PHILADELPHIA — Six former players on the women’s basketball team at the University of Pittsburgh have sued coach Tory Verdi and the school over what they call abusive coaching methods and say their efforts to seek help were ignored.
“These players aren’t soft. We aren’t talking about sensitive personality types,” lawyer Keenan D. Holmes told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Obviously, there are expectations placed on players. But this went beyond basketball. It went beyond the bounds of common decency.”
Verdi, according to the lawsuit filed Friday, also tried to force players into the transfer portal, putting their scholarships at risk and threatening their academic and athletic futures.
The university denied the allegations in a brief statement issued Tuesday on behalf of both the coach and the school.
“The university is aware of these lawsuits and their allegations, which are without merit and will be vigorously defended,” the statement said.
Verdi has struggled over three seasons at Pitt after notching a winning record in seven seasons at the University of Massachusetts. According to the lawsuits, he once told his Pitt players: “Every night I lay in bed I want to kill myself because of you.”
He told one athlete, according to the legal complaint, “I don’t like you as a player, but I’d let my son date you.”
And he once divided the players by race and had them face off at practice, it said. Some of the women are now in counseling or therapy, and others have sought a red-shirt year of NCAA eligibility based on mental health problems, Holmes said.
The former players include Favor Ayodele of Spain, now at Grand Canyon University; Raeven Boswell, who left the team but stayed at Pitt to finish her degree; Isabella Perkins, now a student at Boston College; Jasmine Timmerson, now playing for Davidson College; and MaKayla Elmore and Brooklynn Miles, who had transferred to Pitt for their senior years.
Some of the players reached out repeatedly to Verdi’s supervisors in the athletic department for help, to no avail, the lawsuits said.
The women seek an acknowledgment that the school violated their civil rights under Title IX, which prohibits gender-based discrimination in education, along with the restoration of their school records and reputations, and compensatory and punitive damages.
