Former ASU softball coach accused of covering up abuse, sexual harassment

PHOENIX — A former Arizona State University head softball coach has been accused by a former Auburn softball player of covering up abusive treatment and a pattern of sexual harassment, according to ESPN.

Former Auburn Tigers head coach Clint Myers was accused of “knowingly [letting] his son Corey Myers have relations and pursue relations with multiple members of the team,” according to a Title IX sexual discrimination complaint filed by former player Alexa Nemeth.

The 14-page complaint was sent by Milwaukee attorney Martin Greenberg, on behalf of Nemeth, to school officials and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey last month.

“We believe that by virtue of the father-son relationship [between Clint and Corey Myers], coaches looked the other way, thereby allowing Auburn’s Intimate Relations Policy to be violated,” part of the complaint read.

Clint Myers, who led the Sun Devils to the Women’s College World Series from 2006 to 2013, retired on Wednesday.

“After 40 years of coaching and reflecting on the importance of spending quality time with my wife, my children, and my grandchildren, I have decided to retire from a sport that I love dearly and which has brought so much joy to me,” Myers said in a release.

According to AL.com, Myers’ resignation came less than eight weeks after the 65-year-old coach agreed to a three-year contract extension.

The complaint claims that Clint Myers was approached on March 30 by several players with text messages on a “student-athlete’s cell phone that Coach Corey was having an inappropriate relationship with one of the student-athletes,” ESPN reported.

Five players told ESPN that Auburn executive associate athletic director Meredith Jenkins “told the players they were risking arrest for taking the text messages from their teammate’s phone and ordered them to delete the messages.”

Nemeth was cut from the team by Clint Myers after the 2017 season and Corey Myers, who was Auburn’s associate head coach, resigned from the team.

According to ESPN, three former players called the program “toxic” and “lacked any kind of institutional control.”

“One former player, when asked if any of the coaches ever commented on her looks, said, ‘That’s how it was determined if you were liked or not,'” ESPN reported.

Corey Myers was forced to resign in 2016, after several members of the team filed anonymous ethics complaints with the athletic department, prompting the university to conduct an internal investigation. The resignation only lasted two weeks.

Former shortstop Haley Fagan told ESPN that she had been “troubled” by Corey Myers’ behavior after he allegedly smacked her on the butt during her first year on the team. “I looked at him and he said, ‘What?’ and I said, ‘Don’t do that.'”

“Coach and Corey, the way they were, it was always our fault. It was our fault if the story got out, it was our fault that Corey had to leave. Everybody protected Coach. Nobody protected us,” Fagan told ESPN.

Fagan said things escalated after “Auburn player took a photo of texts, described as intimate in nature, exchanged between Corey Myers and a teammate” on a March 27 bus trip to play the Florida Gators.

Several team members, including Fagan, said they refused to board the bus “in the company of the player who allegedly exchanged text messages with Corey Myers,” ESPN reported.

“We said that if she gets on, we’re staying off,” Fagan said. “It was a team decision.”

Auburn officials declined to confirm to ESPN that any type of investigation is being conducted, but Nemeth told ESPN that she felt “vindicated.”

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