WASHINGTON (TNND) — A former San Jose State University (SJSU) assistant women’s volleyball coach filed a lawsuit against the Board of Trustees of the California State University (CSU) system, of which SJSU is a part. Former coach Melissa Batie-Smoose alleged that the university system wrongfully suspended her last November in retaliation for her filing a Title IX complaint against the school and a transgender athlete on the team.
Batie-Smoose shared with Fox News Digital that the catalyst event which led her to file a complaint against the university system was discovering an alleged plot organized by transgender athlete, Blaire Fleming, a biological male, where she collaborated with players from an opposing team and some of her team members to see that co-captain Brooke Slusser be spiked in the face during an October 3 match. Team members apart of the meeting came forward with the plot, leading to an investigation by the Mountain West Conference, which was quickly closed after the conference found the allegations lacked “sufficient evidence.” The November 15 letter announcing the closing of the investigation came just three days after witnesses received the first set of emails to set up interviews with investigators.
The alleged plot to injure Slusser came following her decision to join a lawsuit against the NCAA based upon her experience with Fleming. She alleged that the school withheld from team members that Fleming was male, and that she was consistently paired up with Fleming to share hotel rooms for away games, which came at the request of Slusser. She alleged that coaches would only consult with Fleming about her roommate choices but none of the other players.
Batie-Smoose corroborated Slusser’s allegations against the university, sharing that she was not told the true identity of Fleming until she directly asked head coach Todd Kress a few weeks into being on the job. She alleged that she was threatened with being fired if she shared with players and parents that Fleming was actually male.
“Todd Kress told me in passing because I was asking, ‘Oh, by the way, Blaire is a male,'” Batie-Smoose told Fox News Digital. “Both Todd Kress and the administration, Laura Alexandra, was not allowed to talk about that, allow parents to know, or anyone to know.”
Batie-Smoose shared that upon this revelation that her focus as a coach was centered on protecting her female players.
“I knew it from the day that I saw Blaire play, but for me it was a focus on the female athletes, that’s really why I knew I was here, I had a purpose beyond coaching, which was to protect the female athletes for their privacy, safety and wellbeing, so that was always solely my focus, but not on Blaire,” she said.
Batie-Smoose kept the true identity of Fleming under wraps for years, sharing that it played a toll on her conscious.
“The stress of that, that I was lying to parents and everyone and it was against everything I believe in, I had to do a lot of prayer and a lot of meditation to know that I had stay in this space, and however long I can stay there to protect the females, that is my job right now,” she told Fox News.
Batie-Smoose accused the school of giving Fleming special privileges like allowing her to miss practices without penalty, eating in the bleachers during practices, and getting to decide who they roomed with.
Her contract with the school ended in January and it was not renewed. She has since left California and is looking for work in Texas. However, she’s been struggling, and she believes it stemmed from her Title IX complaint filed against CSU.
“I’ve been a very successful coach and I’ve coached for a long time and I’m not even getting any looks for any coaching jobs,” she said.
