The University of Colorado admitted Friday that head football coach Mike MacIntyre knew about the domestic violence allegations against former assistant Joe Tumpkin before its bowl game, contrary to the school’s statement in a Sports Illustrated report.
A new report by Sports Illustrated by Michael McKnight titled ” Seeking justice for abuse, victim of Colorado assistant confronts big-time college football” was posted online Friday and indicated MacIntyre was contacted by the alleged victim herself in December, weeks before Tumpkin was suspended. In the story, Sports Illustrated talks to Tumpkin’s ex-girlfriend, who told police that Tumpkin physically abused her over the course of their three-year relationship.
The woman filed for a restraining order on Dec. 20, and the 17th Judicial District — which includes Broomfield — has also since charged Tumpkin with several counts of assault.
Tumpkin, 45, resigned from CU after being told to do so by the university on Jan. 27.
The Daily Camera broke the story of the restraining order request on Jan. 6, and CU Athletic Director Rick George said in a statement at the time that “we are still gathering details about the very serious allegations in this filing,” but did not say when the school became aware of the allegations.
Six days after the Camera story, CU spokesman Dave Plati also told Sports Illustrated that the university did not find out about the allegations until contacted by a Camera reporter.
“I don’t even know if Joe [Tumpkin] knew it was coming,” Plati told Sports Illustrated. “When I saw the email [from the Daily Camera on Jan. 6] I said, I haven’t heard of this, and I called Rick—Rick hadn’t heard of it either. Mac hadn’t heard of it either. Sometimes how you find things out is from the media.”
But in a statement titled ” Lessons learned from handling of Tumpkin domestic violence case” from CU Chancellor Phil DiStefano released Friday night, the university acknowledged that MacIntyre, George and DiStefano knew of the allegations in December.
“In mid-December, Joe Tumpkin’s ex-girlfriend notified Coach MacIntyre of an allegation of physical assault,” DiStefano said in the statement. “I learned of these allegations shortly thereafter. At that time, we believed that it was premature to take personnel action because there was no restraining order, criminal charges, civil action or other documentation of the allegation. Tumpkin signed and acknowledged receipt for the temporary restraining order on Dec. 30, according to court records. But no athletic department officials nor university administrators saw a copy of it until the afternoon of Jan. 6, shortly after a Boulder Daily Camera reporter informed the athletic department of the filing and was seeking comment.”
The statement did not address Plati’s comments to Sports Illustrated.
In the Sports Illustrated story, the woman claims that she had reached out to MacIntyre’s wife on Dec. 9 and that MacIntyre called her back immediately after. During that talk, the woman told Sports Illustrated that she told him Tumpkin had been abusive of her.
According to the article, the woman said she didn’t want to put MacIntyre in an “Art Briles situation” — a reference to the former Baylor head coach who was fired for reportedly mishandling allegations of sexual assault perpetrated by his players — and said she didn’t necessarily want to pursue charges or have Tumpkin lose his job but did want the university to get him help.
“Mac said that he was numb,” the woman told Sports Illustrated. “He said he had never had a situation like this come up before and he wasn’t exactly sure what to do. He said he was getting ready to get on a plane to Denver and he would find out what he needed to do legally. I started to cry and told him I don’t want the police involved because of what it would do to Joe. I just needed someone to know—someone who could help him get well—because he is dangerous.”
The woman said MacIntyre told her he had spoken to George about the matter, but said she did not hear back from anyone at the university after that point.
She told Sports Illustrated that Tumpkin’s attorney Jon Banashek called her and said he knew she had talked to MacIntyre. Banashek did not return requests for comment from the Camera on Friday.
These conversations would have taken place before Tumpkin was selected to call the defensive plays during the Buffs Dec. 29 bowl game for departed defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt. Part of the payout Tumpkin received upon his resignation was a $15,692 compensation for the Buffs’ bowl appearance.
DiStefano said in the statement that he consulted with the school’s Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance for guidelines on reporting incidents of domestic abuse off campus in which the victim was not related to the school.
“This was certainly a confusing case as to our reporting requirements under our policy,” DiStefano said in the statement. “We have a strong policy on domestic violence and sexual misconduct that covers the campus However, we regret that as soon as each of us knew of the allegations of domestic violence, written evidence or not, we did not report them to our office of Institutional Equity and Compliance.
“I am now making it clear to all CU Boulder mandatory reporters that even when they become aware of possible domestic abuse that does not involve a person affiliated with the campus, I want them to err on the side of reporting it to OIEC. In hindsight, we should have done so here.”
Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars
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