An ex-Holy Cross student who played for the women's basketball team is suing the school and former coach, claiming he verbally, mentally, and physically abused her, NewsTimes.com reported.
Ashley Cooper, who now studies at New York University, claims Gibbons shook her and teammates by the shoulders and hit them during practices and games. She also alleges school officials knew of the abuse and did nothing to protect the student-athletes.
According to court documents seen by The New York Post, Cooper alleged Gibbons "violently yanked and pulled [her] by her shirt collar and strongly squeezed the back of her neck causing pain while barking instructions in her face at close range."
The lawsuit also says that Gibbon's "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.'" It also compare Gibbons, who has coached the women's basketball team for 28 seasons, to Mike Rice -- the former men's basketball coach at Rutgers University who was fired in April after video showed him abusing some of the players.
Cooper filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in New York City and named Holy Cross, coach Bill Gibbons, athletic director Richard Regan Jr., and associate athletic director Ann Zelesky as the defendants. She is seeking unspecified damages and attorney fees.
The Jesuit college released a statement claiming they investigated some of Cooper's accusations, although the lawsuit includes new information that has yet to be looked into.
"The physical, mental and emotional well-being of our students is our highest priority at Holy Cross," the statement read. "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."
The other defendants have not issued comments on the case.
