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Matt Schembechler, son of legendary University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, alongside former players Daniel Kwiatkowski and Gilvanni Johnson, claimed at a press conference Thursday that Bo Schembechler knew the late doctor Robert E. Anderson had sexually assaulted student athletes.
Their statements come after law firm WilmerHale released a 240-page report on its investigation into Anderson, concluding that the former doctor potentially abused more than 800 patients, 90% of whom were young men. According to the report, more than two dozen UM employees have been made aware of the abuse, including then-football coach Schembechler.
During the press conference, Matt Schembechler and two other survivors, Kwiatkowski and Johnson, said they personally discussed the incidents with Schembechler. After Kwiatkowski was molested and raped on his first physical date with Anderson in 1977, he turned to his trainer to let him know what had happened. Schembechler reportedly told Kwiatkowski to toughen up and took no further action, Kwiatkowski said.
I can’t believe Bo would break his promise to protect me and take care of me like family, Kwiatkowski said. I graduated and left UM, but the scars of what happened to me from Dr Anderson and Bo never went away.
Kwiatkowski said his experience was not isolated, but shared by several of his peers and commonly discussed by team members together.
If you were to walk to our locker room at that point, it was a constant joke, Kwiatkowski said. If you came back from the doctor, you got teased because you had Dr. Andersize.
Johnson reiterated many of Kwiatkowski’s claims, explaining how B. Schembechler made the same vow to protect him once he became a member of the team. When Johnson was also sexually assaulted when he first met Anderson in 1982 and reported the incident to his coach, he said B. Schembechler did not react accordingly. As Johnson claims, Schembechler took no action. Over the next several years, Johnson said he was abused 15 to 20 more times.
Don’t get me wrong, Bo was a great coach, a legendary coach, Johnson said. But for me, my memories of him at this point are (he) allowed 17 or 18 year olds to continue being assaulted when he could do something about it. Being a good trainer doesn’t give you the ability to let other things happen to the kids.
Survivors also addressed and disputed claims by current MU football coach Jim Harbaugh that Schembechler was unaware of the abuse. Last week Harbaugh, who was a star quarterback in the 1980s when Schembechler and Anderson were both figureheads in the football program, said he didn’t think Schembechler would deliberately ignore his allegations. players regarding Anderson.
Nothing has ever been swept under the rug or ignored, Harbaugh said. He took care of everything in a timely manner. This is the Bo Schembechler I know.
When asked about Harbaugh’s potential involvement and his knowledge of the abuse, Matt Schembechler denied any claims that Harbaugh knew about it, as he was much younger at the time. Johnson said he couldn’t say for sure how much Harbaugh knew, but it was not for Harbaugh to speak on behalf of the survivors.
Coach Harbaugh’s experience is his experience, Johnson said. He cannot speak for us, what we have been through. I don’t know what he went through. But pretty much everyone knew because there was a joke around the players, so there was no way he couldn’t have known.
In a statement released following the conference, UM President Mark Schlissel and the Board of Trustees wrote that the university had expressed remorse for the survivors and denounced Anderson’s behavior; However, the statement did not hold the former coach or the University responsible.
Our sympathy for all of Andersons’ victims runs deep and unwavering, and we thank them for their courage in coming forward, Fitzgerald wrote. We condemn and apologize for the tragic misconduct of the late Dr. Robert Anderson, who left the University 17 years ago and passed away 13 years ago. We are committed to resolving their complaints and continuing the confidential court-guided mediation process.
In addition, the University affirmed its commitment to improving the culture on campus, particularly with regard to allegations of sexual assault. Some of the measures applied over the past decades to prevent further abuse include the implementation of a new misconduct policy on all UM campuses, requiring sexual misconduct training for all employees of the UM. ‘UM and criminal background checks of all employees.
But according to the survivors and Matt Schembechler, these efforts are not enough. Lawyer Mick Grewal said that in order to move forward properly and fully resolve the systemic problem, the University must admit its own responsibility and its role in perpetuating the abuses.
How much more do we need? said Grewal. We need to start having full responsibility. We must stop the argument that we are immune from all liability. We must now do what is right. I hope these strong survivors have made progress to make this finally happen.
Summer News Editor-in-Chief Lily Gooding can be reached at [email protected].
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