The University of Colorado said that both Chancellor Phil DiStefano and Athletic Director Rick George approved of the decision to allow former assistant coach Joe Tumpkin to call plays at the team's bowl game despite knowing about allegations of domestic violence against Tumpkin.

Tumpkin, 45, was the team's secondary coach at the time of CU's appearance in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29, but was selected to call defensive plays for the Buffs because defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt had already left the team for a new job at Oregon.

At that time, DiStefano and George were both aware that Tumpkin's ex-girlfriend told coach Mike MacIntyre that Tumpkin had physically abused her over the course of their three-year relationship.

Since that time, Tumpkin was told to resign by the university and has been charged with multiple counts of assault and hit with a permanent restraining order.

But at the time of the bowl game and the decision to have Tumpkin call plays, CU said it knew of the allegations but that charges had not been filed and the university did not know that a restraining order request had been filed. The restraining order request was filed on Dec. 20, but CU said it did not see it until Jan. 6 when a Daily Camera reporter requested comment for a story on the documents.

"With no official documents in hand from a court or an investigation by police, we felt we were not in a position to take any personnel action," said CU spokeswoman Deborah Mendez Wilson. "Rick George updates the chancellor on personnel issues and decisions routinely in their bimonthly meetings. The decision on who was going to call plays was made by Coach MacIntyre, and Rick George supported that decision."

Tumpkin received a $15,000 bonus for coaching in the bowl game, but CU said he did not receive any change in salary or a promotion to interim defensive coordinator despite being assigned defensive playcalling duties.

"We made it clear that we were not going to elevate him due to the allegations, but allow him to do playcalling at the game," Mendez Wilson said.

Tumpkin was suspended after CU saw the court documents on Jan. 6, and the university said it would make a final decision on his fate after a scheduled Jan. 31 hearing on whether to make the temporary restraining order permanent. But Tumpkin waived the hearing and signed the permanent restraining order, and Tumpkin wound up resigning after being told to do so by CU on Jan. 27 shortly after.

CU had not previously discussed when it knew about the allegations against Tumpkin until a Sports Illustrated report released on Friday said MacIntyre knew as early as Dec. 9 and that DiStefano and George found out shortly thereafter.

In the story, the victim said she contacted MacIntyre's wife first and said she didn't necessarily want to pursue charges or have Tumpkin lose his job but did want the university to get him help.

But she said that upon seeing that Tumpkin had been selected to call the defense at the bowl game, "That's when I really knew that I was alone."

The woman also told SI that she was disappointed that Tumpkin's defense attorney, Jon Banashek, called her before the restraining order request was filed to talk about the case. Mendez Wilson said it was George that informed both Tumpkin and Banashek that the woman had contacted MacIntyre about the allegations.

CU athletic spokesman Dave Plati initially told Sports Illustrated that Jan. 6 was the first time anyone at the school had heard of the allegations. He later called SI to say that he was mistaken.

"Dave's focus is sports news," Mendez Wilson said. "He is not involved in personnel issues of this nature. Jan. 6 was the first day the university received a copy of the restraining order, and Dave made an assumption that this was the first knowledge that Rick and Mike had of the situation at all. Rick corrected that misassumption, and told Dave that he was aware of possible domestic abuse issues between Tumpkin and his partner before Jan. 6. Dave then corrected his statement to Sports Illustrated."

Tumpkin is due for a first appearance on Feb. 9.

Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars

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