SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Officials say four members of the wrestling team at North High School in Sioux City face misdemeanor charges of simple assault in an alleged hazing incident involving another team member. According to the Sioux City Journal, police say the students assaulted another boy on Dec. 19 at the school. It was reported to police on Jan. 3rd. School district spokeswoman Alison Benson says the students were disciplined in accordance with school policy. She says coach John Torno, who was on administrative leave during the investigation, would return to the classroom. This is the third reported investigation into alleged inappropriate conduct involving members of an Iowa high school wrestling team in recent weeks. The other alleged incidents occurred in Greenfield and Lisbon.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery says he has no regrets about slamming a chair during an outburst in the second half of Tuesday’s blowout loss at Michigan State. McCaffery told reporters Thursday he had no apologies whatsoever for the tirade, which started after he was whistled for a technical foul while Iowa was losing 69-41. Berating his players during the break, McCaffery picked up an empty folding chair and slammed it on the court. Video of the incident spread online. McCaffery says he’s going to continue to “coach with passion” and fight for his players. He said some people did not understand that his message was aimed at his players to be tougher, not at the referees. He says the game was very physical and his players had failed to adjust.

The Iowa City Police Department formally closed its investigation into the case last week without filing charges. Authorities say they decided not to charge Coker in late November or early December after it became clear the woman did not want to pursue the matter. At that point, they shared their investigative findings with university officials who were conducting their own disciplinary investigation. Iowa City Police Lt. Doug Hart said the university was told about the Coker investigation the day before Iowa played Minnesota on Oct. 29. Coker played the final five games of the regular season, but was suspended for unspecified misconduct Dec. 20 before the Insight Bowl. The university announced Tuesday he’d asked for a release from his scholarship and dropped out of classes this semester so that he could transfer. Coker, the second-leading rusher in the Big Ten Conference with 1,384 yards and 15 touchdowns, has made no public comments on the situation. Neither have top university officials.

University vice president for strategic communications Tysen Kendig said the school was editing Coker out of a promotional video that featured him and a handful of other students as success stories. The video, often played for groups of university supporters, touted Coker’s success on the football field and his academic prowess in his double majors of physics and astronomy. Kendig and other university officials argue that a federal law protecting students’ privacy prohibits them from describing how they responded to news of the police report. The Iowa Board of Regents, which oversees the school and asked for a review of sexual assault policies after the scandal at Penn State, also has no comment, a spokeswoman said. Bill Hines, a law professor who chairs an advisory committee that helps oversee the athletics department, said he learned of the Coker matter by reading the newspaper and knows nothing more.

Conlin, who has represented several women over the years who claim they were sexually assaulted by Iowa athletes, said the university’s response has been inadequate. “Things have not gone well in the past. The ball has been dropped, to use a football analogy, so many times that they need to be out making public statements that explain what they’ve done or what they have failed to do,” she said. “It’s very frustrating.” In 2002, Conlin acted as a mediator to resolve a felony charge alleging that Iowa basketball standout Pierre Pierce had performed unwanted sex acts on a woman. She helped broker a deal in which Pierce pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault but was allowed to rejoin the team after sitting a year out. The leniency sparked protests on campus. And Pierce was arrested during the 2005 season on charges that he broke into the home of a former girlfriend, falsely imprisoned and then assaulted her. He served 11 months in prison. “It turned out to be a horrible thing. It turned out that he was a serial offender. I would never do that again,” Conlin says.

The Coker case comes three years after the parents of a female athlete who was assaulted by two football players in a dorm room accused university officials of being insensitive to her and trying to keep the case quiet. Two players were convicted of assault while a third transferred. The dean of students and the school’s top lawyer were fired for what President Sally Mason called an inadequate response, and both of them continue to sue for wrongful termination. University officials say they have made a number of changes since then, including hiring Monique DiCarlo as a sexual misconduct response coordinator to help victims navigate the university bureaucracy. It was not clear whether DiCarlo, who has not responded to a message seeking comment, played a role in the Coker case.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — No. 9 Missouri was down to five players with a minute left and the host Cyclones breathing down its neck. The undermanned Tigers responded in the clutch yet again and put their only loss of the season behind them. Matt Pressey led six players in double figures with 14 points and the Tigers got past Iowa State 76-69 on Wednesday night. Phil Pressey and Ricardo Ratliffe each added 12 points for the Tigers (15-1, 2-1 Big 12), who bounced back from a 75-59 loss at Kansas State with a team effort — even though that team normally uses only seven players. The only Missouri player to fall short of 10 points was leading scorer Marcus Denmon. But he had a game-high seven assists and four crucial free throws in the final 21 seconds after Kim English and Steve Moore had fouled out. Missouri pushed a four-point lead to 72-66 on Ratliffe’s hook shot with 32 seconds left. Iowa State’s Chris Allen responded with a quick 3, but Denmon put the Cyclones away at the line. Scott Christopherson had 19 points and Allen scored 17 for Iowa State (12-4, 2-1), which lost for the first time in eight games. Royce White finished with 16 points and six rebounds, but he was just 2 of 8 from the free throw line. The Cyclones were outrebounded 38-27, hit only four 3s in the second half and went 13 of 25 from the line. The Cyclones were also outscored 40-20 in the paint by Missouri.

Iowa State entered play with its first 2-0 start in the Big 12 in five years, and a win would have given them a 3-0 record in the league for the first time since 2000. Hilton Coliseum certainly anticipated a big night for the program, with a near-sellout crowd into things from the opening tip. But by letting the Tigers off the hook, the Cyclones were reminded that wins against the Big 12’s elite are nearly impossible if they make as many mistakes as they did against Missouri.