By Ernie Gonzalez and Austin Turner
San Jose State has reopened an investigation regarding the alleged sexual misconduct of “more than a dozen female athletes” by head athletic trainer Scott Shaw, USA Today reports.
The investigation was reportedly reopened when SJSU President Mary Papazian was made aware of the situation in December.
“Because I was not at SJSU at the time of the investigation and the allegations were serious, I reopened the matter to review the original investigation, Papazian said in a campus-wide email. “My goal, along with that of our current administration, is to better understand what transpired.”
According to the report, an initial investigation into Shaw was opened in 2009 in which 17 members of the women’s swimming and diving team claimed they were “inappropriately touched.”
They alleged that Shaw “touched female athletes beneath their undergarments, massaging their breasts and pelvic areas when they sought treatment for other parts of their bodies,” according to the story.
Sage Hopkins, who has been the head coach of the team since 2005, compiled a file of the athlete’s accounts and sent it to the University Police Department at the time of the original investigation, but no arrests were made.
According to USA Today, Hopkins sent the file to SJSU’s Title IX office in 2018. He alleged that university officials “retaliated against him and his team for speaking out against Shaw.”
The newspaper reports that no new allegations against Shaw have been made since 2009, but an anonymous former swimmer told The Spear that is “not 100% true.”
After the original investigation concluded, Shaw was not allowed to have physical contact with female athletes, as ordered by then-athletic director Tom Bowen.
Hopkins also claims that policy was not fully enforced, as he alleges Shaw treated swimmers on “three occasions” after the ordinance, according to USA Today.
“The few people that did [receive treatment from Shaw] didn’t really understand the severity of the situation,” a former SJSU swimmer told The Spear on the condition of anonymity. “They said they never really felt comfortable with Scott but there was never anything that happened [during her time in the program].”
According to USA Today, “recent personnel changes have left some swimmers concerned the university is retaliating against their coach for rereporting their accounts about Shaw.”
Steve O’Brien, who was hired in 2017 as Deputy Director of Athletics, was commanded by athletic director Marie Tuite to discipline Hopkins in February, O’Brien told USA Today.
Tuite fired O’Brien on March 2, after he brought it up to university officials that actions could be “retaliatory.”
O’Brien believes his firing was directly tied to his role in the investigation.
“I was not being given the opportunity to independently assess the merits or the basis for the administrative actions to be taken against Sage Hopkins,” O’Brien told USA Today.
On April 8, Rob Clark was hired as the new deputy director of athletics to oversee development. He will join the staff May 1.
The alleged cover-up by Tuite wouldn’t be the first she has been involved with. She was previously accused of pleading with a rape-accuser to not go to the police while Tuite was with the University of Washington in 2001.
Days before O’Brien’s dismissal SJSU’s Title IX coordinator, Tracey Tsugawa, resigned citing “complications” within the investigation, according to USA Today. She had interviewed many swimmers involved in the 2009 case for the new investigation.
The Spear reached out to Tuite but she was not made available for comment. This story will be updated as statements become available.
The Spear was previously made aware of a potential situation regarding Shaw. All inquiries made by The Spear at the time were ignored. The Spear has no additional evidence that was not reported by USA Today.
