UMass head coach Mark Whipple was not happy about a call made in his team’s loss to Ohio over the weekend, and he used a poor choice of words to describe the officiating. For that comment, UMass has suspended Whipple for one game and will be ordered to participate in a sensitivity training program.
Whipple described an officiating call he did not like by saying the MAC referees working the game “raped us.”
“We had a chance there with 16 down and they rape us, and he picks up the flag,” Whipple said in his postgame comments, in which he was already directing fire at the officials and suggesting the MAC officials “got their revenge on us, officiating-wise.” UMass previously was an associate member of the MAC before being shown the door back to being a football independent in recent years.
Whipple apologized for his poorly-worded comment.
“I am deeply sorry for the word I used on Saturday to describe a play in our game,” Whipple said in a released statement. “It is unacceptable to make use of the word ‘rape’ in the way I did and I am very sorry for doing so. It represents a lack of responsibility on my part as the leader of this program and a member of this university’s community, and I am disappointed with myself that I made this comparison when commenting after our game.”
UMass football head coach Mark Whipple suspended for one week without pay following Ohio postgame comments. DC Ed Pinkham will serve as acting head coach. pic.twitter.com/Gey65Bhe7p
— UMass Athletics (@UMassAthletics) September 30, 2018
Because UMass is off this week with a bye, Whipple will miss the Minutemen’s game next week against South Florida.
