An anonymous Mizzou football player told ESPN’s Brett McMurphy half of the team -- players and coaches alike -- doesn’t support an ongoing strike that could lead to a forfeit of Saturday’s scheduled game against BYU at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
On Saturday night, black Mizzou football players announced they would not participate in football activities until University of Missouri system president Tim Wolfe was fired or resigned. On Sunday, coach Gary Pinkel announced the team was “united” and would not practice until graduate student Jonathan Butler ends his hunger strike, which began Nov. 2.
From McMurphy’s report:Mondays are regular off-days for the football team. The coaches told the players to watch film on their iPads and keep preparing for Saturday’s game against BYU in Kansas City, the player said.
The player indicated the team had been aware of Butler’s hunger strike for several days. However, some black players didn’t decide to take action until Butler met with some players Saturday night.
“Not everyone agrees with the decision [to stop all football activities],” the player said. “Most people are pissed, including the black guys [on the team].”
The player, who is white, also told McMurphy that if Mizzou were 9-0 -- the Tigers are 4-5 and on a four-game losing streak -- the strike wouldn’t have happened.
If Mizzou does have to forfeit its game this weekend, it would have to pay BYU $1 million.
Wolfe released a statement Sunday saying he would not resign.
The University of Missouri has been plagued by incidents of racism before -- like in 2010, two white students scattered cotton balls in front of the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center on campus -- though the events that led to the #ConcernedStudents1950 movement, Butler’s hunger strike and the football team’s actions began earlier this year, when student body president Payton Head had racial and homophobic slurs yelled at him on campus. Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin didn’t respond for a few days, and when he did, some students were angered he didn’t use the word “racist” or “homophobic” in his statement.
In October, there was another incident of a Mizzou student yelling the N-word at members of the Legion of Black Collegians, who were practicing a play for Homecoming on Traditions Plaza on campus. Later in October, someone smeared a swastika of feces on a bathroom wall of a Mizzou dorm.