Missouri state rep threatens to file complaint vs. Gary Pinkel
Missouri lawmakers are still concerned with the University of Missouri football team's November actions.
The football team boycotted activities for a few days until a hunger strike by a protesting student ended. The football team announced their decision to stand with the protester and the movement on Saturday, Nov. 7 and then-coach Gary Pinkel tweeted his support for his players the following day.
Football players returned to team activities on Tuesday Nov. 10 after the hunger strike ended the previous day when Missouri president Tim Wolfe resigned. According to a Missouri state representative threatening to file a formal complaint against Pinkel on Wednesday, Pinkel's actions of standing with his football team were a "discredit" to the university. The protests took on a much bigger life when the football team got involved.
“I will probably be preparing a complaint and to forward to the provost on” Pinkel’s “behalf as well,” Rep. Paul Wieland (R) said Wednesday via the Columbia Tribune. “Because what he did, in my view, did discredit to the university.”
Wieland's remarks came during a Joint Committee on Education hearing that involved interim Missouri chancellor Hank Foley. Pinkel resigned on November 13 after revealing he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
In an email to friends earlier this month, Wolfe said the football team's involvement in the protests threw gas on a small fire. Foley told lawmakers that the university was preparing to handle any possible future athletic protests differently.
Pinkel is currently serving in a consulting role with Missouri's athletic department. He's being paid $950,000 over three years as part of his new arrangement. He has said that standing with his players during the protest was the right thing and that he would do it over again -- though his support was one of solidarity with his players and not the protest itself.
“In a sense you could argue that he was kind of bought out of his contract for what is comparatively much, much less than he could have had if he had just stayed in the job,” Foley said on Wednesday.
Former defensive coordinator Barry Odom is Missouri's new coach.
Missouri lawmakers have continued to dwell on the events surrounding the protests in the current legislative session. Representatives have threatened to withhold $27 million in a general funding increase from the UM system because of continued protests and the job status of a professor who violated the first amendment rights of media members. Though the professor is suspended, she has not been removed from her position.
In December, a Missouri representative pre-filed a bill in the state house to revoke the scholarships of striking players. After it was clear the bill was not thought through and after significant backlash, the bill was removed from the filing ranks.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
