way he handled this situation the first time around. The trial of one-time Vanderbilt players Brandon Vandenberg and Cory Batey lasted 12 days in a Nashville courtroom, but the case was lodged in the public consciousness far longer.

But Mason never blinked. He didn't identify it as a distraction as his Commodores were going 3-9. Nor did he use it as an excuse for a recruiting class that was ranked last in the SEC by most recruiting analysts.

Never mind that the lengthy trial, which received national media attention, was in January, a key recruiting period. Mason was fighting an uphill battle in recruiting to begin with. The last thing he needed was a rape trial where defense attorneys cited a campus culture of heavy alcohol and student indifference to sexual assault.

It's not exactly the kind of thing you want to see in headlines when you've got a couple of dozen prospects in town for a big recruiting weekend, as was the case last January.

While no prospects or their families indicated publicly that their recruitment was impacted by the rape case, it likely had an effect. That kind of publicity simply does not go unnoticed in a process where negative recruiting by the competition is standard operating procedure.

Recruiting at Vanderbilt is challenging enough even when you're not having to spend untold hours putting out fires and reassuring prospects and their families that the testimony in a courtroom is not a fair reflection of what goes on in your football program.

Right about here, let's be clear on a couple of points that supersede any negative impact a new trial will have on Vanderbilt football:

For one, the young woman who was sexually assaulted must relive the incident. She bravely attended the first hearing and offered compelling testimony. She now must decide whether to do so again.

Meanwhile, the defendants deserve to have their cases heard by an untainted jury. It's an important part of our judicial system. Their fair defense is imperative.

At the same time, though, it is indisputable that a new trial will make things more difficult for Mason. When Vandenberg and Batey originally were found guilty, Mason was able to finally put things in the past and move forward.

He could point out — correctly — that university officials had taken the appropriate action by kicking the four alleged rapists out of school when the school became aware of the gravity of the charges.

Now Mason must go through it all over again.

Because of that, the degree of difficult Mason is facing in the 2015 season just increased. And this was going to be difficult enough even before the mistrial was declared.

This is setting up as a crossroads season for Mason. In 2014, the Commodores lost as many games with him as head coach as they had won in each of the previous two seasons under James Franklin. They looked particularly inept on offense, resulting in a change at offensive coordinator. Mason installed himself as his own defensive coordinator.

And with a new trial in the rape case on the horizon, a tough job just got tougher for one coach.

David Climer's columns appear on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Reach him at 615-259-8020 and on Twitter @DavidClimer.