Basketball players protest verdict

December 12, 2007

By Juan Villa



Former Fresno State women’s basketball players Paige Diggs (center) and Kendra Walker-Roche (left) speak on behalf of other former and current players in denouncing the $19.1 million verdict awarded to former women’s basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein handed down last week. The rally was in the Free Speech Area on Monday. “The main point is, we support our administration 100 percent,” Walker-Roche said. “This is all our words. Everything we say is the truth.” The players, some of whom testified in the trial, had previously criticized their former coach for her actions, both on and off the court.

Comments may be used in the print edition of the newspaper. Be sure to pick up next Friday’s issue of The Collegian for featured comments.

Comments

9 Responses to “Basketball players protest verdict”

  1. you are fools on December 12th, 2007 11:45 am

    You players have no clue. This case was never about you or how you felt. It was about wrongful termination and equal treatment. If the men’s coach is allowed to get away with murder than so is the woman’s coach. It is about equality that woman have fought for for years. Your ignorant rally is setting back all the work that of the people who fought to give you the very opportunity to be a division I athlete. Wake up!

  2. 2 girls 1 cup dot com on December 12th, 2007 12:17 pm

    you are fools, Stacey Johnson Klein WAS IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM a champion for athletic equity. Pull your head out. SJK set the women’s movement BACK. The sexy attire, her proving that she could be even more of a hard ass than any male coach at any university.

    Title IX was doing just fine without the antics of SJK.

    If 90% of SJK’s players wanted her employment terminated and she was popping pills on the side, the university was within their authority to let her go.

    Title IX is also a joke and will hopefully soon meet its end.

    What problem do you have with allowing these players their rightful forum?

  3. Whatever on December 12th, 2007 1:58 pm

    “You Are Fools” is right that the case had nothing to do with the student-athlete experience at Fresno State. It’s about equal treatment among employees. I’m sure she was a horrible couch and an all-around crazy person.

    The award is ridiculous but the university did not handle things the proper way or they wouldn’t be in the pool of crap they’re in now.

  4. Dan on December 12th, 2007 7:55 pm

    To the ladies: my experience as a former college athlete was that coaches aren’t necessarily nice to their players. You do what they tell you or you’re punished. I suspect the jury dismissed your testimony because it was so over the top, and there were those “I hate you” statements from some of you that the media reported in their coverage. I think that stuff hurt your credibility which wasn’t much as far as I was concerned.

  5. Aaron on December 15th, 2007 5:26 am

    Actually, as a person involved in collegaite athletics, it is all about the student-athlete and coach relationship. The coaches’s first job is to protect their athletes. Athletes go to a school for the coaching staff because they feel safe there. Their parents feel safe there. End of story. Coaching is about seeing young men and women grow and mature. THis case should not be compared to male coaches being fired etc. That’s a flawed defense, every case needs to stand on it’s own merit.

  6. Whatever on December 15th, 2007 1:04 pm

    Aaron, you’re avoiding the topic by focusing on what you know about athletics. They had perfectly good reasons to fire her and I’m sure she was an awful coach. But Fresno State went about firing her in a way that the jury ruled was discriminatory.

    Lopes was doing some bad stuff but was given a chance to resign (I think with pay) and therefore keep a low profile.

    With SJK the university made the investigation to fire her very public and damaged her reputation, what little she had left of it anyway. They didn’t offer her a chance to resign with a severance payment, either, according to her attorneys.

    The lawsuit was about equal treatment and the attorneys made a good case that the university was out to get her because she was a crazy female.

    It’s still all ridiculous. The university probably wanted to make this public to look like it was cleaning up the athletics department. Major backfire.

  7. Ima Weiner on December 16th, 2007 7:05 pm

    $19 million is outrageous. Showing support for the Welty admin. is more outreageous than the settlement.

  8. Fresno State Fan on January 2nd, 2008 6:26 pm

    I’m a big fresno state fan but i have to say that stacey johnson klein won her case because she filed a lawsuit that fresno state was sexually discriminating Fresno States Defense : SJK a Terrible Coach. Fresno State should have fought back and look liked the victim by saying that they weren’t discriminating and that she was filing a lawsuit just for the compensation! I believe she was being discriminated against! and i also happen to believe that the women’s basketball players who testified where given money to do so.

  9. prima facie on May 1st, 2008 9:57 pm

    Fresno State can discriminate against me for half that amount. And I don’t look nearly as hot and she does.

Got something to say?