Seth Vigdor
Do you remember in high school when you would screw up and teachers made you write essays? You know, like if you copied someone’s homework or cheated on a test? Or, you know, threw pencils at classmates and teachers alike. I’m not saying I ever did that or didn’t do that. The point here is that essays suck. And maybe that’s why Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestling coach J [aka Jay] Robinson thought that’d be the appropriate punishment for some of his wrestlers.
The Star Tribune is reporting Robinson found out some of his star athletes were dealing Xanax out of their dorm rooms. But instead of reporting it to the university and the police, he punished them by making them write a one-page essay about their feelings and what they had learned from the situation. How’s that for a great coach?
Robinson decided that he was going to handle matters internally. The university has confirmed that campus police are now handling the investigation. One of the wrestlers came forward under the condition of anonymity and stated that he talked to the police about how Robinson dealt with the issue. Here’s his story via the Star Tribune:
The source said that at one point, four teammates had a stash of 2,500 Xanax pills they had obtained in the mail from a former teammate and were selling from the 17th Avenue Hall dormitory on campus.
“It was $5 a pill for anyone on the team and $8 for anyone else,” said the source, who estimates that 10 to 12 members of the team were abusing Xanax. He said wrestlers also sold pills to athletes from other Gophers sports.
Robinson, 69, completed his 30th season at Minnesota this spring and has an impressive resume in his three decades in Dinkytown. Since taking the job in 1986, the three-time National Coach of the Year has brought the Gophers to three national championships, the only titles in program history.
In late March, less than one week after the season ended, Robinson called a team meeting, the source said.
“We thought it was a typical meeting with J,” the source said. “But then he started saying, ‘I know who’s taking the pills, I know who’s selling them, I know who’s stealing them.’
“He said, ‘It’s Easter weekend. I’ll be in my office Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you’re involved, come and tell me. If you have any pills, bring them to my office and I’ll dispose of them, and I’ll give you amnesty.’ ”
“Half of it went in the river, and half of it went to J. I know for a fact the people who were selling it dumped it and gave him about 1,400 [pills].” The source did not elaborate on the dumping location.
The source told the Star Tribune, “I only [spoke to police] because I felt like it was the right thing to do.”
This isn’t so shocking. I mean, let’s be real: College coaches protecting their athletes and/or programs is nothing new. But perhaps, if these coaches actually did what was right, instead of protecting the players and institution, maybe some of these guys would turn out to be better humans in society. But, you know, money trumps all unfortunately.
The university issued the following statement on Tuesday night after FOX 9 TV first reported that four Gophers wrestlers were being investigated for selling Xanax.
The University takes allegations of this nature seriously, and upon receiving information the University provided it to UMPD. In consultation with UMPD, the University is allowing for the legal investigation to conclude before conducting its own internal investigation. As it remains part of an active investigation, we do not have anything additional to share at this time.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ve heard it all before.