Following the appearance of a gay slur on newly hired assistant wrestling coach Nick Simmons' Twitter page, both the Athletic Department and the Division of Student Affairs in the Office of the Dean of Students will investigate the incident.
At roughly 1 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, August 11, a tweet using a gay slur was posted on Simmons' Twitter account. It has since been removed from the site.
Someone going only by the name 'Brett' claiming to be a friend of Simmons emailed outsports.com and took responsibility for the tweet, saying he had taken Simmons' phone.
Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations J.D. Campbell said that the athletic department would look into it within the next week.
"We are now aware of the tweet and will look into the matter further," Campbell said in a statement.
Doug Bauder, office coordinator for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Support Services Office, said he was first notified of the tweet on Wednesday by an offended IU alumnus.
"You can't use being an athlete as an excuse for being stupid anymore or being macho," Bauder said. "Maybe you never could. It's 2012 and it's time to grow up."
An incident team from the Office of the Dean of Students will convene next week to discuss the incident. Bauder expects a note will be sent to Simmons from the incident team.
Simmons was a four-time All-American at Michigan State and the U.S. alternate in the 55 kg weight class for men's freestyle wrestling at the 2012 London Olympics. Simmons is entering his first season as an IU coach after being hired June 4.
