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Leipold: I’m sorry

WHITEWATER — UW-Whitewater football coach Lance Leipold has apologized to the campus newspaper and to a student journalist, one day after he said he would ban student reporters from covering his team.

In a statement released by the school Thursday, Leipold, a two-time national coach of the year, said he apologized to the Royal Purple, the student newspaper, for his use of inappropriate language to a reporter and his banning of the newspaper from covering the team.

“I’m passionate about our program and how it’s perceived. The bad thing about it is my poor reaction and language,” Leipold said. “at’s a huge mistake on my part. I’ve embarrassed our program and our university.”

Leipold said he would cooperate with the paper in the future.

In an e-mail to student reporter Christopher Kuhagen, who wrote a story about Leipold in the campus newspaper, Leipold offered the apology. And he acknowledged that the reporter, the UW-Whitewater campus community and alumni expect and deserve better from the head football coach.

Leipold also sent an e-mail Wednesday afternoon to Telfer, Plinske and athletic spokesman Tom Fick discussing his decision.

“If this is the type of journalism our paper is going to have. They can cover someone else—we will get along just fine,“ Leipold wrote.

The furor erupted after Leipold was angered by an editorial written by Michael Daly, the paper’s managing editor. The editorial was about an incident involving three members of the football team.

In the editorial, Daly wrote about an incident he said he witnessed on campus in which three football players attempted to work out, independent of their team, without handing over their student IDs. According to Daly, one athlete cooperated, another eventually did show his ID, and a third refused until police were called.

Leipold said the three athletes were disciplined for their actions.

Leipold blistered a student editor with an expletive-laced rant after an editorial in the Royal Purple.

The article, “Spoiled athletes need reality check,”discussed a campus incident in which a police officer was called to the weight room after three football players refused to provide student IDs to work out.

Leipold used multiple expletives and told an editor, “t’s going to be (tough) to try to cover football next season.”

He also said anyone affiliated with the student-run newspaper would not be allowed to call anyone with the football team without approval and that student reporters’ questions would go unanswered in the 2009 season, according to the Royal Purple story.

“The door is shut,” Leipold said, according to the paper. “Go cover soccer. “I’m sure that will be fun.”

Paul Plinske, the school’s athletic director, said Leipold’s behavior was unacceptable.

“I am disappointed that Coach Leipold responded in this manner,” Plinske said in a statement. “This is by no means a reflection on Warhawk athletics. Instead, it is an instance where an excellent coach allowed his passion for the program and his team to get the best of him. Coach Leipold knows his behavior was unacceptable.”

Asked if Leipold would be formally reprimanded for his actions, Plinske wrote in an e-mail that, “It’s a personnel matter that will be taken up with the chancellor when he returns to campus from meetings in Madison.”

UW-Whitewater Chancellor Richard Telfer said in the campus statement that he supported Plinske, adding that he thought the relationship between the football program and the student newspaper could be repaired.

“Lance Leipold admitted that he behaved poorly and he has apologized. It is my hope that we learn from this situation and move forward,” Telfer said. “The Warhawk football program is one of the best in the nation and we want to focus on continuing to improve the program. Coach Leipold understands that the program needs the support of the entire campus community, and that includes the Royal Purple, to be successful. I know we can put this unfortunate situation behind us.”

Last December, Leipold’s Warhawks, a perennial national football power, were in the NCAA Division III national football championship game, but lost to Mount Union, 31-26.

Leipold’s record over two seasons is 27-3.