Minnesota team ends boycott, will play in 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 with 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 now will 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.

Kaler and Coyle issued statements Friday and reiterated to the players in a meeting late Friday night that they had no intention of changing their decision after an internal investigation determined the suspended players violated school conduct codes in an encounter involving a woman and several players at an off-campus dorm Sept. 2.

Four players were initially suspended for three games earlier this season while the police investigated allegations by a woman, who said several players pressured her into having sex with them after a season-opening win over Oregon State. No arrests or charges were made and the players, who maintained the sex was consensual, were reinstated after a judge lifted a restraining order.