USF Verdict Sparks Renewed Discussion on Athlete Advocacy
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – In late July, former University of San Francisco women’s basketball player Marija Galic won a verdict that awarded her $750,000 after a Superior Court jury found head coach Molly Goodenbour had caused Galic an “intentional infliction of emotional distress”.
Her twin sister, Marta Galic, also brought a concurrent suit against Goodenbour. The jury ultimately ruled against Marta but did rule in favor of Marija to the tune of $250,000 plus an additional $500,000 in punitive damages.
Emerging Pattern of Player-Led Lawsuits
The lawsuit against the USF women’s basketball coach is not the only instance of athletes speaking up for themselves. Just last month, Northwestern University fired its football coach, Pat Fitzgerald, after several former and current players reported instances of hazing in Northwestern’s program.
Fitzgerald had led the Northwestern program since 2006 and was the program’s all-time winningest coach – in addition to having starred for the Wildcats at linebacker from 1993 to 1996. Fitzgerald and Northwestern face five lawsuits and counting.
In early May of this year, eighteen former swimmers from Cal Berkeley brought a suit against the UC Regents alleging psychological and physical abuse at the hands of Coach Teri McKeever. The athletes claimed that McKeever created an atmosphere with, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, “‘dangerous training conditions’ that caused injuries”.
The lawsuit came four months after Cal Berkeley fired McKeever following an independent legal review by Munger, Tolles & Olson. What prompted the investigation and ensuing report were the allegations by more than 40 swimmers that claimed McKeever had abused them in various ways. The swimmers that brought the allegations competed for Cal between 2000 and 2020.
And in April, San Diego State female athletes won a class action lawsuit against the university for violating Title IX and treating its female athletes inequitably. According to the lawyer Arthur Bryant who was the lead counsel for the female athletes, SDSU had “…been cheating its female student-athletes out of hundred of thousands of dollars in equal athletic financial aid each year…and it blatantly retaliated against its female student-athletes for standing up for their rights.”
A New Era: Athletes Seize Power and Agency
Undoubtedly, there are dozens of other examples of power abuse that athletes have brought to the public’s attention in the last calendar year.
The ruling in favor of the SDSU athletes set a precedent in a similar manner as last week’s ruling in favor of USF’s Marija Galic: if college coaches and college administrators mistreat athletes, abuse athletes, or abuse their power over the athletes, athletes now have confidence and know-how to report the abuse. Athletes over the last two years – since July 1, 2021 – student-athletes have been empowered to start making their own money through name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities; they are also discovering that they have the power to speak up against abusive coaching and exploitative administrations. Sometimes we see individuals speaking out – in the case of the USF twin sisters – but oftentimes athletes are coming together in large groups spanning across decades to speak up against inequity and mistreatment.
And while the athletes are finding their voices and the strength to speak up, fans and boosters, television executives and business people are starting to remember an inalienable fact about college athletics:
The athletes are in charge.