University of Colorado head coach Gary Barnett visited an Arizona football practice yesterday ÷ the same day two more rape allegations involving CU players surfaced.
Barnett, who is on administrative leave from Colorado and is staying in his Phoenix vacation home, took in the Wildcats' spring practice and talked extensively with UA head coach Mike Stoops.
Stoops said Barnett, who has been replaced indefinitely by assistant head coach Brian Cabral, is "just visiting."
"He's just giving some advice. He's been down this road, probably about 12, 15 years ago at Northwestern. He totally changed the program, has a lot of good advice," Stoops said. "The guy just has a passion for football and was in the area."
Yesterday, The Associated Press reported that Janine D'Anniballe, head of the rape crisis center Moving to End Assault in Boulder, Colo., said two more women have come forward and claimed that they were sexually assaulted by CU football players within the past three months.
If true, the two most recent rapes would have occurred during the time the scandal was making national headlines. By the AP's count, 10 women now claim to have been sexually assaulted by Buffaloes since 1997.
After the workout, Barnett had no comment.
"I don't have much to say," he said.
Barnett, who was hired away from Northwestern by CU, led Northwestern to a pair of bowl games, including the 1996 Rose Bowl.
Stoops, a first-year head coach, said he appreciates the advice Barnett and other experienced head coaches have given him.
"I think it's great for everybody ÷ especially me starting out ÷ just to guide me down this path, to kind of understand it a little bit better and get a different perspective on it," Stoops said.
Arizona freshman quarterback Richard Kovalcheck, who was a highly coveted recruit last year and visited Colorado, said Barnett is "a nice guy" and that he was excited about him coming.
"I thought it was cool. I thought it was good seeing him," Kovalcheck said.
Last week, former Arizona interim head coach and current Colorado defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz visited a UA practice. The Buffaloes begin spring practice Friday.
Though no criminal charges have been filed in any of the cases, D'Anniballe's statement was submitted to an eight-member commission appointed by the Colorado Board of Regents to investigate the football team's recruiting practices.
The panel has an April 30 deadline.
÷ The Associated Press contributed to this report.