DETROIT: Former University of Michigan football players and others who say they were sexually abused by a now-deceased team doctor are expected to call for action by the University of Michigans board as the legacy of the schools legendary gridiron coach is being questioned over what he knew.
The group has planned a news conference in Ann Arbor on Wednesday a day before Michigan regents are to hold a regularly scheduled meeting.
No action items involving former coach Bo Schembechler, Dr. Robert E. Anderson or litigation against the school by abuse victims were listed on the agenda for the virtual meeting.
The Associated Press emailed regents Tuesday for comment. A spokesman for regent Jordan Acker said he will be willing to talk at some point but not now because this matter is ongoing.
Hundreds of men allegedly were abused by Anderson during his nearly four decades working for the university a period in which he also treated staffers, their families and other patients.
Parker Stinar, a lawyer representing former players and others who claim abuse by Anderson, said he expects Schembechler, along with a statue of the coach outside a campus football building that bears his name, to be discussed at Wednesdays news event.
I think the vast majority of players either before him (Schembechler), after him or during his course, believe that the statue needs to come down, believe the building needs to be changed, believe that his legacy is forever tarnished, Stinar said Tuesday.
Daniel Kwiatkowski and Gilvanni Johnson, former players who claim they were abused by Anderson during their playing days, and Schembechlers 62-year-old son, Matt Schembechler, said last week that Michigans winningest football coach was aware of claims that Anderson was abusing players during physicals, but ignored them.
Anderson was supported by a culture that placed the reputation of the university above the health and safety of the students, said Matt Schembechler, who said he was 10 when Anderson abused him during a physical for youth football, and that when he told his father, then in his first year of his iconic run with the Wolverines, Bo Schembecler became enraged and punched him in the chest. That is the culture that made my father a legend and placed his statue in front of Schembechler Hall.
Schembechler died in 2006, two years before Andersons death.
A report commissioned by the university and released last month found that Bo Schembechler and other officials were aware of complaints about Anderson, but he was allowed to remain at the school for decades.
When the WilmerHale report was released, another of Bo Schembechlers sons, Shemy Schembechler, expressed skepticism that his father ignored complaints about Anderson. He insisted that his dad would have acted if players had shared concerns about the doctor.
Bo Schembechler led the Wolverines from 1969-89 and won 194 games at the school. The Wolverines won or shared 13 Big Ten football championships during his career as coach.
A bronze statue of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was removed from outside the school’s stadium in 2012 after his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, was convicted of child sexual abuse and an investigation accused Paterno and other former administrators of covering up complaints about Sandusky.
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