CSU Rams footballers pitched by their coach. Anthoney Hill says he sticks to his story.
“People can try to make up if they’re okay with what’s going on, but where there is smoke, there is fire,” Hill, the ex-Rams quarterback, assistant coach and assistant, told The Post on Saturday. ‘People inside know that. And I get it. I understand the position of the players here, because they want to play. ”
Hill was responding to a statement from CSU players released on Saturday, which indirectly accused him of “having an ax to sneak”, after correspondence between himself and athletic director Joe Parker was revealed Friday. in an ESPN report Friday.
The Saturday he-said / she-said exchange was the last salvo in what has turned into one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent CSU athletic history.
Since last Tuesday, first-year football coaches Steve Addazio and Parker have been under suspicion of encouraging a verbally abusive environment and of protests from COVID-19, through complaints made by players and others in the program, anonymously, after the Fort Collins Colorado. The end result is that CSU’s football program has been pending an independent investigation for some time. It also takes a critical eye on Parker, Addazio and university president Joyce McConnell, while sharing a fan base that has already struggled to unite under their new football coach.
“I’m not the only man who had anything to say,” said Hill, who was released in January as CSU’s director of player development and community / alumni relations. “And, most importantly, I do not read.”
Concerns about Parker’s culture and treatment of departmental personalities, especially former CSU men’s basketball coach Larry Eustachy, were also raised by Rams’ mental health adviser Jimmy Stewart in a story published Saturday by the Colorado.
While the accusations of that report of racist remarks from former CSU football coach Mike Bobo were refuted by at least one former Rams football player, the player also said of Stewart, ‘Jimmy is the real deal. Jimmy sees it all. ”
Hill, the 1992-94 starting quarterback of CSU, said Saturday that Parker has turned a blind eye to concerns about student-athletes, including reports of racially sensitive comments from Bobo and his assistants, most of whom are no longer with the department . Hill said his concerns are shared by current CSU staff and former players, especially those of African-American descent. And he said Parker is the root of those cultural flaws.
“It’s all cultural,” Hill said. ‘And if the culture is not in a good place, then your results are spotty, in my opinion.
‘At the end of the day I will be heard. I’m not doing anything I did not tell Joe Parker I would do. And most importantly, he did it all. He set it all in motion. ”
Hill said he was surprised by a number of Parker decisions, including the fact that he was initially announced in light of his CSU athletic director as well as by Addazio, who was hired in December to replace Bobo.
“That’s weird. That’s not happening,” Hill recalled. “(Parker) said, ‘(You’re) not fit for CSU,’ which floods me. . ”
Hill said he was offered a position as academic advisor of athletics department by Parker for less money than he had made. A correspondence provided to The Post by CSU Athletics confirms an offer on Jan. 17 with a starting salary of $ 48,000 that was increased to $ 53,300, his previous salary.
Hill said he found the position and salary offensive, and preferred a role on the field, a reaction that was reflected in Parker’s correspondence with Hill earlier this year.
In a March 2 letter from Parker to Hill, the athletic director wrote that his’ intent was to ensure you were retained in a position at CSU. The suggestion that I’m trying to ‘sabotage’ you is simply not true. ‘
Hill said Parker tried to cast him as too emotional in response to the new role, ‘try to make it feel like I was out of control, or in principle he did not know what I was going to do, so he went that route. He knew what it was. And here we are. “
Adding to the confusion and frustration for loyal Rams in recent days is the fact that some – but not all – CSU footballers vehemently deny the allegations brought to the program by unusual national media.
The current Rams released a collective statement Saturday morning, which had raised recent allegations against Addazio and the football staff, describing the accusers of racism and verbal abuse as “patent false.”
“On the contrary,” it continued, “our experience since Coach Addazio’s first day has been positive, welcoming and focused on our development as student-athletes. To be absolutely clear, we have not experienced any racially sensitive comments from our teammates.” the athletic department or coaching staff. ”
The statement was released in the wake of two independent studies launched regarding the Rams football program by the university. The first, announced late Tuesday by McConnell, was in response to accusations by anonymous student-athletes and athletic staff that Addazio and his assistants were not following COVID-19 protocols. The allegations were made by unnamed sources in a story published Tuesday by the Colorado.
The spotlight on the program intensified Friday, when Parker announced that he would immediately suspend all football activities in response to accusations of “racism and verbal abuse by the CSU athletic administration in general and in the football program in particular.”
Seniors on the CSU’s football program denied those claims during a meeting late Friday, and again during a team-wide meeting Saturday morning. Players were given copies of a prepared statement of support for the coaching staff and encouraged to share it via social media channels with the hashtag “#CSUUnited.”
Saturday’s statement described a flurry of accusations against Addazio and the program as “unfounded” by “individuals not affiliated with our current football team … the unfounded accusations of an unmarried former coach and / or anonymous source are unfair, unjust and creates the exact destructive and painful wounds that can be caused by racism. “
McConnell announced via email to student-athletes and department staff that the investigations would be led by Husch Blackwell, a Kansas City-based law firm. Husch Blackwell was hired by the University of Iowa earlier this summer to conduct an independent investigation into allegations of racial insensitivity and abuse by football coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff.
“I’ve been doing this long enough to know who people are,” Hill said. ‘They show you who they are. And Coach Addazio did it immediately. And that’s not something I wanted to be part of, if it’s going to happen. I just do not think there is very good leadership left at my alma mater at the moment. And it kills me. ”
