A former Nebraska women’s basketball coach has acknowledged engaging in a five-month sexual affair with a player he supervised on the Nebraska team but said it was consensual and is now making an argument in court that he should be dismissed from that player’s lawsuit against him, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
The coach is former Cornhuskers assistant coach Chuck Love, who is being sued by the player, Ashley Scoggin, as part of a Title IX lawsuit in federal court. Scoggin sued Love and Nebraska in 2024, alleging she was groomed to have a sexual relationship with Love and then was kicked off the team after their relationship was uncovered in a ruse at a team hotel in February 2022.
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In response, Love filed a motion for summary judgment July 31 that would drop him from the lawsuit if successful. This motion argues while he had a sexual relationship with Scoggin at Nebraska, it was consensual and doesn’t violate the constitution.
“Plaintiff (Scoggin) and Love engaged in a consensual sexual relationship from September, 2021 – February, 2022,” said the brief filed with the motion from Love’s attorney, Denise Frost. “They told no one about it. Love did not make, imply or impose threats, retaliation or adverse consequences on Plaintiff in order to have sexual contact with her. Plaintiff never told Love ‘no’ to sexual contact or refused to engage with him.”
Brief says sex with player was ‘ill-advised’ but not ‘unconstitutional’
Love’s supporting brief said Scoggin initiated and engaged Love in sexually charged conversations and created provocative nude and semi-nude photos of herself and sent them to Love on Snapchat. Love’s brief also said he and Scoggin had consensual sexual contact in various places, including the Speedway parking lot in Lincoln, in Love’s office, in a Nebraska locker room, at Love’s home and hotel rooms when the team traveled out of state. It noted Scoggin was 23 at the time and Love was 35.
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“While the sexual contact between Plaintiff and Love was ill-advised, it was not unconstitutional,” Love’s brief states. “Bodily integrity protected by the Fourteenth Amendment is not infringed by a participant’s after-the-fact regrets about an affair.”
A message seeking comment from Scoggin’s attorney wasn’t immediately returned.
Scoggin’s lawsuit seeks damages from Nebraska for allegedly violating her civil rights and causing her pain and suffering. It claims head coach Amy Williams punished her for Love’s alleged abuse of power after teammates and Nebraska practice players created a scheme to confirm and record Scoggin’s presence in Love’s hotel room the night before they played at Penn State on Feb. 17, 2022.
Nebraska also is seeking to get ex-player’s lawsuit tossed
Nebraska officials also recently filed a motion for summary judgment against Scoggin that could get her case against the university thrown out of court. The defendants in Scoggin’s lawsuit include Love, Williams, former athletic director Trev Alberts and the university’s board of regents.
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A federal judge in Nebraska will decide whether to grant these motions or to proceed to trial with Love or the other defendants.
“Plaintiff’s lawsuit rests on the extraordinary premise that university officials violated her constitutional rights by failing to act on information they did not have and that she declined to provide,” said the university’s brief in support of summary judgment. “University officials had no actual knowledge of allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct against Chuck Love, Jr. – including from Plaintiff herself – until nearly a month after the events that are the basis of Plaintiff’s complaints.”
Nebraska suspended Love after the hotel-room incident at Penn State. He later was terminated, according to his July 31 court filing. Scoggin never played for Nebraska again after that and transferred to UNLV in 2022. She finished her college career as a graduate student in 2023-24, when she played in all 33 games for a UNLV team that finished 30-3.
Love’s July 31 brief noted Scoggin concedes Love was not involved in Nebraska’s decision to remove her from the team in 2022.
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“Plaintiff nevertheless sued Love for damages…” Love’s brief states. “Love has moved for summaryjudgment in his favor on all of Plaintiff’s claims.”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-Nebraska coach says relationship with player was consensual, ‘not unconstitutional’
