COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN -- In his review of the WSU football program, WSU athletic director Bill Moos noted that "the departed player" -- a reference to former receiver Marquess Wilson -- had redacted his claims of abuse in a text message shortly after the UCLA game on Nov. 10, the same day Wilson announced his departure from the team in a letter to media.

In documents obtained by the Spokesman-Review through a public records request, that message from Wilson to Moos is included in a forwarded email from Moos to president Elson Floyd sent on Nov. 11 at 1:57 a.m.

Moos wrote to Floyd that the message was  "Sent to me at 11:33. Unfortunate as our guys gave a valiant effort and deserved to be the lead story."

The name of the sender is redacted in the document, but Wilson identifies himself in the text, which reads: "Mr. Moos this is marquess ... With that letter I wasn't trying to accuse the coaches of hitting players or anything. I was just trying to put it in different terms and now everything is getting misinterpreted and I didn't mean it like that at all ... I simply was trying to get my story across and get my name cleared instead of having it say I'm suspended for breaking team violations ... That could mean like I did drugs or something ... I was never trying to harm the university or the program with it."

That jives with what Moos told reporters in a conference call late Wednesday afternoon.

"He wanted to primarily tell the fans goodbye, I’ll miss you and that his suspension did not have to do with things that some of our earlier dismissals had to do in regards to behavior," Moos said.

Christian Caple can be reached at christianc@spokesman.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple

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