Coban Porter returns to college basketball three years after causing fatal DUI crash

DENVER — Coban Porter is getting another chance on the court — one even he said he has to prove he deserves.

Porter, the former University of Denver player who killed Kathy Limon Rothman in a DUI crash in 2023, is returning to college basketball for MSU Denver this year. The university announced his addition to the Roadrunners’ roster on Friday, about six months after Porter was released from prison early, and eight days after he started his parole.

“I don’t think I really deserve another chance to play,” Porter, the younger brother of former Nugget Michael Porter Jr., told The Denver Post. “But I’ve been given one, and I want to make the most of it. I don’t want to just give up — not that me not playing basketball again would be giving up — but it’s something that I love to do, it’s something that I think I’m OK at, it’s a way to get my education paid for and then also try to use my story in a positive way.

“Because I know I’ve taken so much from this community, from Denver, especially from the family of the Rothmans. Me playing (at MSU Denver) isn’t going to give any of that back, but I hope that I can do some positive things in this community with a second chance, and it’s not something that I take for granted at all. I’m really grateful for the opportunity.”

Connie Johnson, Rothman’s mother, told The Denver Post she is not happy about Porter’s return to basketball. In a statement, Johnson said her focus is on her daughter’s legacy and Rothman’s young son, who was left without a mother.

“Two years in prison will never equal the lifetime we are forced to live without my daughter, Kathy Rothman,” Johnson wrote. “While the driver gets to return to his life, his education, and his sports, our family is left with a permanent void. My focus is not on his career; my focus remains entirely on honoring my daughter’s memory and the beautiful life that was cut short by an entirely preventable choice.”

Just before 2 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2023, Porter ran a red light and crashed into Rothman’s vehicle at the intersection of South University and Buchtel boulevards. Porter was driving about 50 mph in a 30 mph zone and his blood-alcohol level was .19, more than twice the legal limit of .08. In 2024, Porter was sentenced to six years for vehicular homicide and vehicular assault from the crash that also seriously injured Rothman’s Uber passenger, Jason Blanch.

‘Something that I’ll live with until the day I die’

Porter was released from prison in December after his sentence was shortened due to good conduct, completing college courses while incarcerated, and for working on forest-fire mitigation for the State Wildland Inmate Fire Team.

Upon his release, Porter got a job with the Gold Crown Foundation and lived at a halfway house for several months. The 25-year-old met with MSU Denver basketball coach Dan Ficke and Roadrunners athletic director Todd Thurman in mid-March, at which point the university began to vet Porter’s potential to join the program. As part of that process, Thurman told Porter he needed to write a letter to the Rothmans, which Johnson said she received.

“What I wanted to know was, where is (Porter) now?” Thurman said. “Not where he was back then, because we’re not ever going to take away from what happened. I had an opportunity to speak with him (in March) and sit there for over an hour. And he took full responsibility. He didn’t push me to the other side.

“… We weren’t going to do anything without making sure that we talked to everybody at our university — our president (Janine Davidson), our senior leaders. And every one of them said, ‘That’s our mission.'”

MSU Denver public relations director Tim Carroll said that mission “is rooted in access, opportunity and transformation, serving students from all backgrounds, including justice-impacted individuals. This decision reflects that ongoing commitment. We recognize the seriousness of what occurred and the harm caused, and nothing diminishes that reality.”

Porter told The Denver Post that he has been completely sober since the night of the crash, and does not plan on drinking alcohol ever again. He said killing Rothman by running the red light that night — during sentencing, prosecutor Austin Leighty noted the light was red for at least 23 seconds before Porter drove through it — “is something that I’ll live with until the day I die.”

Rothman’s family and Blanch sued Porter as well as the bar he was drinking at the night of the crash, the Crimson and Gold Tavern. The lawsuit alleged Porter was overserved. The lawsuit was settled in 2025; the company that owns the Crimson and Gold Tavern, Potter Restaurant Group LLC, agreed to pay $385,000 in exchange for the dismissal of all claims. The terms of the settlement agreement with Porter were not immediately clear in court records.

“I don’t like calling it a mistake, because it was a choice,” Porter said. “It was my decision, and I made it more than one time, and it cost a woman her life. And just because I didn’t mean for that to happen, it still happened. And she’s gone forever. Her son doesn’t have a mom anymore. That’s nobody’s fault but my own.

“… All I can really do is do my best to honor her memory moving forward, and to me that just looks like being open and honest about everything I’ve done, and trying to live every day with intention.”

‘A university that supports giving people second chances’

Porter has already addressed his MSU Denver teammates about the crash, and said he intends to do public speaking to educate people about the dangers of drunk driving. He also wants to eventually start a foundation focused on preventing drunk driving.

A statement on Porter’s return to basketball by the national office for Mothers Against Drunk Driving noted that “accountability is an important part of the healing process. MADD believes that true accountability means recognizing the devastating consequences of impaired driving and making a genuine commitment to ensuring those choices are never repeated.”

“I don’t know what that (foundation) is going to look like,” Porter said. “I’m not in communication with the family, so I don’t know if it would be in (Kathy Limon Rothman’s) name if they gave me their blessing to do something like that. One way or another, I want to move forward, but I’m not moving on.”

Over a 10-year period from 2015-24, over 11,500 Americans died every year in drunk-driving crashes, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data. MADD Colorado executive director Rebecca Green says this state sees about 200 deaths each year due to impaired driving, which equates to one death about every 32 hours.

Green added that most of the victims and survivors that MADD Colorado works with “are dismayed to learn that these types of crashes result in a really short sentence (like Porter’s). And it almost never feels like justice.”

“I don’t think currently the families that we serve feel like the sentencing ranges fit the pain that they feel for their losses,” Green said.

As for Porter’s plan to bring something positive out of the tragedy he caused, Green said, “Only time will tell if he has that ability or not.”

“Should he be able to play basketball? That’s not really something that we can comment on,” Green said. “Other than that, our hope is that the experience of this tragedy, and the result of his choices, continue to stay with him in everything that he does and that he uses this choice that he made for good moving forward.

“For him, maybe that’s on the basketball court, maybe that’s mentoring his peers, maybe that’s using his experience to help prevent these types of things from happening in the future. But that’s on him to make that choice. It’s one thing to say that you want to use this experience for good. It’s another to be very descriptive and clear about how you intend to do that.”

Porter, a 6-foot-4 combo guard, was sentenced amid a tumultuous 2024 year for the Porter family. His brother Jontay Porter was banned for life by the NBA for gambling two days before Coban’s sentencing, and another brother, Jevon Porter, was charged with misdemeanor DWI in Missouri less than two months after Coban’s sentencing. Jontay has also since returned to basketball, playing for the Seattle SuperHawks in the United States Basketball League.

Ficke believes Porter, who played pick-up games in prison but is re-acclimating to the pace and physicality of college basketball, has the potential to be a high-impact player who can eventually find his way into MSU Denver’s starting lineup this winter. Porter has two years of eligibility remaining, during which time he will remain on parole.

“He made a very big mistake and one that a lot of people don’t get to come back from,” Ficke said. “But that’s what our university is — a university that supports giving people second chances.

“And so my response (to critics of the signing) would be that he knows that he cost someone their life with his decision, and he’s determined with his life to honor her memory. And with this second chance, that he’s going to make the most of it to do right in this world and make the world a better place. And I hope that people will give him the chance to show them that that’s what he’s about.”

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