The situation at University of Colorado is beginning to resemble Enron in its scandalousness.

Between the allegations of sex and alcohol being used to recruit players and the recent accusations of women being raped by team players, things are not looking good for head football coach Gary Barnett or the Colorado football program.

So far, six alleged rape victims have come forward, with one of the most recent being former Colorado kicker Katie Hnida. She alleged that her teammates had verbally abused and molested her and that one of them raped her in 2000. Hnida walked onto the team in the 1999 season under former head coach Rick Neuheisel. But then Neuheisel took off, and Hnida was left under coach Barnett. She since has dropped out of the university and joined the University of New Mexico.

Some would argue Hnida might have exaggerated the severity of her teammates' conduct or that she made her story up entirely. But one of her former teammates, Justin Bates, has substantiated her arguments of maltreatment. Plus, there already were stories of using sex to recruit players, taking players to strip clubs and underage drinking, so there is overwhelming evidence that the players' behavior was out of sync with legitimacy.

What the hell is going on? Either Barnett knew what was going on and did nothing, which would be scandalous, or he had no idea what was going on, which is equally preposterous. Officials have yet to admit they knew of corruption in the football program, so the whole story of their defense seems dubious.

Barnett was placed on administrative leave a day after he made an absurd comment about Hnida's playing ability. He said she was "awful," as a player and couldn't "kick the ball through the uprights." He can't be fired by the university - at least not until its pending lawsuit is settled, in which another woman alleges she was raped at a recruiting party in 2001. But perhaps even more troublesome is the fact that university officials cited his comments, and not the lewd behavior and rape allegations, as reason for his suspension.

Certainly, every program is bound to make mistakes and participates in off-field debauchery, with MSU being no exception. During the 2002-03 season, the team fumbled over drug problems and run-ins with the law.

But the seriousness and magnitude of the Colorado scandal is unprecedented. And the outright denial on the part of Barnett and athletic director Dick Tharp shows their callousness and refusal to admit fault. And although the problems of MSU's football program weren't as severe, at least Bobby Williams acknowledged the faults.

Perhaps in time we will come to learn the truth of the scandal. Under all the legal and media pressure, maybe the players will come clean and admit they made some grave mistakes. Maybe the alleged victims later will admit their allegations were unfounded.

Who knows, they might be able to prove their innocence. But until that time, more work must be done to uncover what really happened.

The University of Colorado is wasting no time getting to the bottom of the trouble. The university already has formed an independent investigative committee to look into the accusations. It's good to see the president is taking the situation seriously.

In addition, I commend MSU officials for taking the precautionary step of advising student athletes of their behavioral obligations. Last week, in light of the Colorado accusations, athletics director Ron Mason composed an e-mail reminding MSU student athletes to comply with university, team and NCAA rules. The message was sent to every athlete by Jennifer Smith, the assistant athletics director for compliance services.

Debacles like those in Colorado are unfortunate, not only because they bring to light a lack of character in the players, but also because they detract attention from the positive stories that can be written about most teams. In a season filled with allegations of sex parties at Brigham Young University and recruits being taken to bars and strip clubs at Minnesota, it would be nice to find a happy ending somewhere.

Evan Rondeau is the State News sports administration reporter. Reach him at rondeau1@msu.edu.