The letter was written to Lee Bollinger, the president of the university and to the current and a former chairman of the Columbia Board of Trustees. No reason was given for the withdrawal of the letter and according to the Columbia Spectator, players declined requests for comment.
“Pete Mangurian has consistently denied the diagnoses of concussions,” the letter stated. “There are several players who will speak to the fact that Mangurian told them to return to practice, that they are faking their concussions, and that they are being soft if they sit out for their concussion injury.”
Columbia, which plays at the FCS level in the Ivy League, is in the midst of a 21-game losing streak. Columbia's last win came against Cornell in 2012. Columbia's AD told the Spectator she was aware of the letter.
In addition to blaming him for creating age-based rifts within the team and mishandling concussions, the letter accuses Mangurian of being physically abusive, alienating injured players, imposing drastic and unrealistic weight regimens, and delivering a particularly scathing speech after the team’s 42-7 loss at Albany.
“You are terrible [expletive] people,” Mangurian allegedly told his players after that game—the expletive had been edited out in the copy sent to Spectator by Jake Novak, ’CC 92 and editor of the blog CULions. “The world would be a better place without you.”
Mangurian was hired in 2012 as Columbia's coach. He started coaching college football in 1979 at SMU as an assistant and has coached with five NFL teams. He was most recently the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive line coach in 2010 before Columbia.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
From Dr. Saturday - NCAAF - Yahoo Sports - Columbia players allege mistreatment of concussions and more by coach
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