Ex-Mizzou system President Tim Wolfe: Football team threw ‘gasoline on a small fire’

Two months after his resignation, former University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe is not happy. And part of his anger is directed at the football team’s strike last year.

In an email obtained by The Star through a public-records request, Wolfe said political pressure led to his decision to step down Nov. 9 after weeks of student protests that eventually involved the football team. The email, dated Jan. 19 and labeled confidential, was addressed to friends. The Columbia Tribune first obtained the email.

One of six bullet-point sections in the email was titled MU Football Team Strike and read:

“The football team’s decision to strike is what actually brought most of the national attention to our university. In hindsight, the $1 million penalty associated with forfeiting the game against BYU would have paled in comparison to the more than $25 million in lost tuition and fees MU will realize with reduced enrollment this Fall. It’s also a pittance of the threatened loss of state funding that could be as much as $500 million. Unfortunately, MU Athletic Director Mack Rhoades, Coach (Gary) Pinkel and (MU Chancellor) Bowen Loftin all failed to communicate with system officials on this matter. The football team’s actions were the equivalent of throwing gasoline on a small fire. Coach Pinkel missed an important opportunity to teach his players a valuable life lesson. The end result could be a financial catastrophe for our university.”

The protests were led by the group Concerned Student 1950, which accused Wolfe of not reacting adequately to race issues on campus.

The protests drew national attention when the Missouri football team became involved. On Nov. 7, black players said they wouldn’t practice or play until Wolfe was removed, and the next morning they were joined by white members of the team and Pinkel.

Pinkel said he didn’t communicate with Wolfe before supporting the player boycott. But Rhoades said during a joint news conference with Pinkel on the day of the resignations that he’d been in contact with Wolfe.

Rhoades and Mizzou athletics declined to comment about Wolfe’s email.

But sources told The Star that Missouri senior associate athletic director of strategic communications Ryan Bradley and Rhoades were in communication with University of Missouri System administrative personnel several times throughout the weekend before Wolfe and Loftin resigned.

Pinkel announced his resignation before the end of the season and said he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Ex-Mizzou system President Tim Wolfe: Football team threw ‘gasoline on a small fire’."