'Hidden in plain sight': CSU football staff accused of racial insensitivity, abuse

Miles Blumhardt
Fort Collins Coloradoan

9/17 Update:Some CSU staff say President McConnell's comments taint athletics investigation

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More than 20 current and former Colorado State University football players and athletic department staff say they have witnessed recurring instances of racial insensitivity and abusive behavior within the department.

In dozens of interviews with Coloradoan reporters, sources within the program claim a pattern of concerning behavior has spanned the tenure of former head football coach Mike Bobo and current coach Steve Addazio. They say athletic director Joe Parker and other athletic administrators have turned a blind eye to the issues.

Sources who spoke to the Coloradoan include a CSU Athletic Hall of Fame member and former coach, a current CSU mental health counselor, and numerous players and staff with firsthand knowledge of the football program's culture, which some have called "toxic."

Some spoke on record, allowing the Coloradoan to use their names. Others spoke only on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation from others within the program. However, their identities are known to the Coloradoan and their stories were independently corroborated by others interviewed for this story.

On Friday, the university halted all football operations and expanded the scope of its investigation into the athletic department's handling of COVID-19 protocols to include examination of these concerns.

“Today, we learned of some extremely troubling allegations of racism and verbal abuse from CSU’s athletic administration generally and in the football program specifically," Parker said in a written release, after receiving an email from the Coloradoan requesting interviews regarding details learned during the course of its reporting.

"I have consulted with President (Joyce) McConnell about these new allegations, which obviously deeply concern her as well. Effective immediately, and for the best interests of our student-athletes, I am pausing all football-related activities indefinitely." 

In a Saturday interview with the Coloradoan, McConnell said she "put no limits on what the investigators are looking for. I have confidence if these incidents happened that we will know about them after the investigation is complete.''

The Coloradoan first reported allegations Aug. 4 that CSU football coaches told players not to report COVID-19 symptoms and threatened players with reduced playing time if they quarantined. McConnell quickly hired an outside law firm to investigate those claims.

Prior to CSU suspending football operations Friday, the Coloradoan sought interviews with CSU leadership regarding the news organization's months-long investigation of the allegations of racial insensitivity and abuse. Also Friday, ESPN independently reported corroborating allegations in its own story about CSU's suspension of football activities.

Parker told the Coloradoan in a Saturday interview that "he had never heard of the specific allegations'' presented to him in the interview and mentioned in this story but that they will be forwarded to investigators.

"These are very concerning, and obviously we are going to ask the outside investigative team to understand each and every one of these,'' he said. "And we will take appropriate action when we finish our investigation.''

'Hidden in plain sight'

Colorado State athletic director Joe Parker answers a question during a press conference for Colorado State head coach Steve Addazio at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019.

The Coloradoan's investigation revealed allegations of racial insensitivity, harassment and verbal abuse that have dogged Parker's five-year tenure leading CSU's athletic department, spanning his handling of former men's basketball coach Larry Eustachy's documented abuse through the recent investigation of Addazio's football program.

“In these types of closed systems where abuse is taking place, it’s hidden in plain sight; everybody knows the truth but they are afraid to address it because of the fear of losing their jobs or scholarships or being blackballed,’’ said Jimmy Stewart, a CSU mental health counselor and state licensed professional counselor who admitted he feared for his job after going public with his criticism for this story. “The people you are reporting the truth to are the very people whose job it is to polish the brand. They are trying to manage the abuse, not stop it.''

Anthoney Hill is a CSU Athletic Hall of Fame member, a former quarterback under legendary coach Sonny Lubick and a CSU assistant coach from 2008-11. He then became the football program's director of player development and community/alumni relations in 2015, serving until when he was released earlier this year. 

Despite his longtime affiliation with CSU, Hill said Parker didn't see him as a "good fit'' because he voiced concerns about the racial insensitivity and abuse tearing apart the football program he loves. Hill said he never met with Addazio before his termination.

Parker provided emails to the Coloradoan showing Hill was offered opportunities with the department outside of football and said Hill didn't respond about accepting the positions.  

In an email sent to Parker in February, Hill expressed his concern about the athletic department. It read in part:

"What I have seen from you is a person of privilege who either intentionally or unintentionally isn’t aware of insensitivities of young black men being berated under the guise of coaching. You are allowing that toxic culture to be cultivated and to persist by not addressing the issues. The bottom line, the athletes don’t trust you, Joe.''

Those interviewed by the Coloradoan said an erosion of credibility started at the beginning of Parker’s tenure when he continued to employ Eustachy for four years after the coach was the subject of a scathing internal report regarding player abuse in 2014.

They said that loss of trust continued when Parker failed to address player and staff complaints involving Bobo, whom they accused of making racially insensitive comments and verbally harassing assistant coaches, players and staff during his five years. Parker negotiated a $1.825 million buyout of Bobo, who went 28-35, after the 2019 season.

And they said a toxic culture was perpetuated when Parker hired Addazio in December, less than a month after Addazio was fired at Boston College.

Others within the program have strongly denied any implication of impropriety within CSU football.

After news of the Coloradoan's investigation was made known through the CSU athletic department's announcement, multiple members of the football team and coaching staff came out in support of Addazio.

Their statement, shared Saturday via Twitter, states in part: “the last number of days has created an unfair and unstable environment within our football team.”

It denies allegations of racism and verbal abuse by current football staff.

It also states: "The seniors and our football team unequivocally support our Coach and his staff. They have acted professionally, respectfully and are committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive football program."

CSU's football coaches sent out a similar show of support for Addazio.

However, several members of the team contacted by the Coloradoan on Saturday said they did not support and do not agree with the statement. 

Football above all else

Colorado State head football coach Steve Addazio holds a jersey beside Colorado State athletic director Joe Parker and Colorado State president Joyce McConnell during a press conference after Addazio's hiring  at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019.

A member of CSU's football staff said Addazio has downplayed the COVID-19 health threat and Black Lives Matter movement, which have dominated public discussion in recent months, calling both a "distraction from football'' to be managed.

"He's smart enough not to come right out in public and say it, but he thinks BLM (Black Lives Matter) is a crock of s---, and that has come out in meetings,'' said the football staff member who wished to remain anonymous. "When we had the incident with the player (a Black CSU football player was held at gunpoint by a white man while working in Loveland), the players wanted to march with shirts that had BLM on it, make posters and say chants. He told them if you are going to do that we aren't marching."

The march took place in early June in downtown Fort Collins, but participating players wore plain black shirts absent of CSU logos, did not have signs and did not chant.

Said a current football player: "Joe knows about this stuff, but Coach Addazio bosses Joe around, so Joe ignores it."

Adazzio declined the Coloradoan's interview request Saturday but agreed to review emailed questions about the allegations made by sources quoted in this story. He later declined to answer the questions and said through CSU's athletic department office that he was limiting his comments to those he made Tuesday regarding COVID-19 protocols.

"The health and welfare of our student-athletes on the Colorado State football team is our top priority, and I fully support President McConnell's investigation into concerns about whether these protocols were properly followed by everyone involved with our program," Addazio said in a university athletics release. "We want every student-athlete to have confidence that we are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety, and we will continue working with the training staff, the athletic department and the University to evaluate and implement any additional steps necessary to live up to our high standards."   

Stewart, who was hired at CSU six years ago by former athletic director Jack Graham to help student-athletes address their mental well-being, said he decided to go public with his concerns after an encounter with Addazio in June.

During that encounter, Stewart said he witnessed humiliation, denigration and intimidation of a Black football player over academic issues. Stewart said the incident felt eerily similar to Minneapolis police officers' treatment of George Floyd before a white officer knelt on the back of Floyd's neck until he died.

"After watching George Floyd being humiliated before he died, it triggered in me the times I saw or heard about certain coaches humiliate student-athletes and the fact that not going public made me complicit and compromised my integrity,'' said the 65-year-old Stewart, who is white. "I also became conscious that racism is about being a bully. In that encounter with the Black student-athlete, Coach Addazio had this attitude that he's bigger and more powerful than the student-athlete. The student was enslaved.''

Stewart said some on CSU's football staff told him of a hostile work environment under Addazio before his first meeting with the coach. They described Addazio's temperament as bullying, erratic and with emotional outbursts that created a fearful environment. 

Stewart said after Addazio's "relentless humiliation and berating'' of the Black student-athlete that, in a subsequent call from Addazio to Stewart, the situation worsened. During the conversation, Stewart said he felt Addazio's demeanor was "domineering, threatening and intimidating (in) manner, as if he owned me.''

Stewart told Addazio he crossed the line and was ending the conversation. He reported the incident to Vice President of Student Affairs Blanche Hughes, Stewart's supervisor. Hughes acknowledged the incident in an interview with the Coloradoan and said her advice was for Stewart to talk to Parker about it.

"I was not shocked by what he said or did. Everyone has meltdowns and bad moments,'' said Stewart, who was a college All-American football player at Tulsa; was drafted and played in the NFL for 11 coaches who would go on to become head coaches in the NFL; and served as a family counselor for the military. "But what disturbed me most about his behavior was the contemptuous and entitled way he acted like he could treat myself and the student-athlete any way he chose. In neither one of those situations was the player's welfare the most important concern.''

A football staff member said Addazio later "bragged'' to coaches at a meeting about the verbal berating he handed the player, whom the staffer described as a sensitive kid who was sobbing after the encounter.

"He comes all animated about it and yelling and pretty proud of himself,'' the staffer said. "He says, 'This f------ douche bag (name omitted), I unloaded on him.'"

Parker told the Coloradoan on Saturday: “That’s tough language, troubling. If that proves to be true, that is not acceptable. Not what I want represented in our program.’’

Stewart said despite such incidents being known within the department, Parker claims plausible deniability, walling himself off from witnessing instances of racial insensitivity, harassment and humiliation.

"When these administrators allow or ignore student-athletes being harmed, it makes them just as culpable as if they had actually participated,'' Stewart said. "What became real for me was the fact that much of what gets hidden and accepted as coaching really is systemic bullying and it's happening here at CSU, and Joe Parker isn't going to stop it because he has a vested interest in painting a pretty picture.''

Parker denied that, saying he has a cultural expectation of "never passing a problem.'' 

Stewart said like Hill, he spoke to his supervisors, Hughes and Anne Hudgens, former vice president of student affairs and executive director of the CSU Health Network until  her retirement in June, as well as Terry DeZeeuw, head athletic trainer. He said his concerns were minimized by DeZeeuw and that Hughes, who is Black, and Hudgens were resigned that no one really wanted to address issues within the athletic department.

Hughes refuted that characterization during an interview, saying she has worked diligently to help student-athletes of all color and especially student-athletes of color.

"If it is something that several people came with the same kinds of concerns, then I would talk to Joe about that,'' Hughes said. "Joe was always open to hear any kinds of things.''

In an April 20, 2018, email provided by Stewart after meeting with Parker and then the men's basketball players, who boycotted playing under Eustachy, Hudgens replied: "I feel like you all are the canaries in the cage checking for toxicity before the miners go in."  

In Hudgens' most recent review of Stewart, she called him a man of deep integrity, saying in part, "You have had the ability to connect deeply with student athletes and you have also been able to understand and help address some of the systemic issues that are difficult for student athletes. You have a particular concern for student athletes of color. It can be difficult to navigate the systemic culture while you are trying to help and support individual students in a confidential manner. You shared that you have been disheartened by the new football coach and are concerned that traditional, punitive coaching style will prevail.''

Concern for Black athletes grows

Former Colorado State University Director of Player Development Ahtnoney Hill, far left, and former CSU offensive lineman Trae Moxley, far right, visit an area hospital with players from Marshall University prior to the 2017 New Mexico Bowl in this file photo.

Stewart said it became more clear to him after experiencing the abusive way Eustachy, Bobo and now Addazio run their programs that the CSU athletic department’s culture is hurting student-athletes and staff, who are too afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation.

Hill echoed those concerns in a February email to Parker, which was copied to McConnell, Hughes and Albert Bimper, senior associate athletic director for Diversity and Inclusion and assistant professor of Ethnic Studies.

"...Bringing in a new head football coach who tells the graduate assistants within days of knowing them that he 'doesn’t give a f--- about their feelings' is contradictory to being 'committed to the holistic development of student-athletes … and of crafting a culture where students thrive.' As a dedicated former student-athlete and confidant/mentor to the current players, I know that’s not the type of representative that we want in CSU athletics. It doesn’t fit our mission statement: To educate, engage, and excel.''

Many of those interviewed said they wouldn't call Bobo or Addazio racist but said they are both at least racially insensitive, insulting and ignorant.

Hill went a step further.

"Racism is about power, and if you have power over another and you make racist remarks, it's in the eye of the beholder as to whether or not that person is a racist,'' Hill said.  

Brandon Summer, a white backup punter from 2015 to 2018 who was recruited by Bobo's staff, said he explained his concerns about the football program's culture under Bobo during a 90-minute face-to-face exit interview with Parker.

"Under Bobo and (former defensive coordinator) John Jancek, it was like an angry-white-man society and they come into college football to take it out on the players,'' Summer said. "They were racially insensitive, but players were concerned about their scholarships and playing time, so many didn't say anything, and that's not right.''

Hill said it pains him to see the systemic culture troubles at his alma mater, but he doesn’t see that culture changing under the current athletic administration. That's why he said he went public with his frustrations. He also questioned how CSU will be able to recruit student-athletes of color under the current coaching staff.

Examples of abuse extend to Eustachy era

CSU men's basketball head coach Larry Eustachy reacts to an official's call during a game against Arkansas-Fort Smith on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo.

Examples of racial insensitivity and verbal harassment within CSU athletics were related and corroborated independently by multiple sources who witnessed the events in meetings, locker rooms, practices and on the sidelines.

These were some of the incidents most often told in separate interviews:

Bobo and Jancek would call Black football players “boy,’’ a derogatory term aimed at Black people. One assistant coach under Bobo said Jancek quit using the term after being told it was insensitive.

• • • 

In a meeting with his assistant coaches, it was confirmed that Bobo wanted a Black woman to meet a Black recruit. He looked at former assistant coach Joe Cox, who is white and is married to a Black woman, and asked if his wife could meet the recruit. Cox said his wife was not available. He looked around the room and said to former assistant coach Bryan Applewhite, who is Black and married to a white woman, that the next time he hires a Black assistant coach, he will make sure he has a Black wife.

Bobo did not respond to the Coloradoan's interview requests through the South Carolina athletic information department.

South Carolina’s athletic department provided The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C. this statement Saturday night:

“We are aware of the allegations made against Mike Bobo while he was the head coach at Colorado State University. While there have been no such complaints made against Coach Bobo during his time at South Carolina, we are in the process of doing our due diligence and have already been in contact with the administration at Colorado State and with Coach Bobo to gain more information and to determine the facts.”

One assistant coach said Bobo was known to joke around, saying things like that to people with whom he was comfortable. Other players agreed, saying Bobo mostly treated Black and white players equally and actually gave preferential treatment to Black "star'' players. 

“I never once witnessed or saw any racially insensitive gestures or comments from Mike Bobo towards a staff member or player,'' Applewhite, who was an assistant under Bobo from 2015-19, wrote in an email sent to the CSU athletic department and shared with the Coloradoan.

Story continues below the photo

Colorado State University head coach Mike Bobo, shown here as he walks to to the stands after losing the Rocky Mountain Showdown rivalry football game to University of Colorado on Friday, August 30, 2019, at Broncos Stadium at Mile High in Denver, Colo.

• • • 

Nathan Lucas was a long snapper and holder who played one year under Jim McElwain (2014) and three for Bobo (2015-17). Lucas, who is white, said Bobo would look at Black players and say, “I know a lot of you don’t have daddies, so I’m going to be your daddy.’’

Once while the team met before a game, the lights went out, prompting Bobo to make a demeaning remark to a particularly dark-skinned player. 

"There is dead silence and Coach Bobo says, ‘Smile so everyone can you see you,'" Lucas said. “(Name of player omitted) is one of the most kind-hearted men you will ever meet. I don’t care who you are, you shouldn’t be called out like that." 

Lucas and others said Bobo’s insensitivity didn't stop at race. He said Bobo made a heavyset equipment manager run sprints with the team, mocking him during the drill. The equipment manager left the team following the 2018 season after working 20 years in the athletic department.

Several staff members and players said Parker was standing on the practice field sidelines while watching Bobo put players through punishment conditioning, which is against university policy.

• • • 

In one of the more public outbursts among CSU football staff, Jancek, who is white, and Tre Thomas, a Black starting linebacker, had to be separated on the sidelines in plain sight of many fans at a 2018 game against Wyoming. The next season, Bobo moved Jancek away from the sidelines and up to the coaches box above the stands, claiming he did so to give Jancek a better look at the field rather than for separation from his defensive players.

“In what other department at CSU would you pay a person $325,000 who you couldn’t trust to be around students, or require your deputy athletic director (Steve Cottingham) to babysit your head basketball coach (Larry Eustachy) because you were afraid of their abusive behavior and you were afraid to fire them?’’ Stewart said. “You can’t make this stuff up. If I or anybody in academics did any of this stuff, we would be gone in a heartbeat, but it’s accepted in athletics."

• • • 

Those interviewed said Parker began to lose credibility with staff, coaches and student-athletes during his handling of Eustachy’s departure.

"When you talk about an individual tied to injustice to student-athletes, Larry is a pure reflection of that,'' said Nick Longo, a former CSU Olympic strength and conditioning coach who was hired by Jack Graham and worked under Parker. "Yet at a head coaches meeting, Joe tells the coaches, 'When you see Larry, pat him on the shoulder because he's having a rough week.' How do you think that made the rest of the coaches who were making much less money feel?"

Graham, who preceded Parker as AD and hired Eustachy, wanted to fire Eustachy after a 2013-14 investigation determined Eustachy “created a culture of fear and intimidation and emotionally abused his players."

Graham claimed in a 2017 interview with the Coloradoan that he advised then-President Tony Frank that Eustachy should be terminated but that Frank didn’t believe the university had the basis to fire the coach. Frank instead told Graham that Eustachy was to be placed on a personal improvement plan that included “zero tolerance for the negative behaviors.”

As part of Eustachy’s improvement plan, starting in February 2014, Eustachy was no longer allowed to be alone with his team and was required to have Graham or a staff member present at meetings, practices and games. It was confirmed by several staff members that Cottingham was the person assigned to watch over Eustachy.

However, several staff members said Cottingham discontinued monitoring Eustachy once Graham was fired in August 2014. Another source close to the basketball program said Eustachy threw an eraser board and cursed at players when the team was at a tournament in the Bahamas while Cottingham was on his phone 10 feet away.

The staffer said it was one of a multitude of times that Eustachy blatantly disregarded behavior outlined in his improvement plan in front of CSU athletic administrators. 

In February 2018, Parker placed Eustachy on administrative leave, replacing him with longtime assistant Steve Barnes. Players boycotted playing for Barnes, who was replaced by assistant coach Jase Herl.

Stewart said during a conversation with Parker to discuss how to address the players that week, Parker broke down and told him, “They won’t let me fire him.’’ Stewart said Parker did not identify to whom he was referring.

"I told him, 'Now you know how the players feel, Joe,'" Stewart said.

“Joe Parker and other administrators don't bear the brunt of that humiliation. It’s the players and the staff who bear the humiliation of this tolerance,'' Stewart said. "Joe Parker and administrators wall themselves off of feeling that humiliation. And it’s Joe Parker and those administrators who allow this sort of behavior to happen to these parents’ student-athletes and staff who should be fired."

Eustachy and CSU agreed to part ways a month after the coach was placed on leave. The agreement resulted in CSU paying Eustachy $750,000 as a buyout with a nondisclosure clause that precludes Eustachy or CSU from commenting on his departure.

“You know what you call that?’’ Stewart said. “Hush money. Larry knows where the skeletons are buried in the athletic department. That's how that works.

"This is the good-old-boys, white male system at its best and is exactly the white systems of power Black Lives Matter are protesting about."

Stewart said an example of a coach at CSU who acts with his players' best interest in mind is current head basketball coach Niko Medved, whom Parker hired to replace Eustachy.

“Niko Medved is the coach we need to model,’’ Stewart said. “He is our John Wooden (the late, longtime UCLA basketball coach). Instead of hiring a coach with an open system like Niko, Joe hires a football coach whose style is bullying, shaming, denigrating, humiliating."

Athletics lags in diversity efforts 

Ohio State Buckeyes running backs coach Tony Alford played at Colorado State.

Black athletes and staff point out there has been only one Black head coach in CSU’s 150-year history and few people of color in top administrative positions within the athletic department.

They pointed to CSU overlooking Tony Alford — a Black Ohio State assistant who is considered one of the nation’s top recruiters, a former CSU star running back and a Colorado native — after he openly expressed interest in the head coaching job as evidence of lingering institutional racism.

Stephanie Johnson, a Black CSU athletic trainer, said people of color are often overlooked for their opinions when CSU is adopting policies and guidelines for an inclusive campus and athletic department.

She said by not hiring Alford, the athletic department missed an opportunity to provide action on its mission of growth through diversity, make inclusion important and elevate the consciousness to serve the needs of a diverse population.

“Like the athletics department’s mission statement, he was just a name put out there for optics,’’ she said. “When something like this happens, it’s a good representation of how CSU athletics sees the importance of Black representation in their athletics department.’’

However, she said the CSU Athletics Department Together initiative launched in June to support Black student-athletes and staff has given her hope that change will occur. 

"Hearing from athletes, they really want to take this seriously,'' said Johnson, who is on the initiative's leadership team. "I think you will see some demands out of this that will help us with racial disparity.''

Still, numerous players, coaches and staff are concerned that without a change in athletic leadership, that hope will never turn into change.

“I’ve seen so much willful ignorance by our athletic administration that the culture now is they shrug their shoulders and roll their eyes, believing that’s just coach being coach,’’ an athletic staff member said. “We have accepted as the norm people being hurt emotionally and verbally abused. The grown-ups in the room have failed the kids in the room."

Stewart said there is a heavy long-term cost to the CSU athletic department’s current culture.

“If a person fears retribution for telling the truth, especially as it concerns the welfare of our student-athletes, what does that say about the system?’’ Stewart asked. “Universities are supposed to be about integrity, honesty, freedom of thought and leadership.

"But athletics is about power over people, not power with people. What the collegiate athletic departments have largely become is an industry that sees protection of the brand as more important than protection of its people.’’

Editor's note: Anthoney Hill believes he was misquoted in his comment on racism. That quote has been changed in the story to reflect what he more accurately said. 

Reporter Miles Blumhardt looks for stories that impact your life. Be it news, outdoors, sports — you name it, he wants to report it. Have a story idea? Contact him at milesblumhardt@coloradoan.com or on Twitter @MilesBlumhardt. Support his work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.