Colorado Safeties Coach Joe Tumpkin Resigns After Domestic Violence Complaint

Colorado assistant football coach Joe Tumpkin has resigned from the university after he was named in a domestic violence complaint earlier this month.  

According to Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports, Tumpkin's resignation is effective January 31, and he will receive two months of severance pay.

Mitchell Byars of BuffZone.com reported January 6 Tumpkin's ex-girlfriend filed a restraining order against him and said he "physically assaulted her multiple times over the course of their three-year relationship—most recently on the nights before and after a CU football game."

The woman said the first attack occurred February 27, 2015, and the most recent took place November 18 when Tumpkin is alleged to have "arrived intoxicated to a house in Broomfield and jabbed his finger in her face and then pinned her against a wall and choked her, according to the complaint."

In an interview with Michael McKnight of Sports Illustrated, Tumpkin's ex-girlfriend, who is identified as Jane in the article, detailed a phone conversation with Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre about Tumpkin. 

“I told [MacIntyre] we had discussed the abuse," she said. "I told him that I didn’t want Joe to go to jail. I didn’t want to hurt Mac or Trisha or the CU program.... I told him I was sorry for bringing this to him at an exciting time, but I was terrified that Joe was going to kill himself or someone else.”

Jane told McKnight that she "suffered approximately 80 episodes of abuse at Tumpkin’s hand in the years 2015 and 2016."

After providing the information to MacIntyre, Jane described what the Colorado head coach said to her in response. 

“He said he had never had a situation like this come up before and he wasn’t exactly sure what to do," she said. "He said he was getting ready to get on a plane to Denver and he would find out what he needed to do legally. I started to cry and told him I don’t want the police involved because of what it would do to Joe. I just needed someone to know—someone who could help him get well—because he is dangerous.”

She also provided screenshots of text messages with Tumpkin, in which he wrote that he had "remorse" and he was "getting help."

After Tumpkin was named Colorado defensive coordinator for the Alamo Bowl, Jane went to Tumpkin's town of residence, which was also where "most of the abuse had occurred." She spoke to Broomfield police detective Dale Hammell for roughly seven hours discussing various instances of alleged abuse involving Tumpkin.

After the complaint was filed against Tumpkin, Colorado athletic director Rick George issued a statement about the situation.

"We are still gathering details about the very serious allegations in this filing," George said, per Byars. "Once I've reviewed it, I will get together with Coach [Mike] MacIntyre and we will take whatever action is appropriate and necessary. I expect all our student-athletes and employees to conduct themselves appropriately on and off the field."

Tumpkin was hired as Colorado's safeties coach in 2015. He had worked the previous five seasons at Central Michigan as the defensive coordinator. 

After defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt left Colorado to take the same job at Oregon, Tumpkin served as the team's defensive play-caller in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State.