Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Long snapper drops lawsuit
A former Troy University long snapper has filed a motion to dismiss his lawsuit against UCF special-teams coordinator Brian Blackmon and several others, according to a court document filed Thursday and obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
The federal lawsuit, which was first reported in August, stemmed from allegations that former Troy punter Jack Dawson verbally harassed and physically abused former Troy long snapper John Haynes at Troy in 2020.
The lawsuit claimed that Blackmon, Dayne Brown and Jamaal Smith, who still works at Troy as the program’s chief of staff, had “actual knowledge” of the harassment against Haynes but did not intervene.
Troy University, who through a spokesperson originally denied all allegations made in the lawsuit, was also listed as a defendant.
In a new filing this week, legal counsel for Haynes requested the Middle District of Alabama court dismiss the claims against the university, Blackmon, Brown and Smith.
Claims against Dawson, however, were not impacted by the request as they still remain in active litigation, according to the document.
Dawson transferred to Jacksonville State University ahead of the 2021 season and served as the team’s starting punter. This year he punted the ball 42 times for 1,768 yards, averaging 42 yards per punt.
Dawson filed a counterclaim against Haynes in September, according to The Chanticleer, Jacksonville State University’s student newspaper.
A spokesperson for UCF Athletics told the Sentinel in August in an email the program didn’t plan to comment on the allegations against Blackmon because it was an “ongoing legal matter.”
The spokesperson acknowledged at the time that UCF coach Gus Malzahn and the university were aware of the matter.
The lawsuit claimed that Troy University “created an environment in which such misconduct was tolerated, thus encouraging continued and repeated intimidation, sexual harassment, and gender-based harassment thus proximately causing injury to [Haynes],” Alabama’s CBS 42 reported.
“Based on the deliberate indifferent response by Coach Blackmon, Coach Brown, and Coach Smith to the known sexual harassment John had endured, John felt unsafe remaining at Troy University,” the lawsuit said.
Bloomberg Law reported in November that the coaches sought an exit from Haynes’ suit claiming that they were immune from the allegations.
Blackmon was hired at UCF by Malzahn on Feb. 21, 2021.
A longtime high school coach in Alabama, Blackmon landed his first college-level job as an offensive analyst for Malzahn at Auburn in 2017.
The next year, Blackmon left Auburn for Troy to serve as the program’s tight ends coach. In 2019, he added special-teams coordinator to his title while also switching to running backs coach.
In his last season at Troy in 2020, Blackmon served solely as specialteams coordinator before reuniting with Malzahn at UCF as the Knights’ special-teams coordinator and tight ends coach.