The Montana Grizzlies football team has released a letter the day after head coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O'Day were fired for unspecified reasons. In that letter, the members of the football team promised to hold themselves (and others) to higher standards, but clearly they are also left wanting answers, just like everyone else. Here is the key portion of the letter (emphasis added):
The events over the past months regarding allegations and actions of players and most recently the firing of 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.
With the school declining to publicly discuss the firings, we are all left wondering why this occurred. We can piece all these things together and conjecture, but ultimately are we being done right by the university when there is no open and frank discussion as to what exactly led to this?
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