COLUMBIA, Mo. • As soon as a group of Missouri football players announced a boycott of team activities on Saturday night, football coach Gary Pinkel’s problem also became basketball coach Kim Anderson’s problem.
When Anderson became aware Saturday that 32 of Pinkel’s African-American football players had sided with campus protest group Concerned Student 1950 and pledged to strike until University of Missouri system president Timothy M. Wolfe was out of office, he contacted one of his players to tell his teammates they’d discuss the situation at the next day’s practice.
Anderson decided he wouldn’t prohibit his players from following the lead of their football-playing peers.