A former Nebraska basketball player has filed a lawsuit against the University of Nebraska’s head women’s basketball coach and other school officials, after she says they failed to intervene in sexual misconduct.
Ashley Scoggin, a former player for the Cornhuskers team, is accusing head women’s basketball coach Amy Williams and athletic director Trev Alberts of not taking proper action after they discovered her sexual relationship with then-associate head coach Chuck Love. She is also suing Love and the school’s board of regents.
According to the civil lawsuit filed on Sunday in a U.S. District Court, Love allegedly groomed Scoggin into a sexual relationship, ESPN reports. Scoggin said she was afraid to report his advances out of fear of retaliation.
The lawsuit notes that the pair’s inappropriate relationship began in 2021 after Scoggin got an internship with Nebraska Athletics that had her primarily working in Love’s office.
Scoggin said Love, who is married, frequently asked her out on dates, which she turned down, according to the lawsuit. After eventually accepting his invitation to meet up outside of school events, he allegedly kissed her in a parking lot and asked her, “Have you ever done anything with a coach before?”
The suit also alleges Love expected Scoggin to have sex with him whenever and wherever he wanted, including at multiple UNL athletic facilities.
“When Love wanted to have sex, he expected Ashley to be available and willing,” the suit states, per NBC News.“Because Love was married and Ashley did not live alone, this involved sexual relations in different locations in University of Nebraska Department of Athletics facilities. It also included summoning Ashley to his hotel room when the team traveled to road games.”
Scoggin and Love’s inappropriate relationship was eventually exposed during a February 2022 trip to Penn State.
After Scoggin’s teammates became suspicious of the pair, they allegedly recorded her in Love’s hotel room and confronted Scoggin about it. The video was then shown to Williams. The lawsuit does not note what was captured on the clip.
“Williams cast Ashley in the role of a seducer and a liar,” the lawsuit stated. “She allowed the players to berate and accuse Ashley for hours. She did not redirect or counsel the players that what they had seen may be the result of an abuse of power by her associate head coach.”
Williams did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
“It is an abuse of power when a professional coach has sex with a student-athlete – period. There are other options for coaches’ sex lives that do not involve the student-athletes they coach, develop and mentor,” Scoggins lawyer, Maren Lynn Chaloupka, said in a statement to HuffPost.
She added: “The people that call Ms. Scoggin, a hardworking student-athlete, a ‘golddigger’ leave out that Nebraska paid $15 million to a football coach who couldn’t win.”
Chaloupka said she and her client aren’t seeking a particular amount of money from the school, “because we are seeking accountability.”
On Tuesday, University of Nebraska spokesperson Melissa Lee told NBC Newsin a statement, “The University was made aware of the lawsuit Monday morning.” Lee noted that the statement was on behalf of the school, Williams and Albert.
“While the University does not comment on the specifics of pending litigation, it does not agree with the allegations contained in the complaint and intends to vigorously defend this matter,” the statement continued.
After their relationship was formally confirmed in February 2022, Love was suspended with pay and Scoggin was cut from the Cornhuskers team. She transferred to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she’s playing for the Lady Rebels. Love later resigned in May 2022.
Scoggin is seeking punitive damages and compensation for physical and mental suffering, the lawsuit said.
