Starck concluded what the coaches had done didn’t constitute hazing and the contact between Hopkins and Peatross “was minimal and did not appear intentional.”As part of the drill, Hopkins ran up the sideline toward midcourt with her head turned to catch a pass. Peatross stood a few feet onto the court and Hopkins bumped into […]
Starck concluded what the coaches had done didn’t constitute hazing and the contact between Hopkins and Peatross “was minimal and did not appear intentional.”As part of the drill, Hopkins ran up the sideline toward midcourt with her head turned to catch a pass. Peatross stood a few feet onto the court and Hopkins bumped into her.The lawsuit also alleges the coaches violated NCAA rules by attending open gyms, turning preseason team activities into workouts, telling players they had to pray before games, forcing them to miss classes for shootarounds and coercing players into signing sheets saying they weren’t practicing too much.
Ana McClave said the coaches forced her to take part in workouts in September even though she had not been medically cleared from knee surgery she had in May.They talked with Lydum, Larson and others at the school. Players and their families filed complaints to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.Kafoury said players Ally Harman and Kya Kanoho previously settled claims against the university. One former player did not join the lawsuit.“Out of this, I just want people to know what they did to us,” Ana McClave said.
Handfield requested the case be closed on March 11, 2024, due to “lack of cooperation.”
Noyes had been treated for depression for years, and she said her doctor suggested she switch medication at the beginning of the school year. The coaches treated her differently after she told them she was changing antidepressants, Noyes said, and Marlow asked if she was addicted to the medication.The day after the Feb. 12 practice, Peatross called Monmouth police and told officer Derian Handfield that Hopkins intentionally elbowed her in the chest at the practice.
Peatross was the head coach for two years at Delta College, a junior college in Michigan, and one year at NCAA Division II Salem University in Salem, Virginia, before she was hired at Western Oregon.Four players are playing basketball at other colleges; five still attend Western Oregon. The basketball career of most of the players is over.”This was my make-it-or-break-it with these coaches and they broke me,” Ramos said.If they did not complete the running exercises in the prescribed time, they were told to run more, the lawsuit alleges.The lawsuit alleges Peatross’ reporting of the incident to police is a violation of state law that prevents people from summoning police with improper intent.“We started counting in November. We got 100 days left,” Noyes told the Statesman Journal.Nine players from Western Oregon University’s 2023-2024 women’s basketball team on Wednesday sued the university, coaches Jessica Peatross and D.J. Marlow, the athletic director, university president and dean of students, alleging their scholarships were taken away in retaliation after they claimed abuse by the coaches.
Western Oregon hires Jessica Peatross as head coach in 2023
On April 23, the 10 players who had eligibility remaining received letters from Western Oregon telling them their scholarships were terminated.Cristin Casey, an attorney for Littler Mendelson, conducted interviews with players Ana McClave, Cali McClave, Ramos and Hopkins and two players who voted to continue the season, Bella Pedrojetti and Triniti Youngblood.“I’m your coach. Get out. Get out. Y’all don’t get a choice,” said Peatross, who insisted the contact was intentional.“They would put it down correctly on the calendars and then they would put team activities on there, which made it seem like team bonding. It was actually practice,” said Cali McClave.“That first week, my toes were bloody after each practice,” Arnold, who was a sophomore on the team, told the Statesman Journal. “I’ve always had asthma my whole life. This year was the worst I’ve ever experienced. I was having an asthma attack about every single conditioning because there wasn’t enough break time.”Once Western Oregon decided to keep the coaches, the players spoke out to anyone who would listen.
They say the coaches made them sprint so much that they lost weight they didn’t have to spare. Ramos told the Statesman Journal she dropped 20 pounds from her healthy weight of 145 pounds to 125.The video recording shows Peatross calmly talking in the minutes after the incident.Western Oregon University removed from its website a citation of Peatross playing basketball at Chicago State after the Statesman Journal asked in February 2024 if the school had verified she played there.
Western Oregon women’s basketball players allege extreme workouts
The resume Peatross submitted to Western Oregon, obtained by the Statesman Journal via a public records request, stated she played basketball at NCAA Division I Chicago State University and was on the golf and track and field teams.Peatross accused Hopkins of purposely running into her and telling her to leave practice, according to a video taken by Ana McClave.
The lawsuit seeks .2 million, the firing of Peatross and Marlow, reinstatement on the team for the players still at Western Oregon, training at the university to prevent abuse, harassment and retaliation, an independent monitor for two years to ensure compliance with player safety and requiring the university to provide counseling to current and former players.Three days after the incident, Peatross filed a report with the university’s campus public safety and told the officer she had chest and head pain, shortness of breath and nausea. She said the pain worsened the day after the incident and she returned to the emergency room.Peatross said that she immediately left the gym after the incident and went to the hospital.Peatross and Marlow were placed on paid leave on Feb. 20.
Cali McClave, a senior on the team, said she wrote, “No. Why would I want to play for these idiots?”Holli Howard-Carpenter resigned as Western Oregon’s basketball coach in 2023 after nine seasons. Seven returning players said school administrators involved them in the process of hiring a new coach.Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com“I don’t even know why I listened to them,” Noyes said.In June, Polk County District Attorney Aaron Felton asked Monmouth police to review the incident, and Monmouth officer Michael Strack watched a video the school took of the practice.
Nothing changed.
Players take their concerns to Western Oregon administrators
Noyes said she stopped taking the prescribed medication after Peatross suggested it in November 2023, according to the lawsuit. She said that she was taken out of a game and Marlow asked her on the bench, “Did you take your stuff today?”Peatross told the officer the pain she felt from the incident was a 10 out of 10 and it worsened the day after.Cali McClave said Lydum told her, “These coaches deceived us, and this is not what we wanted for the school,” according to the lawsuit.A university statement in response to the lawsuit said: “Western is committed to upholding its values and fostering an environment that promotes student success, well-being, and a sense of belonging for all.”Some players told the Statesman they felt pressured by the coaches to leave the team.
Peatross reports Hopkins to police, does not pursue charges
The coaches did not immediately reply to a request for comment.Peatross was announced as Western Oregon’s basketball coach on June 25, 2023.Hopkins told the Statesman Journal that Lydum said the pool of candidates for the job was not great, and she didn’t expect the situation to turn out as it had.Noyes said she told university staff, including an athletic trainer, about Peatross’ instruction and was told it was going to be reported to athletic director Randi Lydum. Nothing changed, she said, and she resumed taking her medication a week later.Monmouth Police Chief Isaiah Haines said the department considered charging Peatross with filing a false report but didn’t because she didn’t press charges against Hopkins.On April 12, a group of players met with WOU Board of Trustees Chair Betty Komp and explained what had happened.
Their season, and the careers of many of the players, was over.The Chicago State’s sports information director confirmed Peatross competed in golf and track and field but said, “I cannot find any basketball information for her.”After nearly a minute of pleading, Hopkins left the gym and Ramos followed.“That’s why we were so shocked when she got hired,” said Ana McClave, a player on the committee.Players told the Statesman Journal the coaches arrived late to practice that day and made them run a 3-on-3 continuous full-court drill with minimal breaks.A month later, the university announced that Marlow, Peatross’ assistant coach at Salem University, had been hired as assistant coach.
Western Oregon keeps coaches after investigation
Western Oregon hired law firm Miller Nash to fight the Statesman Journal’s appeal to the Polk County district attorney, and attorney Heather Van Meter argued the investigation was exempt from disclosure.Noyes, a Utah native and junior in eligibility, came to Western Oregon after three years at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington, and a year at Division I Southern Utah.On video Ana McClave took of the practice, Peatross remained in the gym for 17 minutes.In the days after announcing the season had concluded, Western Oregon University hired law firm Littler Mendelson to conduct a “comprehensive fact-finding investigation” to determine if the coaches jeopardized player safety.In an email to the Statesman Journal, Felton said the university did not provide him with a copy of the investigation as he requested and told him he would have to review it at the school. He said he expects to make a ruling on the appeal in February.Handfield’s report said he repeatedly tried calling Peatross and Western Oregon over the next month, but Peatross did not return his calls. He tried to get video of the incident but was told by Lydum and campus security that they didn’t have access.Seven players on the hiring committee said three applicants were interviewed, and the players all gave the highest marks to a coach from a small college in Oregon.According to the lawsuit, four players had individual meetings with Lydum or dean of students Malissa Larson. They say the administrators were sympathetic and promised immediate changes that never happened.The lawsuit filed in Marion County Circuit Court alleges the players were subjected to extreme workouts in every practice through the season that resulted in them vomiting and becoming dehydrated and physically ill.The details of the investigation’s findings have not been disclosed.After the investigation, the university said in an April 2 statement that “the allegations against the coaches were not sustained” and the coaches were reinstated.The Statesman Journal filed a public records request for the investigation, but the university rejected it, saying the investigation was exempt due to attorney-client privilege.Based on their interactions with Lydum, the players assumed the coaches, who had signed one-year contracts before the season, would be gone after the season.Ana McClave said Peatross gave her an ultimatum: “You either quit or you come and you kiss my ass.”Portland lawyer Jason Kafoury, who represented former University of Oregon football player Doug Brenner in a lawsuit against UO, and civil rights and discrimination attorney Shenoa Payne are representing the nine players: Gracie Arnold, Gretta Baker, Kilynn Dawkins, Hanne Hopkins, Ana McClave, Cali McClave, Jodi Noyes, Kailiana Ramos and Pi’o Tu’ivai.Days later the players met in a small conference room with the coaches who asked if they wanted to play the final games of the season. Ten players from the team, in an interview with the Statesman Journal, said that they voted no.
