Mankato football players say they'll play for Hoffner

Minnesota State University Mankato football players said Thursday they'll play for reinstated head coach Todd Hoffner and characterized their refusal to practice on Wednesday as a misunderstanding.

The players said they wanted better communication between the team, the coaches and administration.

The unusual situation began nearly two years ago when the university found naked pictures of Hoffner's young children on a school-issued cell phone.

Criminal charges were filed but later dismissed by a judge. The university, however, fired Hoffner for reasons never made public.

In January, Hoffner was hired to be the coach at Minot State University in North Dakota. Last week, however, an arbitrator determined MSU Mankato had no grounds to fire Hoffner and said he should be reinstated.

Hoffner appeared for his first practice on campus Wednesday afternoon only to find the players saying they were not willing to practice or play for him. They insisted Aaron Keen be kept as the head coach.

"We stand behind our actions and statement but in no way did we want our action to undermine Coach Hoffner's return," the players said in a statement Thursday.

"We are thankful for what's transpired since yesterday. The athletic department, university administration and Coach Hoffner made themselves available to have the opportunity to express our concerns and questions about this situation," the players said. "We received the answers we were looking for, feel fit to practice and welcome Coach Hoffner as we head toward the end of spring drills."

Hoffner said he didn't take the actions of the student athletes personally.

"I think their support and loyalty for Aaron [Keen] is admirable," he said, congratulating Keen for the team's success the past two seasons. "It's clear there has been a shift in the culture and I look forward to adapting and integrating many of those positive changes into my leadership of the programs."

For some Mankato residents, this is the latest twist in a story that's brought an unpleasant spotlight to the city and the university.

Inside a local coffee shop, lifelong Mankato resident Patti Tryhus says the players' actions this week were a surprise. But Tryhus says university officials could have done a better job welcoming Hoffner back.

"I felt really sad for him because he was so happy to be reinstated and to come back to this town and then to be refused like that," Tryhus said. "It really surprised me. But then I realized I don't think the football players were given time to adjust."

Many students say the university community as a whole will need time to adjust to Hoffner's return.

Joey Goldberg, a junior at MSU, says it was right for Hoffner to return and continue coaching here.

"You know, he's earned his spot there. And he was improperly removed," Goldberg said. "So it's interesting that they're taking it out against him cause it really wasn't his fault. He was found innocent and everything."

And even though the transition isn't easy with Hoffner back at the helm, senior Will Malloy says in a couple years, it won't even matter.

"It'll be hard at first, but it's a pretty older team and sooner or later, it's all just going to pass by and fresh people are going to come through and it's going to be a new team," Malloy said.

For his part, associate coach Aaron Keen says he wants to do what he can to make the program and players better so they can win a national championship.

Keen said he knew the head coaching position was an interim one, but he doesn't rule out going after a head coaching position somewhere else in the future.