Bob CollinsIt’s handy that the University of Minnesota is a research institution. Maybe someone can examine what goes on in the mind of some people in prominent positions in the university’s athletics department sometime.
Wrestling coach J Robinson, a wildly successful coach at the U, is under investigation for not reporting that members of his team were dealing drugs, Fox9 reported this week. It’s the latest in a long line of alleged wrongdoing and unethical actions within the department.
Once alerted to the Xanax supply chain, Robinson allegedly forced the guilty team members to write a paper on how it feels to get caught, what they intend to do different, and what they learned.
He didn’t alert university officials nor the university police department, the report said. Curiously, when the university police were tipped to the drug dealing, they said it doesn’t appear to fit any crime. Selling Xanax without a prescription is a felony.
Xanax is a prescription drug but it’s not a banned substance in athletics. But it is addictive and it is one of the most abused psychotropic drugs, and people often combined it with opioid pain killers for a more intense high.
Up to a dozen team members were abusing the drug, the Star Tribune reports.
The paper said on Easter weekend, Robinson demanded the drugs be given to him.
“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],” a source told the Star Tribune.
The university said it’s monitoring the situation but otherwise would not make any officials available, including the new incoming athletic director who already had several messes to unravel.
U of M Regents Chair Dean Johnson has given the coach a pass.
“I can’t lay blame at coach Robinson for what he attempted to do,” Johnson told Fox9. “I think he thought he was doing the best he can do.
More coaches: Rickey Foggie: Eagan coaching job lost over risque photo ‘like’ on Twitter (Pioneer Press)
