Fourth Down For Cougars Mickelbart Follows 3 Teammates In Quitting The WSU Football Team

Coach Mike Price confirmed Tuesday that a fourth player, offensive lineman Paul Mickelbart, has quit Washington State’s football team.

Mickelbart, a promising 6-foot-4, 283-pound transfer from Notre Dame, said his decision was based on his dislike for the academic requirements that come with playing college football.

“Basically, I’m just not a school-oriented person,” said the former all-state player from Everett’s Cascade High School. “I don’t like school, never have, and it just got to the point where football wasn’t enough to keep me going to school anymore.”

Mickelbart, who practiced with the team last season but was ineligible to compete because of the NCAA transfer rule, said he has quit attending class and has no plans to continue his education.

In a conference call Tuesday, Price also confirmed reports of linebacker Phillip Glover, offensive lineman Rick Austin and defensive lineman Darryl Jones having quit the team were accurate.

Jones, a 6-foot-4, 320-pounder from Compton, Calif., started 10 games as a redshirt freshman on last fall’s 3-8 team. Austin, another redshirt freshman, and Glover, a second-year sophomore, were not starters last fall, but both played extensively and were expected, along with Mickelbart, to challenge for starting jobs next fall. “It’s disappointing, no question about it,” Price said, “but we’ve got to go on with it.”

Price said none of the players was asked to leave and called it a “coincidence” that all four chose to leave this semester. According to Price, the players have been considering transferring for some time and made their decisions at various times earlier this semester. Those decisions became public Monday.

Price said he has talked to each player involved and has determined that their reasons for leaving are varied.

“It’s more than one factor, ” he said. “It’s a lot of factors, of which being 3-8 is probably one of them.

“I think there is only one common thread that would go through all four of them and that would be that they’re unhappy here at Washington State and feel like moving to another school or quitting school would make them feel better.”

Glover, who is married, raising a young son and trying to provide for a younger brother who moved in with him, said his reasons for leaving were personal and that he was no longer happy being at WSU.

Austin, whose Pullman phone has been disconnected, has been unavailable for comment. But Jones, from Compton, Calif., indicated Monday night he did not feel the small-town environment of WSU was preparing him for the real world. Jones, an African-American, also questioned the school’s motives behind its diversification efforts to bring more minority students and faculty to WSU.

Jones refused to publicly discuss or clarify his concerns in any greater detail at this time, but Price said he was aware of them.

“He’s talked to me somewhat about that,” Price said. “That surprised me a little bit. I thought that (the small-town atmosphere) was one of the reasons he came here, you know.”

Glover said he plans to transfer to either Utah or Colorado, but Price said he was not sure of the future plans of any of the four.

When asked if he expected any other players to leave the program, Price said, “I think this is going to be the end of it, but I didn’t think this was going to be the start of it, either, so. …”

The Cougars open spring practice April 1.

, DataTimes