Steve Cottingham Resigns As Marquette Athletic Director

Marquette athletic director Steve Cottingham resigned on Thursday, possibly due to scrutiny the university is facing over various legal issues.

Cottingham was named the school’s interim athletic director in January 2007 and became the permanent AD the following year. He was lauded for his hiring of Buzz Williams as men’s basketball coach when Tom Crean left to take the Indiana job. Marquette went to the Sweet Sixteen this past season.

He also oversaw the addition of men’s and women’s lacrosse beginning in 2012, and helped boost Marquette’s athletic scholarship fund.

However, Marquette has recently been under fire for the way it handled sexual assault allegations against unidentified athletes. Two separate alleged assaults were apparently impeded because Marquette’s public safety department didn’t tell authorities, though prosecutors decided not to charge the athletes involved.

Cottingham mentioned the assaults in his resignation letter:

“Although recent events involving a few student-athletes have certainly been a disappointment to me, I leave Marquette with positive feelings and confidence in its future.”

Marquette blog Anonymous Eagle finds it strange that Marquette would highlight that sentence when discussing Cottingham’s resignation.

I don’t know how long Cottingham’s resignation letter was, but I’m assuming it was more than those 25 words, and if I’m right in that assumption, Marquette couldn’t have picked a worse line to plaster on its release. With that single sentence, Marquette -- incredibly and unnecessarily -- all but confirmed the speculation that Cottingham was the fall guy for the fiascoes of the last few months.

For more on the Cottinham resignation and the continued fallout, keep an eye on Anonymous Eagle.