Team Posts Letter

The following is the letter posted today by the University of Montana Grizzly Football Team:

March 30, 2012

Letter from The University of Montana Football Team

Dear Parents, Griz Nation, The University of Montana, the citizens of Missoula:

We write this letter as the players of the 2012 University of Montana Football team. We also write this letter as students of a University we love, members of a community we cherish and as stewards of one of the most respected and honored football traditions of excellence in the nation.

The events over the past months regarding allegations and actions of players and most recently the firing our head coach and the athletic director have all had a deep and profound impact on us. We understand and accept the fact that a few of our teammates' actions, whether intended and deserved or not, have contributed to this unfortunate situation. Whether or not true, regardless of obvious motivations and despite the facts, or lack of them, we have learned that the rules in today's public arena are about perception and expediency. As student athletes of this university we are left without an answer as to why our two leaders, Coach Pflugrad and Jim O'Day, are gone.  These events have left us disappointed, saddened and stunned, but they have also provided us something else.

We have been reminded of the commitment we made years ago, and supported by our families, to pursue excellence in the sport we love that led us from across the country and across Montana to come here. Our responsibility to honor those who support us, our duty to respect the players and coaches who built the proud Griz tradition, and our unwavering appreciation of Griz Nation is now stronger and more deeply felt. Most importantly, our commitment to each other is stronger than ever.

Speaking with one voice, we ask for your strength, support and solidarity. We hope this series of personal and collective tragedies will give way to strengthening and rebuilding. We also ask those who have been entrusted with authority and power to carefully consider the impact of their statements and actions on our team and our great tradition.

Our team stands together, closer and stronger than ever before. Just as we will hold ourselves to a higher standard, we will also hold others. We understand that honor, truth and hard work win in the end. We are Montana.

Respectfully,

The University of Montana Football Team.

Wouldn't even try to add to that. DB