The former wrestling coach at the University of Pittsburgh has sued the school in federal court, saying he was unfairly fired last year without cause in part because he's black.
Jason Peters, who now lives in Hershey, is asking for his job back along with compensatory damages and other related costs.
Mr. Peters, who became head coach in 2013, was fired Jan. 19, 2017, after an investigation into an incident on a team trip the month before to Northwestern University in Illinois for a tournament.
Details of the incident are sparse. At the time, Pitt released a vague statement about an investigation and said the details will remain "private" but that the school was "compelled by its findings to make a change in the program's leadership."
All references to the Evanston events are blacked out in Mr. Peters' lawsuit as the parties resolve what will be public and what won't, said John Stember, Mr. Peters' lawyer.
According to a previous Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story cited in the lawsuit as well as other media accounts, police responded to a 911 call on the early morning of Dec. 31 at the hotel in Evanston where the Pitt team was staying.
Officers said a 22-year-old man answered the door when officers arrived. Two other men, both 19, were also in the room. It's unclear if the men were wrestlers, but one of them said someone had stolen $100 from their room and identified the suspects as two women the men had contacted on Backpage.com — a controversial classified advertising website that has since been seized by federal authorities investigating sex trafficking — as part of what one said was a "joke."
The men who complained refused to cooperate with police any further and didn't want to pursue theft charges.
Evanston police would not release the names of the men.
Mr. Peters said in the suit that when he got back from the trip, no one said anything to him about it. But later, he said, Athletic Director Scott Barnes told him he was being suspended for a match at Pitt on Jan. 13.
According to the suit, Mr. Barnes and other Pitt officials then told him Jan. 17 that he hadn't "properly responded" to the Evanston incident. They fired him two days later.
Mr. Peters and his lawyers say no one ever presented him with any evidence of allegations against him, a violation of his due process rights, and violated the terms of his contract with Pitt by firing him without cause. He also said he was fired because of his race.
He was replaced by Keith Gavin, who is white.
"We don't think there was any misconduct," said Mr. Stember. "What happened to him was really unfair."
Pitt said it doesn't comment on litigation.
Mr. Peters, a native of Hershey, had been at Pitt for 16 years and had been an assistant coach for a decade before becoming the head coach.
He had previously been the assistant coach at Princeton University for four years and an assistant for a year at his alma mater, East Stroudsburg University.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/cr...it-racial-discrimination/stories/201806040134
Jason Peters, who now lives in Hershey, is asking for his job back along with compensatory damages and other related costs.
Mr. Peters, who became head coach in 2013, was fired Jan. 19, 2017, after an investigation into an incident on a team trip the month before to Northwestern University in Illinois for a tournament.
Details of the incident are sparse. At the time, Pitt released a vague statement about an investigation and said the details will remain "private" but that the school was "compelled by its findings to make a change in the program's leadership."
All references to the Evanston events are blacked out in Mr. Peters' lawsuit as the parties resolve what will be public and what won't, said John Stember, Mr. Peters' lawyer.
According to a previous Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story cited in the lawsuit as well as other media accounts, police responded to a 911 call on the early morning of Dec. 31 at the hotel in Evanston where the Pitt team was staying.
Officers said a 22-year-old man answered the door when officers arrived. Two other men, both 19, were also in the room. It's unclear if the men were wrestlers, but one of them said someone had stolen $100 from their room and identified the suspects as two women the men had contacted on Backpage.com — a controversial classified advertising website that has since been seized by federal authorities investigating sex trafficking — as part of what one said was a "joke."
The men who complained refused to cooperate with police any further and didn't want to pursue theft charges.
Evanston police would not release the names of the men.
Mr. Peters said in the suit that when he got back from the trip, no one said anything to him about it. But later, he said, Athletic Director Scott Barnes told him he was being suspended for a match at Pitt on Jan. 13.
According to the suit, Mr. Barnes and other Pitt officials then told him Jan. 17 that he hadn't "properly responded" to the Evanston incident. They fired him two days later.
Mr. Peters and his lawyers say no one ever presented him with any evidence of allegations against him, a violation of his due process rights, and violated the terms of his contract with Pitt by firing him without cause. He also said he was fired because of his race.
He was replaced by Keith Gavin, who is white.
"We don't think there was any misconduct," said Mr. Stember. "What happened to him was really unfair."
Pitt said it doesn't comment on litigation.
Mr. Peters, a native of Hershey, had been at Pitt for 16 years and had been an assistant coach for a decade before becoming the head coach.
He had previously been the assistant coach at Princeton University for four years and an assistant for a year at his alma mater, East Stroudsburg University.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/cr...it-racial-discrimination/stories/201806040134
