Robinson coached the Gophers for 30 years and led the team to three national championships, developing a reputation as a hard-nosed, outspoken and occasionally combative figure on campus. He said the school would not pay for the testing. He also ran youth camps for basketball and wrestling.
Advertisement
Robinson asked wrestlers at a March 23 team meeting to turn in drugs to him in an attempt to deal with them internally.
A search warrant was conducted at the coach’s office.
“You engaged in multiple acts of serious misconduct …” Robinson also repeatedly failed to answer key questions during the course of the Xanax investigation.
– “You failed to disclose information related to drug activity of your team, including drug sales by current team members”. It also states he disposed of the drugs that were turned over to him by wrestlers, directly impacting the investigation.
Those findings seem to validate an anonymous complaint filed through the U’s confidential EthicsPoint system on April 7, which accused Robinson of trying to protect as many as 11 wrestlers and offering them “amnesty” if they turned in their drugs and wrote a paper about their crimes. A UMPD investigator later told Robinson he couldn’t provide amnesty.
Coyle said Robinson’s dismissal was immediate and included no negotiated compensation.
“I’m terminating coach Robinson’s contract because he was not forthcoming with his superiors while reporting his suspicions about selling and abusing prescription medication”. Coyle said at a news conference that the coach was sacked “for cause”, meaning no settlement agreement was reached with Robinson and his representatives. “He did not meet with us for interviews promptly and when he did, he did not answer some of our most critical questions”.
“While details of the investigation can not be shared, the allegations made against the program are serious and after consulting with President Kaler I delivered this news to J early this morning”, Gophers AD Mark Coyle said in a statement back on June 1, while the claims were being probed.
In a written response to the report, Robinson said he is a scapegoat for the University, and that accusations that he tried to intentionally stymy investigations mischaracterized his actions.
Robinson’s agent and attorney didn’t respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
An investigation by University of Minnesota police was forwarded to the Hennepin County attorney’s office, resulting in no legal charges.
“I do not intend to address each inaccuracy and/or omission in the report because there are far too many”, Robinson wrote August 30 to the university, which made his letter public along with the 31-page summary of the investigation led by university attorney Brent Benrud.
Though one wrestler tested positive for marijuana and two for amphetamines, the team wasn’t tested for Xanax, despite UMPD insistence that the team be screened for the drug to “give the athletic department a better idea of how big of an issue the use of Xanax was by members of the wrestling team”, according to UMPD documents.
Advertisement
“I do not intend to address each inaccuracy and/or omission in the report because there are far too many”, Robinson wrote to the university in a response provided by school officials.
