Minnesota Golden Gophers boycotting football activities for suspended teammates
By John Buhler
The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team plans to boycott all football activity until all 10 suspended players are reinstated, including the Holiday Bowl.
After contemplating boycotting their bowl game with the Washington State Cougars, the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team is now choosing to go in that direction until the university reinstates all 10 members of the football team that had been suspended because of the recent sexual assault scandal.
This investigation has been around the Golden Gophers football program since September. The football team had a players-only meeting on Thursday to decide their next course of action. They informed head coach Tracy Claeys about their decision to protest in support of their former teammates.
Clearly the players believe that Claeys and athletic director Mark Coyle’s decision to suspend 10 members of the football team wasn’t done fairly. Their cases are still ongoing and the Minnesota football team doesn’t want to play in the Holiday Bowl against Washington State without them.
Minnesota would play Washington State on Tuesday, Dec. 27 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego for the Holiday Bowl. The Golden Gophers football team is of the belief that the University of Minnesota won’t suspend the entire football team. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have any body to play.
If Minnesota is too distracted to play in a bowl game, then it might be in the best interest for the Holiday Bowl to get somebody else to play Washington State. The Cougars had a great season in the Pac-12 and have earned the right to play in this notable West Coast bowl.
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There must be something we don’t know about the investigation to have the Golden Gophers be this vehemently in support of their suspended teammates, who were ousted from the program for accusations of sexual assault. This whole thing seems fishy. Let’s keep an eye on this story as it develops.