The Air Force Academy’s athletics department suffers from low morale caused by federal budget cuts, and an academy inspector general’s report completed this month recommended improvements to management.
Overall, however, the department executes its mission by providing hundreds of events each year where cadets can compete in a physically demanding environment, according to a news release from the academy’s public-affairs office.
The full report will not be released to the public, said Lt. Col. Brus Vidal, public affairs officer for the academy. Inspector general’s reports are for commanders’ use only, he said.
The inspection determined the academy’s coaches are considerate of cadets’ time and the need to balance sports with academics and leadership training. It also praised the NCAA compliance section, saying the rules are communicated, consistently applied and nonselectively enforced, according to the news release.
The academy’s since late 2011, when an investigation was launched into .
Dozens of cadets, most of them athletes, were questioned after reports surfaced that football players had secretly put drugs into women’s drinks and then sexually assaulted them. Although no one was punished for anything that happened at the party, the investigation uncovered other allegations of sexual assault and drug use.
As a result, two football players were convicted in courts-martial of sexual assault, a female basketball player was convicted in court-martial of making a false statement, and a few other athletes were expelled or punished.
Since then, a congressional inquiry has been opened into the academy’s handling of the sexual assault cases and its punishment of a cadet who had served as confidential informant during an undercover criminal investigation of multiple football players.
Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, the academy’s superintendent, and Col. David Kuenzli, the inspector general, said the inspection was not a direct result of the problems inside the athletics department. Instead, it was the first in a series of reviews of all departments within the academy.
This month, Hans Mueh, the academy’s athletics director, announced he would retire in January, six months earlier than planned.
Academy officials said Mueh’s moved-up retirement was not related to the discipline problems among athletes or the inspector general’s report.
The academy is expected to hire a new athletics director in December, according to a news release about Mueh’s retirement.
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Noelle_Phillips
