Mike Bobo accused of making ‘racially insensitive’ comments while at Colorado State
South Carolina offensive coordinator Mike Bobo is being accused of abusive treatment and making “racially insensitive” comments when he was the head football coach at Colorado State.
That’s according to report from the Fort Collins Coloradoan in which current and former players allege inappropriate remarks and treatment by the previous and current Colorado State football coaching staffs. Bobo coached the Rams for five years.
The current Colorado State head coach, Steve Adazzio, and his staff are accused of abusive behavior, and being dismissive of COVID-19 concerns and players’ interest in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. The school’s administration turned a blind eye to those issues, according to the report. The school shut down the Rams’ preseason workouts on Friday and acknowledged it is investigating “extremely troubling allegations of racism and verbal abuse from CSU’s athletic administration generally and in the football program specifically.”
Bobo did not respond to the Fort Collins newspaper’s interview requests. South Carolina’s athletic department provided The State this statement Saturday night:
“We are aware of the allegations made against Mike Bobo while he was the head coach at Colorado State University. While there have been no such complaints made against Coach Bobo during his time at South Carolina, we are in the process of doing our due diligence and have already been in contact with the administration at Colorado State and with Coach Bobo to gain more information and to determine the facts.”
Bobo, a longtime Georgia assistant, was hired by the Gamecocks this offseason by coach Will Muschamp to revitalize an offense that stagnated under previous coordinator Bryan McClendon.
“I played under Bobo for three years,” former CSU linebacker Patrick Elsenbast told The State. “And I’ve read what specially people are accusing him of saying. And during that time I never witnessed or heard any rumors about Coach Bobo making any racially insensitive comments. Not once.”
Elsenbast played for the Rams from 2013-2017.
Below are some of the main allegations made toward Bobo by various sources — “numerous players and staff with firsthand knowledge of the football program’s culture” — in the Coloradoan investigation, which included “making racially insensitive comments and verbally harassing assistant coaches, players and staff during his five years”:
▪ Punter Brandon Summer, a backup from 2015-2018 said: “Under Bobo and (former defensive coordinator) John Jancek, it was like an angry white man society and they come into college football to take it out on the players. ... They were racially insensitive but players were concerned about their scholarships and playing time, so many didn’t say anything and that’s not right.’‘
▪ Several sources told the paper “Bobo and Jancek calling Black football players ‘boy,’ a derogatory term aimed at Black people. One assistant coach under Bobo said Jancek quit using the term after being told it was insensitive.”
▪ The report relayed this allegation: “In a meeting with his assistant coaches, it was confirmed that Bobo was wanting a Black woman to meet a Black recruit. He looked at former assistant coach Joe Cox, who is white and is married to a Black woman, and asked if his wife could meet the recruit. Cox said his wife was not available. He looked around the room and said to former assistant coach Bryan Applewhite, who is Black and married to a white woman, that the next time he hires a Black assistant coach he will make sure he has a Black wife.”
Joe Cox joined the Gamecocks staff this season as a wide receivers coach.
▪ Applewhite told the Coloradoan, through the athletic department: “I never once witnessed or saw any racially insensitive gestures or comments from Mike Bobo towards a staff member or player.’‘
▪ Long snapper Nathan Lucas told the Coloradoan that Bobo would look at Black players and say, “I know a lot of you don’t have daddies, so I’m going to be your daddy.’’
▪ Lucas also told the paper that “while meeting before a game, the lights went out, prompting Bobo to make a demeaning remark to a particularly dark-skinned player.
“There is dead silence and Coach Bobo says ‘(Name of player omitted) smile so everyone can you see you,’ ... (Name of player omitted) is one of the most kindhearted men you will ever meet. I don’t care who you are, you shouldn’t be called out like that.”
▪ The Coloradoan report also said that, according to Lucas and others, that “Bobo made a heavyset equipment manager run sprints with the team, mocking him during the drill. The equipment manager left the team following the 2018 season after working 20 years in the athletic department.”
▪ According to the report, an assistant “said Bobo was known to joke around, saying things like that to people with whom he was comfortable. Other players agreed, saying Bobo mostly treated Black and white players equally and actually gave preferential treatment to Black ‘star‘ players.”
After the report was posted, Colorado State wide receiver Ty McCullouch, a rising sophomore, tweeted he never saw racially offensive behavior from either coach.
“Each are entitled to their own opinion but coming from me, a black student athlete who is fully aware of racial injustice. Coach Mike Bobo and Steve Addazio did and are doing nothing but coaching,” McCullouch wrote. “If I ever heard or saw racial inequality believe me, I would have spoken up.”
Bobo received a buyout for $1.825 million after the 2019 season. South Carolina hired him for two years at a salary of $1.2 million per season. He went 28-35 with the Rams.
Two of Bobo’s Colorado State players followed him to Columbia in fullback Adam Prentice and quarterback Collin Hill, a graduate of Dorman High School in the Upstate.
“It was incredibly frustrating to read these accusations,” Elsenbast said. “It would break my heart if they were true. But I have always had a lot of respect for Coach Bobo and the person & family man he is. I just can’t see him ever making these types of comments.“
This story was originally published August 8, 2020 at 9:38 PM.
