ED's findings, which were provided by SJSU to Fox News Digital in response to a public records request, suggest the school allegedly considered potential media attention that would arise from taking any action against the coach, and the affect it would have on the team.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMSan Jose State University Spartans head coach Todd Kress speaks with news media after their loss to Colorado State University Rams in an NCAA Mountain West women’s volleyball game in Fort Collins, Colo., on Oct.3, 2024.
(Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)The findings do not mention the coach by name, but Fox News Digital reasonably believes the figure titled "Coach 2" in the findings to be current SJSU volleyball head coach Todd Kress."Additional notes indicate the decision to not suspend Coach 2 also included the improper consideration: 'If we relieve him ..
.[we could also spark more media attention.
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.' University records indicate University officials, including the President of the University, agreed to not suspend Coach 2 because they felt his suspension would unduly disrupt the team," the findings state.ED's investigation determined SJSU allegedly gave Kress preferential treatment over a female assistant coach, titled Coach 2, whom Fox News Digital reasonably believes to be former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who is currently waging a wrongful-termination lawsuit against the school.Batie-Smoose addressed the findings and the allegations that SJSU avoided penalizing Kress to dodge attention in an interview with Fox News Digital."All along, they were looking to protect the male player, and anything that would not draw attention, that was all their decision-making in the process," Batie-Smoose said."'So we want the least amount of attention on this, we want it to go away, and the more we pay light to that, we could have attention on it that we do not want,'" she added about the university's alle...