NEWS

'Team time:' NKU team faced sexual behavior concerns in 2015

James Pilcher
jpilcher@enquirer.com
The sexually charged atmosphere on the 2015 NKU men's basketball team led to questions and headaches for administrators.

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS - Two years before Northern Kentucky University's men's basketball team earned the Norse's first trip to the NCAA tournament, endearing itself to basketball fans all over Greater Cincinnati, the team found itself in a very different place.

An internal investigation unveiled a troubling picture: Complaints of sexual coercion. A locker room culture lacking in respect for others and promoting immature behavior.

And "team time."

"Team time" didn't refer to practice or film study. Instead, "team time" meant players were going after women on campus who made themselves available for sexual favors.

The sexually charged atmosphere came to light at a critical time for the NKU's basketball program. The school was in its second season of Division 1 play; it was about to leave one league and join the Horizon League. The end of that 2015 season would bring the firing of the head coach, although school officials insist his firing had nothing to do with the school's internal investigation.

Athletes having sex is no scandal. But a three-month Enquirer investigation suggests the team's culture produced several allegations — ultimately unproven — of sexual assault.

The problem galvanized the highest-level leaders of the Highland Heights institution. The school's president and athletic director — even the chairman of the Board of Regents — held meetings on what to do and how to handle what was clearly becoming a headache for the school.

A lawyer involved in a separate federal lawsuit against the school over a sex assault said school brass focused on protecting the basketball team, not the women. School officials say they wanted to make sure the university did the right thing for all involved.

The Enquirer investigation uncovered documents, interview notes and depositions that shed light on the atmosphere in the closing months of the 2014-15 season — as well as the role of top NKU administrators. The Enquirer also interviewed several of those involved, although many declined to comment or did not return messages seeking comment.

Among the findings:

- One woman filed an internal sexual assault complaint with the school against three players toward the end of the 2015 season. This was for allegedly forcing her into sex against her will; she complained that after consenting to sex with one player, two other players joined in for oral sex without permission.

- That investigation led to another woman telling NKU officials that two of those same players also “coerced” her into group sex on Halloween night 2014 under similar circumstances.

- Even though the players were exonerated by an internal school panel, that same three-person panel warned NKU about the team's behavior.  “Evidence brought before the panel gave reason for concern,” the email said. “Testimony reveals a culture within the locker room which warrants education and training....We specifically are concerned about a lack of respect for others and an appropriate sense of mature behavior,” the panel wrote in the email to NKU’s Senior Associate Dean of Students Ann James.

- None of the players themselves missed any playing time during the investigation nor for the "culture" issue. The players were suspended from team activities for an unspecified amount of time that following offseason, the school said when the incident first came to light last fall.

The revelations come as sexual misconduct by other college athletes and coaches and the response of university administrators — or lack of response — has been in the national spotlight.

The president and football coach at Baylor University were both fired last year after it was disclosed they knew about sexual assaults by football players, who faced no discipline.

The NCAA is investigating the University of Louisville’s basketball program after it was disclosed that an assistant coach paid prostitutes and strippers to perform for recruits while visiting the Louisville campus.

No one has alleged NKU's problems rose to that level. And school leaders say they have since required new sexual assault awareness training for every athlete, in all sports.

But the new details come during a meteoric rise for the program. Under new coach John Brannen, the Norse shocked the conference by winning the tournament and earning a bid to March Madness — where they put up a strong showing against national power University of Kentucky.

How this started: a claim of sexual coercion

On the night of Jan. 3, 2015, an unnamed woman apparently agreed to have sex with an NKU player after a night of drinking. In a series of text messages before that night, the player had asked her to participate in "a threesome," which she declined.

What happened next is up for dispute — but it provided the spark for what would later become a top-level priority for NKU leaders.

The woman said that two of the player's teammates joined in against her will, making her perform oral sex in an NKU dorm room. The players said it was all consensual, even though the woman denied that in a text to one of the players afterward: "I did not agree to it. Yes we were all drunk," the woman texted.

None of the players involved with the alleged assaults are still on the team, having either exhausted their eligibility or graduated. The Enquirer is not naming them because they were exonerated by the school’s internal complaint system and never criminally prosecuted. The woman also is not being named as she filed a sexual-assault claim. None of the players accused of the assault nor the woman who filed the complaint returned several messages left by The Enquirer over several months.

Many details were included in documents and depositions given in a separate unrelated federal Title IX sexual assault lawsuit set for trial this summer, as well as through documents obtained by The Enquirer through open records requests.

A Resident Advisor learned of the incident and, as required by school policy, reported it to NKU officials. The woman eventually told her story to school administrators in late February, starting the official internal process that led to an investigation and a hearing before an internal panel. (This was not a criminal proceeding, and documents do not indicate why the woman chose not to pursue criminal charges with the police).

That investigation also led to officials interviewing another woman. She offered a similar story, involving two of the same players. On Halloween night in 2014, she agreed to have sex with one of them and the other "coerced" her into oral sex. The notes do not indicate why she didn't pursue either administrative or criminal charges.

High-level school officials got involved from the start. They considered suspending the players immediately after the complaint came in — but didn't.

Northern Kentucky University Board of Regents chairman Dennis Repenning says that the settlement with former associate athletic director Chrissy Soards was to avoid a sexual harrassment lawsuit.

Dennis Repenning was the chairman of NKU's Board of Regents at the time. He declined an interview, but in a written statement, he acknowledged he was involved in early discussions about how to handle the situation.

Repenning said he argued successfully to hold off on an immediate suspension. He wanted to ensure the players had due process. He was also worried a suspension would alert them to a pending investigation, possibly allowing them to cooperate on cover stories.

"I didn’t think we should immediately suspend,” Repenning wrote The Enquirer. “We could do a better job of that if we got them back on campus … set up separate and immediate informal hearings for each of the players, and issue no-contact orders between the players and the alleged victims."

Repenning said administrators got the woman's OK on their plans to make sure she felt "safe."

The players were ultimately found "not responsible" for the alleged assault.

But the situation still prompted the email from the three-person panel made up of a faculty member, a member of the school's administration and a student. It was sent immediately after the ruling about the players in April 2015 to the associate dean of students.

‘Team time’ becomes known to school officials

The email referenced the culture in the locker room at the time, an indirect nod to "team time."

Documents from the panel's investigation refer to "team time" several times. School officials even queried the woman as well as her roommate about it. Apparently, it meant that players had some women available for sex on campus. (Documents do not indicate how many of the 15-man roster was involved nor about how many women participated.)

The school’s assistant athletic director Leslie Fields testified to the issue in a deposition in the separate lawsuit. She said the multiple reported sexual incidents involving those players struck her as significant and some details concerned her.

“These boys have a lot of sexual conquests, or have had several,” testified Fields, who oversees NCAA compliance and Title IX issues for NKU athletics.

How much did the coaching staff know? Former assistant Kevin Schappell testified in a deposition in the other case that neither he nor others knew anything about "team time."

NKU head coach Dave Bezold

Former head coach Dave Bezold declined comment through his agent. He has not been called to give a deposition in the separate federal lawsuit.

‘We wanted to make sure everything was done right’

Top administrators got involved as soon as the RA reported the incident in late February.

The first meeting involved no less than the chairman of the university's Board of Regents, the university president and the athletic director. Records show at least two more meetings called by President Geoff Mearns.

Richard A. Boehne, former E.W. Scripps President, CEO

In an interview with The Enquirer, the current chairman of the board of regents, Rich Boehne, said NKU’s top brass was only involved because “we’re talking about the high-profile basketball team here."

"We wanted to make sure everything was done right,” Boehne said. “There is clearly no cover-up here. I am very comfortable with the way this was all handled.”

NKU president Mearns, a former federal prosecutor, said in his deposition released earlier this year that he paid close attention to the case to ensure all “the proper policies and procedures were followed.”

NKU President Geoffrey Mearns

But the lawyer representing the woman suing the school in that separate federal case says the investigation into the players’ incident shows how inconsistently the school handles sexual violence. Kevin Murphy says it took months before his client — who says she was raped as a freshman by a student who was allowed to stay on campus and violate his no-contact orders — got a face-to-face meeting with Mearns over her concerns in her case.

“Why would Mearns get so heavily involved in this case and no others involving severe sexual violence?” Murphy said. “He called several meetings over this not because of the victim but because they were basketball players.

“This is further evidence of deliberate indifference to what’s happening to victims of sexual violence on the campus at NKU.” 

Said Boehne: “Geoff Mearns is the representative for all students and I trust he had the student’s best interests at heart.”

Mearns is leaving to become president of Ball State University in Indiana on May 7. He and athletic director Ken Bothof declined to talk about the incident, the investigation and Bezold’s firing when approached in person at the Horizon League tournament in Detroit last month.

The basketball coaching staff was not included in those meetings involving high-level NKU officials.

Schappell, the former assistant coach, testified that athletic director Bothof only told them that something was going on.

"He said he and Mearns were handling it and to send anyone with any questions to them," Schappell testified.

After those initial meetings, the documents indicate the administration turned the case over to the school's administrative investigation process. That culminated in the hearing and the finding of no responsibility by the players.

Did "team time" get the coach fired? NKU says no

The investigation coincided with the end of the 2014-15 season, which culminated in the firing of then-head coach Bezold.

School officials say the situation had nothing to do with Bezold’s dismissal.

That firing came on the same day NKU investigators interviewed the woman who filed the complaint. It was also the same day the other woman came forward with a similar story about possible coerced group sex.

In his statement, former board chair Repenning wrote "it was critical that we transition into NCAA Division I athletics with the very best people we could find.

"It’s nonsense to imagine some connection to this incident and the dismissal of Dave Bezold as NKU’s basketball coach."

As for the fallout and any steps taken to address “the culture” mentioned in that email, NKU provided to The Enquirer a packet of information, training materials and presentations that all athletes must read or attend in response to an open records request.

Boehne said that training was given to all NKU student-athletes. The materials indicate coaches went through additional training – although the basketball team was not singled out.

“It was broad and deep across all athletes,” Boehne said. “Why would you just do basketball? You have a lot of teams and a lot of young people.”

He added he was confident the days of "team time" are gone.

“That culture does not exist today,” Boehne said. “Look at where we are. We win on the court, we achieve in the classroom with a highly ethical culture.”