Marquess Wilson sent a letter to the media on Saturday night alleging "physical, emotional and verbal abuse" by Mike Leach and his coaching staff, and it didn't take more than a few hours for WSU athletics director Bill Moos to respond with a statement of his own. Here's what he had to say, via a series of tweets by Christian Caple:
It is unfortunate that Marquess has chosen not to go through the weekend and have the subsequent visit with me as we had discussed last Tuesday. I was hopeful to provide additional guidance if he was willing to meet the standards that have been set by Mike Leach and his staff in their effort to establish a competitive football program at Washington State. Unfortunately, during times of coaching transitions, departures are not uncommon. We have procedures in place that were developed to monitor student-athlete welfare in all of our sports programs. We will continue to follow those procedures and modify them if needed. I believe I join many Cougars in wishing Marquess well in his future endeavors. WSU athletics plans no future statement at this time.
Given the highly charged nature of this situation tonight, it's hard not to read something into every little thing -- like the fact that this isn't the I'm-behind-my-coach "tough love" comments of earlier this week.