Gophers Center Reggie Lynch Faces Campus Ban Until 2020

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The University of Minnesota's athletic director Mark Coyle confirmed Friday that starting center Reggie Lynch has been suspended from the team after he was found violating the school's sexual misconduct policy. If Lynch, 23, does not appeal the decision, it will go into effect Jan. 9 and he would be banned from campus and all university events until 2020.

The university's Office for Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action began investigating Lynch last fall after a 20-year-old woman said Lynch assaulted her in his dorm room at Roy Wilkins Hall on April 28, 2016, reports the Star Tribune. There was no police investigation into the incident.

Lynch, an Edina native, transferred to the Gophers after two seasons at Illinois State. He was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in his first year at Minnesota.

This is the EOAA's second investigation into allegations of sexual assault made against Lynch. He was arrested on suspicion of raping a 19-year-old woman in a campus apartment building on May 8, 2016. Lynch was not charged and a school investigation cleared him.

The EOAA found in that case Lynch could have reasonably believed the sex was consensual, according to the Pioneer Press.

The Star Tribune said Lynch and his attorney did not return calls seeking comment. Head basketball coach Richard Pitino is set to meet with the media Friday morning.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Jim Mone, File