Advertisement

Expelled ex-Yale captain attends Bulldogs' tournament game

Sam Cooper
·College football writer

As Yale began NCAA tournament play Thursday, it had a somewhat unlikely supporter in attendance.

As first reported by the Yale Daily News, Jack Montague, the team’s former captain who was expelled last month for sexual misconduct, was in attendance as the Bulldogs took on Baylor in Providence, Rhode Island.

ESPN later confirmed that Montague was in attendance, but he declined to speak to reporters.

Montague was wearing a red baseball cap and a jacket as he sat a few rows from the floor opposite the Yale bench, surrounded by friends.

When approached by ESPN at halftime, Montague referred all comments about his situation to a statement his lawyer issued Monday.

Montague later left his seat during the second half, ESPN reported.

Montague, a senior who last played for the Ivy League champions on Feb. 6, was expelled after a university investigation determined he had unconsented sex with a female student, an incident that occurred in October 2014, according to Montague's attorney.

More than a year later, the woman reported the alleged rape to a Title IX coordinator, who filed a formal university complaint, starting the process which eventually resulted in Montague’s February expulsion.

[From Dan Wetzel: Everyone loses in Yale's expulsion of Jack Montague]

Montague says the sex was consensual and plans to sue the school. His attorney issued a statement Monday saying the expulsion was “excessive by any rational measure” and that Montague has been “pilloried as a whipping boy for a campus problem that has galvanized national attention.”

Following his dismissal from school, Montague’s former teammates wore T-shirts with his No. 4 jersey number and his nickname, prompting outrage from some on campus. Soon after, posters with statements like “stop supporting a rapist,” among others, were placed around campus.

Max Stern, Montague’s attorney, said the posters were slanderous.

“The media widely reported on statements made by Yale students and posters put up on campus which condemned Jack Montague directly as the named culprit and as a rapist, thus slandering him with this accusation,” Stern said in a statement. “He was never accused of rape and Yale took no steps to correct these actions. As a result, Mr. Montague has no choice but to correct the record.”

Meanwhile, Yale, the No. 12 seed in the West Region, is making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1962. Players declined to comment to reporters throughout the week when asked about the situation.

"We're trying to focus on playing basketball games," head coach James Jones said.

Best of the 2016 NCAA Tournament slideshow
Best of the 2016 NCAA Tournament slideshow

- - - - - - -

Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!