A San Jose State University women’s volleyball assistant coach has left the team after reportedly filing a Title IX complaint about the squad’s male-to-female transgender player.
The university confirmed that Melissa Batie-Smoose, a coach with 20 years of experience who joined the Spartans’ athletic department last year, is no longer coaching, but did not say whether she quit or was suspended.
“The associate head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter,” SJSU spokesperson Michelle Smith McDonald told The Washington Times in a Saturday email.
She declined to comment on a report in the Australian publication Quillette saying that Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint Tuesday with the university, the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA calling for an investigation into the transgender player situation.
“San José State takes all reports and complaints seriously and is reviewing them,” McDonald said. “Due to federal and state privacy laws, the University is not able to comment on active reports or complaints.”
She also said that the university “has concerns about a number of inaccuracies in the article but is not able to comment further on those in light of those privacy laws. In addition, the university has significant concerns about apparent breaches of student and employee privacy and will be addressing those, as appropriate.”
The women’s volleyball teams at five universities have canceled matches against the Spartans during the 2024-25 season amid fairness concerns over the participation of Blaire Fleming, a 6-foot-1 redshirt senior who ranks among the conference leaders in kills and points per game.
San Jose State co-captain Brooke Slusser, who has spoken out against allowing a biological male to play on the women’s team, said Saturday that Batie-Smoose was fired.
“My assistant coach spoke truth to protect my team. Then … they fire her,” Slusser wrote on X. “They took away the only safe space we had in the program. Because she knew that it was right to stand up for the 18 women on the team. Not one man.”
She should apply for a job in Texas.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 3, 2024
We’re pretty good in volleyball.
And we outlawed men in women’s sports. https://t.co/rVHeHgrPq0
In her complaint, Batie-Smoose accused the university of showing favoritism toward Fleming at the expense of other players; failing to inform incoming players that the roster included a male-born athlete and pressuring other players to keep quiet about Fleming’s transgender identity.
The players were given “repeated instructions by SJSU administrators not to speak about Blaire Fleming” and “caused student-athletes on the team to fear that they could lose their scholarships or be removed from the team if they spoke outside of a team meeting about Fleming’s sex,” according to the complaint by Batie-Smoose, as reported Friday by Quillette.
Batie-Smoose has not commented publicly on her departure from the team, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott suggested that she seek a coaching position in Texas.
“She should apply for a job in Texas. We’re pretty good in volleyball,” Mr. Abbott wrote on X. “And we outlawed men in women’s sports.”
California allows collegiate athletes to compete based on gender identity, as does the NCAA, while 25 Republican-controlled states have barred biological males from playing on female teams.
Nineteen current and former collegiate athletes, including Slusser, have sued the NCAA over its transgender policy, a lawsuit being funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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