Wyoming defensive end Mitch Donahue unfairly "indicted and smeared the whole program" when he said partying by the football team played a part in the Cowboy's overwhelming defeat in the Holiday Bowl, Coach Paul Roach says.
Donahue, billed as an All-America candidate by the school, told a gathering of reporters at the Western Athletic Conference Media Football Kickoff last weekend in Sun Valley, Idaho, that Wyoming players were partying the night before the game."I think that had a lot to do with it (the 62-14 loss to Oklahoma State)," Donahue had said.
But Roach defended the program he has molded into a WAC power.
In a telephone interview Friday, Roach said, "The kid made a hell of a mistake. He indicted and smeared the whole program."
Roach said he has since spoken with Donahue who said only about four or five players were partying before the game - "we've got 110 guys."
Donahue also said in Sun Valley that "Coach Roach trusts us enough to let us do what we want to."
But Roach said he strictly enforces the team's rules and regulations, which are in effect year-round and cover the players' behavior both on and off the field.
Roach said that while in San Diego for the Dec. 30 Holiday Bowl, three players were disciplined for getting in 10 minutes late one night.
Other than that one instance, bed checks by the coaching staff turned up no violations, he said.
"We have probably more discipline on our team that most teams we play," Roach said. "And we've had seven or eight suspensions (over the past two seasons) . . . "
In a letter addressed to "Cowboy fans" and sent to the Casper Star-Tribune, Roach wrote, "The student-athletes of the past two seasons have been excellent ambassadors for our state and its university. . . . It's unfortunate that the opinion of an individual sometimes becomes distorted and as a result does not provide an accurate assessment of the entire team."
Roach said that because Wyoming can't compete on a national level for top recruits, a good portion of the team's success over the past two seasons can be attributed to discipline and teamwork.
"These guys could not have won 21 games in two years without being in a pretty disciplined program," he said. "I don't say that to make us look better or anything like that. That's just the way it is here."
Donahue, who is expected to play a key leadership role along the defensive line, has now "got a hell of a problem with his teammates that he's going to have to resolve, which I assume he can if he handles it properly," Roach said.
Roach said Donahue's comments received extensive media coverage, from Denver to Donahue's hometown of Billings, Mont., which may make recruiting more difficult for Wyoming.
"We're pretty proud of the program here, but now schools will use it against us . . . They'll say, `well, that's a party school and that's a party program.' We'll have to live through that."