Holy Cross Harboring 'Crazy' Coach: Suit

By Julia Marsh
The New York Post
October 15, 2013

http://nypost.com/2013/10/15/holy-cross-harboring-crazy-abusive-coach-suit/

Holy Cross coach Bill Gibbons

[with video]

A female athlete from Manhattan is suing the College of Holy Cross saying the Massachusetts school is harboring an abusive basketball coach whose court-side behavior makes the ousted Rutgers coach Mike Rice look like a softy by comparison.

Junior Ashley Cooper, of the Upper East Side, was recruited to play as a guard for the school on a full scholarship in 2011.

But she recently abandoned the full ride and transferred to another school after college brass allegedly ignored women’s basketball coach Bill Gibbons’ harsh treatment of his team, the Manhattan Supreme Court suit alleges.

The veteran coach, who brags about his 533-win record over a 28-year tenure, allegedly “violently yanked and pulled Cooper by her shirt collar and strongly squeezed the back of her neck causing pain while barking instructions in her face at close range,” the Manhattan civil suit claims.

Gibbons’ behavior “exceeds the misconduct involving former Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice,” according to court papers, which NJ Gov. Chris Christie decried as “completely unacceptable” because it violated “the trust those parents put in Rutgers University.”

The suit says the coach’s abuse has “created a toxic environment” for Holy Cross athletes. His tenure has allegedly sapped players’ love for the game and has discouraged alumni from returning for reunion events.

Gibbons’ “yelling, ranting, screaming and hysterics directed toward the Holy Cross players as well as game referees…prompted players on opposing teams to remark: ‘your coach is crazy,’” the suit says.

Even after Cooper’s dad put the school on notice about Gibbons, higher ups allegedly have refused to hand over game-day videotapes documenting the abuse and are keeping the results of an internal investigation under wraps.

Cooper, a 5-foot-10 blond who grew up in Colts Neck, NJ, was heralded as a Player of the Week last season for leading her team to a 72-66 victory against Lehigh University.

The young athlete says she filed the suit as a warning to other abusive coaches.

“Cooper felt compelled to bring this action at this time not only on her own behalf but also on behalf of all women athletes who are abused by their coaches under the grossly offensive rationale that they abusive behavior is ‘motivational,’” she explains in the legal papers.

“The physical, mental and emotional well-being of our students is our highest priority at Holy Cross,” a school spokesperson responded Tuesday night in a written statement. “We just received the lawsuit and are in the process of reviewing it. Ms. Cooper had brought her concern to the College and we investigated it at that time. The lawsuit we received today includes a series of new allegations and we will now bring in outside counsel to review them.”