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University of Minnesota Football Team Ends Boycott Threat, Will go to Holiday Bowl

MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota football team’s boycott started with a bold demand for apologies and a threat to skip a bowl game if 10 teammates suspended after a sexual assault investigation weren’t reinstated.

It ended less than 36 hours later, the university leadership never blinking, and the players backing down amid pressure from many who read details of the allegations.

The Golden Gophers players announced Saturday morning that they planned to play in the Holiday Bowl, rescinding their boycott after two exhausting days of meetings with attorneys, school President Eric Kaler and athletic director Mark Coyle.

“As a team we understand that what has occurred these last few days and playing football for the University of Minnesota is larger than just us,” receiver Drew Wolitarsky said.

The school declined the players’ request to reinstate the suspended players. The team will now go ahead with its Dec. 27 game against Washington State in San Diego after getting assurances that those accused will get a fair hearing next month.

Wolitarsky, reading from a statement, said after many hours of team discussion and speaking with Kaler, “it became clear that our original request of having the 10 suspensions overturned was not going to happen.”

And many of the players who made the initial stand Thursday had not read the university’s 82-page report detailing the woman’s specific allegations. The university kept the details private under federal law, but players saw it after KSTP-TV published it Friday. The details fractured the group’s resolve, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly for the group.

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