(Believe it or not, Tompkins District Attorney Matt Van Houten had what was likely his first tense office interview with Team Handball News 13 years ago.)
Note: I generally try to keep this handball site only about handball, but I’m going to steer off of that general rule at first. I’ll swing slighty back towards handball at the end.
It can be somewhat disconcerting to see people and things you are personally familiar with become plastered all over national news. I first experienced this back in 2021 when national media descended on my home town of Brooklyn, Iowa to cover the tragic disappearance and murder of Mollie Tibbets. I went to school with her mother and aunt and it was surreal to see people I knew being interviewed. And, when I saw Donald Trump trying to score anti-immgration points and to get the grieving family involved I knew that was likely to go nowhere. Iowa’s a red state… but, not everyone is MAGA. And, in a small town most everyone’s political leanings are common knowledge. Joining Trump to criticize immigrants? No, we’ll take one into our home for a year because his parents had to move.
I’m now having a similar reaction to seeing a former opponent and teammate, Matt Van Houten, interviewed by the national media and pillaged on social media. For those that aren’t aware Van Houten is the District Attorney (DA) of Tompkins County, New York and his jurisdiction includes Cornell College the site of an alleged campus rape in 2024. He’s been interviewed by multiple national news outlets like CNN and criticized on social media for not bringing charges earlier. Here’s an example of one critic pointing out that it’s just a male DA being condescending and misogynistic with the implication he’s lazy and/or just protecting fraternity bro culture.
Well, I’m here to tell you that is just total nonsense… pure and simple.
Now let me caveat first, that I don’t know the inside baseball of what lawyers and DAs are supposed to do. I’ve seen reports and social media posts saying he should have done more and others that say he handled it correctly. New York Governor, Kathy Hochul has weighed in and says she’s lost confidence in him and has appointed the State Attorney General as a special prosecutor. Did he not do enough or is this case simply a huge political football now and the Governor is just responding to that? Honestly, I really don’t know. I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve had to work with some and know enough to know that how they go about their business isn’t always common sense with a clear cut answer. I’m not wading into that debate.
I will, however, wade into any insinuation on his character or that he would take such allegations lightly. I don’t think I’ve spoken with Matt in at least 10 years, but I spent some time with him when we were both on the National Team back in 1991-93 and there was more than enough interaction, both on and off the court to know that’s just not in his character.
And, then I recall some discussions back in 2012-14 time frame when he was the CEO of USA Team Handball. Including one long phone conversation on handball matters as he drove up to Boulder to visit his daughter at the University of Colorado. Again, I’m not buddies with Matt and I don’t know the specific details on his personal life, but he was a single father and very much involved in his daugther’s life. And, now that I have a daughter, also attending the University of Colorado, I wouldn’t be shocked if we now could have a conversation about the party culture up there in Boulder that our daughters have been exposed to. To think that he would look upon some young woman’s traumatic experience with misogny and just right it off as no big deal or frat bros just being frat bros. Sorry… nonsense.
The 2013 Office Interview
Further, to my point about Matt and I not being buddies we actually had a fairly adversarial relationship back when he was the CEO of USA Team Handball from 2012-2014. That probably doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows my personal backstory. I wanted his job and was pretty bummed I didn’t even get an interview. I also thought we was in over his head. Law school prepares you well to be a lawyer. It’s less useful, however, in preparing you for what is primarily a management job function.
And, in the 2012-13 timeframe I was highly critical of his efforts to start another residency program at Auburn University. I was raising all kinds of questions regarding what I thought was an unwise desision that needed more rigor and process before proceeding. And, this led to an in office interview in August 2013 not that unlike the ones I’ve seen more recently on CNN and other outlets. He was in the hot seat answering questions I’m sure he’d prefer not answering. Who knew? Team Handball News was providing media training for the big boys 13 years later.
I didn’t like any of the answers that I got in that interview. “Like” in the sense of what those answers meant for where USA Team Handball was headed with the Auburn initiative. But, I got answers that were straightforward. I didn’t feel like key facts were being omitted. That topics were being conflated to avoid discussing the real underlying issue. Bottom line: I didn’t feel like I was being manipulated.
It was pretty much a textbook example of walking away from an interview not likely what you heard… but knowing you’re getting the straight story. One that I suspect Jake Tapper and others also walked away with more recently. So, for any folks out there not satifsfied with how DA Matt Van Houten handled his duties as Tompkins County DA it’s OK for you to think that, just don’t take the leap to imply there’s an underlying character issue. There’s not.