Roof expelled by WSU student board

DEFENSIVE TACKLE ANDY ROOF has been expelled from the university by the school's student conduct board stemming from an April 26 incident. The Pullman police department requested charges by the Whitman County prosecutor's office on May 5 but that office has yet to decide on whether to file charges. Regardless, the student board has determined Roof will not attend or play football at WSU.

Not everyone looks to agree with the student board's decision.

Paul Wulff didn't respond at great length Tuesday afternoon but said he was "very disappointed" when he heard today's decision. Back in May, Wulff had said he, the Athletic Department and President Elson Floyd were all behind Roof based on the facts as opposed to much of what had been reported.

Media reports this spring said a police investigation determined that Andy Roof was drinking and punched or shoved six people during an April 26 incident on campus. Also widely reported was that Pullman police said Roof was held in jail for several hours to sober up, that one man who suffered broken facial bones told police Roof allegedly punched him unprovoked, and that Roof had smashed a man's face into the sharp edge of a stop sign.

"Everybody has heard the info through the media and it's not accurate. We have more insight that's not been reported," Wulff told CF.C back in May . "...If everything in the media were true, he would have been dismissed from the team immediately. There's a lot more to this story.

Wulff did not detail the facts of the case on Tuesday nor back in May, but Cougfan.com learned from a variety of reliable sources back in the spring that: 1) Roof was not drinking that night; 2) that the physical altercation was not instigated by Roof; and 3) that he asked police officers for a breathalyzer test but was refused.

"I was very disappointed when I heard the decision," said Wulff on Tuesday. “Since I arrived on campus Andy has been a great leader for this program, on the field, in the locker room, in the classroom, and done everything we asked, that we ask of all student-athletes. From where he was a year ago he has changed his life around 180 degrees and as a coaching staff we have seen the positive impact he made on this program.”

Wulff answered, "Absolutely," when asked if he would recommend Roof to another university.

Pullman police submitted documents to the Whitman County prosecutor approaching four months ago -- on May 5 -- requesting that Roof be charged with one count of second-degree felony assault and five counts of fourth-degree gross misdemeanor assault but the prosecutor's office has yet to act.

ROOF, FROM SPOKANE, was in the defensive line rotation headed into Oklahoma State and his absence, said Wulff, is another hit to a team already thin at a number of positions.

Roof would have been a fourth year junior last season but was suspended for one semester from Washington State following a series of legal and personal troubles. He had re-enrolled at WSU and rejoined the football team in January.

Roof, a former Cougar offensive lineman with five starts over in his WSU career and 18 games of experience, was moved to defensive line during spring ball. His o-line starting and game participation totals would likely have been higher had he not missed five games combined in 2006-07 with a broken thumb and later a heel injury.

Despite having not lined up on the d-line since his high school days, Roof (6-4, 277) looked this spring to be picking up the position change to defensive tackle fairly quickly.