Multiple Division III basketball players taken to hospital following intense workout

Multiple basketball players at Concordia University Chicago (D-III) have been hospitalized following an intense workout, the school said. In addition, the school temporarily removed its coach.

The players were taken to the hospital following what players alleged was a punishment for a curfew violation, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Jake Sheridan. Athletic director Pete Gnan said the players went through a “particularly high-intensity, collegiate-level circuit training” Dec. 31 in a letter to parents.

Coach Steve Kollar — the reigning Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year — has been temporarily removed from his position, the school said. Assistant Rashaan Surles has been named the acting head coach. He spent last season as a graduate assistant at Texas Tech and joined Concordia Chicago prior to this season.

The Tribune reported players showed symptoms of rhabdomyolysis, which is a condition in which “damaged muscle tissue releases its proteins and electrolytes into the blood,” according to the CDC. The school didn’t name the players taken to the hospital.

Concordia Chicago’s Tuesday game against Lakeland Tuesday and the Jan. 14 game against Concordia Wisconsin have been postponed as a result of the incident. The Cougars are currently 8-2 overall this year and 5-0 in NACC action.

“Amid the already stressful and exhausting week, Saturday’s practice represented a particularly high-intensity, collegiate-level circuit training,” Gnan wrote in his letter.

Gnan confirmed the curfew incident happened during a late-December trip to California, which Concordia Chicago lost to California Lutheran and Whittier as its only two losses of the season. He also denounced the workouts in the letter, reiterating the university’s no-tolerance policy.

“Our athletics program has zero tolerance for harassment or retaliatory actions of any kind, and reporting mechanisms are in place for students, coaches and related staff,” Gnan said.

Concordia Chicago is located in River Forest, Ill., a western suburb of Chicago. The Cougars are next scheduled to play Dominican at home Jan. 10.