LINCOLN — Nebraska football coach Mike Riley said Tuesday any action against the players involved in an alleged sexual assault will wait until the University of Nebraska-Lincoln administration, the university's Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance and law enforcement weigh in.
Riley said he had talked to the three players involved — quarterback Tommy Armstrong, receiver Jordan Westerkamp and tight end Trey Foster — but had not delved into the details of the alleged incident.
"I'm like all of you — I'm interested in where we're going and what's going to be found," the Husker coach told a throng of reporters. "I know the process is ongoing, and the right people are taking care of that."
Riley agreed with a reporter when it was suggested that he would have little or no input, emphasizing that it was "a university matter, not just an athletic department (matter)."
It's too early to tell how the alleged sexual assault at the home of two Husker football players might affect their eligibility for next week's game against Iowa, he said.
A struggling Nebraska football team appeared to have turned a significant corner on Saturday, winning its second consecutive game to improve to 5-6 and setting up a showdown on Nov. 27 against undefeated Iowa.
A 20-year-old Lincoln woman alleged that she was raped Sunday at the north Lincoln home shared by Armstrong, Nebraska's junior quarterback, and Westerkamp, a junior and one of his favorite receivers. No arrests have been made.
In an interview with The World-Herald, Armstrong said that he, Westerkamp and Foster had been interviewed about the allegation by Lincoln police on Sunday.
Armstrong said that he was "confused" by the allegation but that after being interviewed, the police said "you guys should be fine."
"Nothing really happened," he said. "We were at our house partying. The next day we had to talk to people and clear things up."
A visibly upset Riley said he didn't learn of the allegation until shortly after a staff meeting began at 11 a.m. Tuesday. The World-Herald had contacted the athletic department about a half hour earlier seeking comment.
"I would have liked to know earlier," he said. "We really try to school our players on informing us of anything."
"I always tell them, I can't help them without information."
The woman made the allegation after arriving at a Lincoln hospital at about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood said Tuesday.
The woman said she knows the suspect, and Flood said the suspect has been contacted.
According to police, the alleged assault occurred between 2:15 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Sunday at 5411 N. 11th St.
Armstrong is listed in public records as living at that address. Both he and Westerkamp have said they are roommates.
Armstrong said he arrived home at 12:30 a.m. Sunday after the Husker football game at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
"We had people over," he said. When he awoke on Sunday, Armstrong said he heard a "rumor" that something might have happened.
A group of five Lincoln police officers came to the house, Armstrong said, and told the three that they wanted to hear their side of the story. The interviews lasted about an hour, he said.
As they left, Armstrong said, they "told us pretty much that everything was fine."
"I'm just confused," he added. "From what we're hearing, everything was consensual."
He declined to identify whom the woman might have been with or whether she was at the house at all. It's not known who else was at the house during the time of the alleged assault.
Westerkamp did not respond to phone and text messages. Foster did not respond to a message left on Facebook.
Foster is a junior walk-on from Lincoln. Armstrong graduated from high school in San Antonio; Westerkamp is from Lombard, Illinois.
All three attended practice on Tuesday, but Armstrong left about 20 minutes early, when only a handful of reporters were present.
Police withheld the name of the accused, which is Lincoln police policy unless an arrest is made or there is an immediate threat to public safety.
The NU athletic department issued a statement Tuesday, saying that it was aware of the allegation and was cooperating with Lincoln law enforcement and the university's Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, which investigates allegations of sexual misconduct or discrimination.
Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said Tuesday that a prosecutor in his office had briefly discussed the case with Lincoln police but that no arrests have been made or citations issued.
"It's just early," Kelly said. "There's no way to tell what's going to happen."
Riley, a longtime coach at Oregon State, is in his first year as Husker coach.
In September, he was named in a lawsuit filed by an Oregon woman who claimed that Riley's failure to correct a "hostile and sexually violent culture" among football players at Oregon State during the 1990s contributed to her being raped in 1999. Riley had left Oregon State by 1999 to coach the NFL's San Diego Chargers.
In response to the lawsuit, Riley issued a statement saying that he was "committed to a harassment-free culture in our football program."
"Sexual assault is a horrendous crime and has no place in our society," he stated.
Riley said Tuesday that he had talked to the three players involved about how the university will respond to this week's allegation.
Riley added that he emphasizes the "do-right rule" with his players when it comes to personal conduct, including drinking, and lectures them to avoid causing "distractions" for the football team.
He couldn't deny that this was a distraction to the team. "We try to avoid these all the time," he said. "We deal with it."