Report: Winona State b-ball coach made 'drunken advances towards player'
Winona State University men's basketball coach Mike Leaf resigned his position after making drunken advances towards one of his players, a report has claimed.
Leaf, who won six Northern Conference Championships and two NCAA Division II titles as Warriors head coach, left his position suddenly in June and earlier this month it was confirmed WSU was investigating a complaint made against him.
The nature of the complaint wasn't revealed, but the Winona Daily News reported on Friday that it had spoken to one of Leaf's players who claims that the coach made unwanted, drunken, sexual advances towards him.
You can read the full report from the Daily News here. The player, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was joined by six of his teammates as he gave the interview to the newspaper.
He told the newspaper “we wanted the truth to be out there so we could move forward” as a team.
Leaf, 54, a Winona native whose 17 years as head coach made him the most successful in school history, told the Daily News he did not want to comment.
The university is still not revealing the nature of the complaint, but did release the following statement to the Star Tribune late Friday: "The University received a complaint related to Mr. Leaf on Sunday, June 22. He was placed on administrative leave at 7 a.m. Monday, June 23." He then resigned on June 26.
The statement added: "We commend students for being forthcoming when notifying the University about any complaint."