The incident involving Idaho State University head coach Mike Kramer allegedly shoving wide receiver Derek Graves keeps on escalating and continues to garner national attention.
According to sources, Kramer will be charged with a misdemeanor if he hasn’t already been charged by the time our papers have gone to the press.
Graves, a senior at ISU, signed a battery complaint against Kramer on Oct. 26.
Five days later, the Pocatello police asked Graves if he wanted to continue with criminal charges against Kramer. Graves still wanted to.
The next day, Graves was suspended for violating team rules.
ISU representatives have continued to remain silent on the issue with the exception of suspending Kramer one game for violating the Idaho State Conduct Policy. ISU’s silence on the issue has not kept Graves’ attorney, Don Jackson from talking.
Jackson said he feels that the suspension is an attempt to intimidate Graves for not dropping the charges.
Kramer sent a letter to Graves notifying him of the indefinite suspension. The letter read, “You are suspended indefinitely for repeatedly being late for practice. You were late on Oct. 31, 2012 as well as this morning Nov. 1, 2012. You are still required to be at mandatory study table daily but cannot participate in any team related activities.”
Jackson said that the allegations of tardiness are false and that Graves was receiving medical treatment from the school’s medical staff during practice time.
An inside source has said that Graves’ teammates were complaining that he was getting away with breaking team rules and his presence was a distraction for the team. According to sources, Graves has been cleared to play by ISU’s medical staff since Oct. 27 but has not played since Oct. 3.
According to the “Idaho State Journal,” Kramer issued the suspension independently from the administration. He did not consult with the athletic department. The “Journal” reported that ISU administrators are not pleased with the way the situation was handled.
In an interview with ESPN on the day of the suspension, Graves denied that he violated team rules.
He told ESPN, “I’m assuming this is a personal vendetta by Coach Kramer. He’s acting differently toward me since the incident.”
“This has been probably the worst example I’ve ever seen of a university just turning its back on the interest of a student,” Jackson said. “Here’s a guy that coached in Montana State and had probably the worst series of problems that I’ve ever seen. I get the impression that ISU is attempting to cover up this guy’s conduct. That’s reprehensible.”
“You’ve got to ask yourself who’s in charge of this athletic department,” Jackson continued. “Who’s in charge of this university?”
Before coming to ISU, Kramer was coaching at Montana State University. He was fired in the spring of 2007 after former MSU player Ricky Gatewood was arrested for running a drug ring with money from his MSU athletic scholarship. He was one of six football players, whom Kramer recruited, that was charged with a serious crime.
Kramer sued MSU in the fall of 2007 claiming wrongful termination and received $240,000 from the university in 2010.
According to Jackson, when Kramer was coaching at Eastern Washington University, he was accused of slapping a student. The player was then dismissed from the team for academic reasons and violating team rules.
Jackson has said that in his 23 years of representing athletic institutions he has never seen a university hire somebody with Kramer’s troubled past.
Kramer’s team has two more games left on the season. They play on the road this Saturday against Cal Poly at 7:05 p.m. before finishing the season at home against Weber State.
