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Update: Colorado State football team members began posting an open letter to the CSU community on Saturday, offering support to coach Steve Addazio and denying allegations of racism and verbal abuse. The letter indicates that the team, and the seniors in particular, “unequivocally support Coach [Addazio] and its staff. “
“To be absolutely clear, we have not experienced any racially sensitive comments on us from the athletics department as coaching staff,” the letter reads. The group goes on to claim that “false accusations are levels made by individuals not affiliated with our current football team” and asked that questions regarding the culture at CSU be pointed out to them, “not naming sources and former coaches who have an ax to sharpen. ”
Check out the full letter below, which was shared by multiple players via social media with the hashtag #CSUunited
Original story
Just days after several Colorado State footballers and staff members claimed there was a COVID-19 testing cover-up problem within the football program, the Rams faced another crisis.
Colorado State athletic director Joe Parker announced Friday that all football-related activities are indefinitely halted, pending an investigation into what Parker called “extremely troublesome allegations of racism and verbal abuse by the CSU athletic administration in general and in the football program specifically. “
Parker said in a statement that the allegations will be addressed “before we focus on football.” The break for football activities includes exercises, workouts and team meetings.
“We believe it is our responsibility to ensure that all student-athletes feel welcome and valued as members of an inclusive athletic community,” Parker said.
The investigation into allegations of racism and verbal abuse is part of another investigation into allegations that the football program did not comply with the COVID-19 protocols, although others within the program and the university strongly represented these allegations. De Fort Collins Colorado Tuesday reported that players and staff members claim that coaches told players not to report symptoms, threatened them with loss of playing time and said the school is changing contact tracking reports to maintain positive test numbers.
“I believe there will be a cover-up happening at CSU,” said a current player who chose not to be named. “But they could only cover it for so long and now that we have so many cases about athletics, they can no longer cover it. It’s not about the health and safety of the players, but about just trying to make money from the players. “
The allegations prompted Colorado State President Joyce McConnell to launch the initiative to launch an investigation that she promised Wednesday “will move quickly.”
“I tell you all now that nothing is more important to me than to CSU than the health and well-being of our students,” McConnell wrote in a letter. “Nothing. They are our goal and our responsibility, every single one of them, whatever sport they play or great they explain.”
Parker and coach Steve Addazio said in statements published by the university that they would “cover up” and “support” the research.
Among the accusations leveled by these players and coaches is that Addazio, who is in his first year as coach, and defense coordinator Chuck Heater are reluctant to wear their masks.
“We had a player who absolutely had coronavirus symptoms coughing at practice and he was not wearing a mask and I was sitting next to him, touching him and there was spitting and sweating,” said one player. “I told him he had to be tested, but he really did not want to, because then he would be out. The next day he is not in practice. [If he tested positive] he had already spread the virus. That is the reason why many players do not feel safe at football practice. “
An unnamed staff member, who was one of the 10 total players and staff members interviewed, also raised concerns about the state of the program.
“There are some red flags in the athletics department, but the common denominator with this administration is to protect the coaches before they become student-athletes and that makes them feel more like cattle than student-athletes,” the employee said. .
Several players took to Twitter to make the claims made by the unnamed players and staff in the story.
Parker commented on the current test program COVID-19: “This [athlete] population is the most tried population that is here, but some seem to feel that it is not a good job to make them comfortable regarding their health. If that’s the feeling, we’ll have to amp it up. “
Colorado State Associate Athletic Director of Communications Kyle Neaves has also released a statement disputing the nature of the report.
Volunteer workouts were halted on July 29 after 27 players missed the exercise due to COVID-19, according to the report. Those numbers spiked after a number of footballers, as well as players in other sports, attended a party over the weekend of July 4th. Parker agreed that the incident likely led to the increase in positive cases.
Addazio went 44-44 in seven years at Boston College from 2013-19 before being fired after the season. It is safe to say that he did not wish himself well on current players.
“I think everyone could do a better job,” said one player. “But for our coaches to tell players that coaches don’t tell when they have symptoms because we had so many guys, it’s wrong.”
