You may remember a few years ago, the Minnesota football program suspended ten players after an alleged sexual assault incident. The players claimed the act at a party was consensual, but the woman accusing them said it was not.
To boycott the school's decision to suspend players they believed to be innocent, the team banded together and threatened to boycott the remainder of the season, which led to this tweet of support from first-year head coach Tracy Claeys.
The decision to publicly stand behind his guys ultimately cost Claeys his job after a 9-5 season where they ended the year with a Holiday Bowl win over Washington State.
After learning that he was being fired, Claeys shared the news of the school's decision to let him go via a mass text to his players saying he wouldn't have changed a thing.
County prosecutors decided to not bring charges, but the school's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action office held their own investigation that led to five of players being subsequently cleared and reinstated, while five others were either expelled or suspended, ESPN points out.
Now the nine of the ten players affected by that whole situation are suing Minnesota for $45 million, citing "racial and gender discrimination; intentional, willful, and malicious misconduct; and deliberate indifference," according to the ESPN piece. The lawyer cites the EOAA office "has a bias against male athletes."