San Diego State football is about to embark on its 100th season, but allegations of football players raping a woman last year are casting a shadow over the program.
Wednesday, Aztec football coach Brady Hoke started the fall camp news conference Wednesday by tackling the rape accusations against his players. He said the program would continue to assist with the investigation in any way it can.
“Being a father myself and joined by others on the staff, we will not tolerate this type of alleged behavior within our football program,” he said.
The attack happened at an off-campus house party last October. Hoke said police have yet to confirm the name of the suspected players involved but that the program is "committed to hold accountable students found to have violated the various university policies.”
Hoke said he could not comment further because of the active investigation. The university announced Monday that it had started a Title IX investigation separate from the San Diego Police Department's criminal investigation.
Unlike a criminal investigation, Title IX investigation only looks at whether university policies have been violated. The maximum penalty is expulsion.
Dan Gilleon, the victim’s attorney, said the attack's brazenness shows this has happened before and that players have gotten away with it.
“The fact they were not investigated, not contacted by SDSU and told to stay away from her and that they’d be watched, there’s no reason why they’d stop,” he said.
The victim was underage at the time of the attack.
SDSU said it was asked repeated not to start its own investigation until now, because it could interfere with the police investigation.
So far, no one has been charged.
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