It’s easy to ruin a reputation, tough to rebuild it. Colorado football coach Gary Barnett was an obvious target for anyone looking to blame somebody for the dirty and foolish business that seemed to be going on — in Boulder and around the rest of college sports.

To critics, he epitomized the aloof, crass coach, a guy who put winning ahead of ethics, who stood up for his players even if they were wrong, and who turned a blind eye to violations.

The allegations could hardly have been more serious than the ones leveled at Colorado’s football program: at least nine women accusing football players of rape since 1997, and reports that the school routinely sought to lure football recruits with alcohol and sex.

Barnett didn’t do himself any favors when he said during a TV interview that one of the women alleging rape, former Buffaloes kicker Katie Hnida, was a “terrible” player. It was a sound bite that got clipped from the questions that led up to it, not a justification for an alleged assault. Still, it was enough to label him an insensitive oaf.

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He offended some, too, by saying he would “back” a player accused of assaulting a 19-year-old athletics department worker in 2001.

“I just think he should be gone. Gone, gone, gone — once those words came out of his mouth,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said, weighing in from Congress just last week. “The fact that he isn’t is a very loud message.”

University president Betsy Hoffman seized on those sound bites to put Barnett on paid administrative leave Feb. 18, pending the outcome of an independent probe into the football program.

At the same time, the police, district attorney, and state attorney general — appointed by the governor as a special prosecutor in the case — stepped up the investigation into the rape accusations.

When all the reports were done, no charges were filed against players and no evidence emerged that Barnett or any other Colorado official “knowingly sanctioned” misbehavior.

The investigating panel did conclude that sex, alcohol and drugs were common when players hosted high school recruits, and it criticized Barnett for lax oversight and a slow reaction. But the panel also laid considerable blame for the same things on Hoffman, the chancellor and the athletic director.

Colorado has a well-earned reputation as a party school — read that to mean plenty of sex, alcohol and drugs — that goes back long before Barnett showed up five years ago.

If he didn’t crack down on his players enough, he didn’t exactly encourage them to run wild. He has disciplined 34 players for breaking rules since arriving.

There’s blame enough to go around everywhere in Boulder, not least to the students, whether they’re athletes or not. Blame the bars, blame the strip joints, blame the parents, blame the culture. Everyone and no one is responsible just as much as the football coach.

Barnett was put back on the job Thursday and he deserved to be. He never should have been put on leave in the first place. Hoffman overreacted to that sound bite rather than just telling Barnett to keep his mouth shut.

Hoffman said the athletics department will be restructured as part of “sweeping” changes to reduce its autonomy and install greater accountability. Athletics director Richard Tharp also kept his job. In the end, not much changed.

“Did coach Barnett say things that I and others have found offensive? The answer is yes. And for that he has paid a price,” Hoffman said.

She said Barnett was described by athletes and others as a solid mentor and tough disciplinarian worth keeping.

Barnett did not attend Hoffman’s news conference but issued a statement, saying he’s “dedicated to leading a socially responsible program that will be a source of pride to CU, athletically and academically.”

To do that, Colorado will have to address issues of the campus culture not just the coaching.

The wounds of this story will not end immediately. Barnett was hurt and so was his family. The school’s reputation and the football program suffered. The women who alleged rape didn’t see any justice, either because they refused to testify or because prosecutors decided they lacked enough evidence to win in court.

Barnett sensed last week that he would be reinstated after the investigating panel handed in its report. Asked if he felt vindicated, he thought about everything that happened and how the findings would be seen by others.

“We waited so long to get through this process, I’m not sure of the word I’d use to explain how I feel,” he told The Associated Press. “I’m not relieved, because I didn’t expect them to find anything. I’m not happy, because I didn’t want to go through this process. Vindication is probably the best word.

“I knew there wasn’t anything there, so I knew they weren’t going to find anything. ... It’s important nationally for it to be seen the way it is. For the people who have been out there, skeptical of what’s going on, I think it’s important for them to see it, more so than it is for me.”

The lessons of this case are many.

Even in the absence of rape charges against any players, it serves as a warning to athletes at Colorado and everywhere else that they risk prosecution if they commit sexual assault.

Colorado and other schools also must become more vigilant about player behavior and more careful about what recruits do on campus visits.

And though serious accusations need to be taken seriously, no one should rush to judgment about who is to blame.