It appears to be time to close the book fully on the Joe Tumpkin era at Colorado after the former Buffs assistant coach was sentenced this week as part of a long-running domestic violence case.
According to the Boulder Daily Camera, Tumpkin received 30 days of jail time and 30 more days of probation as part of his guilty plea for misdemeanor third-degree domestic violence assault of his ex-girlfriend.
“I understand that there is a university that is tied in some fashion and a football program, and I understand there was a county court appeal, I understand there was a Supreme Court case,” Judge Michael Goodbee said. “Frankly, I don’t care. We’re not in court because of those things, we’re in court because Mr. Tumpkin committed a violent assault. That’s what this is about.”
Tumpkin resigned from his position as safeties coach under then-head coach Mike MacIntyre back in 2017 after a restraining order was filed against him by Pamela Fine, who told the police she was assaulted more than 100 times while in a relationship with the assistant. She came forward with the allegations and told MacIntyre prior to filing the order but the head coach did not suspend Tumpkin and actually promoted him following the news.
The ensuing public backlash to that prompted Colorado hiring law firm Pepper Hamilton to investigate the entire incident and athletic director Rick George eventually donated $100,000 to domestic violence causes among other resolutions.