If you thought the criticism of Purdue's medical facilities was in the past, boy, were you wrong.
Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight suffered three fractured vertebrae during the Wolverines' 28-10 victory over the Boilermakers on Sept. 23, and coach Jim Harbaugh went off on the medical facilities at Ross-Ade Stadium after the game.
Speight's father, Bobby, joined the chorus this week.
"Wilton gets hit and didn't move for a little while, which is a parent's worst nightmare," Bobby Speight told the Detroit News. "The police took us down but were unable to open the door. Someone who appeared to be a member of the food staff realized what was going on and let us in. When that door opened, even in high school, I had never been in a visiting locker room that bad. It was dark, dingy, dirty."
The nightmare scenario continued for the Speight family when, according to Bobby, it was hassled for Wilton's insurance information at the Purdue University Student Health Center despite NCAA rules that require schools to provide insurance for athletic injuries to student-athletes. After it was determined that the senior signal caller needed to go to the hospital because of resolution issues on the screen at the facility, the family waited 20 minutes for an ambulance and another 30-45 in the vehicle that didn't put its lights or sirens on despite symptoms from the injury persisting.
Harbaugh's initial criticism of Purdue -- and the lack of uniformity throughout the Big Ten -- dealt mostly with what happened to Speight on location, and didn't dive into his journey away from the stadium.
"I wish I'd have taken a picture of the actual table that was given to the visitors to put the players on when they're injured," he said, according to the Detroit Free-Press. "It looks like it was from the '20s. It was ripped. Just not good. I think that's a pattern in the Big Ten."
Shortly after Harbaugh initially complained about the facilities in September, Purdue fired back with a statement.
"Purdue regards the welfare of all student-athletes as its No. 1 priority," the school said on Sept. 25. "We would fully support a conversation regarding a conference-wide set of guidelines for visiting football team accommodations because we have experienced less-than-ideal conditions on the road. There is no place for gamesmanship when it comes to player care and safety. The after-the-fact concerns expressed by Michigan are somewhat surprising because a member of its football staff conducted a walk-thru of of our facilities with our athletic department staff at Ross-Ade Stadium on July 18."
The Speight family speaking out will almost certainly force conference-wide regulations to be a hot button issue throughout the offseason.
