USA Basketball shouldn’t play slowdown on Auriemma
Organization must address suit’s claims
The lawsuit is a potential bombshell, detailed and serious, accusing Geno Auriemma, coach of the Connecticut and 2012 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball teams, of employment discrimination after he allegedly “stalked, assaulted and battered” a female NBA security officer in 2009.
If it’s true, if Auriemma followed the officer to her hotel room, grabbed her arm, attempted to kiss her on the mouth, was pushed away and later had her removed from her position as the top security official for his U.S. team in London, he must resign or be fired.
If what officer Kelley Hardwick alleges to have happened did occur, Auriemma cannot represent the USA at the Olympics next month. For that matter, if it’s true, he probably wouldn’t be coaching anymore at UConn, either. This is that big of a deal.
It’s unclear if USA Basketball, the national governing body for the sport, realizes the severity of this news story, which was first reported by The New York Times. The organization said in a statement that it would not discuss pending legal matters and “will have no further comment while this case is active.”
That could be months, and that’s not good enough. USA Basketball needs to get to the bottom of this right away. Time is of the essence; the opening ceremony of the London Olympics is July 27. This story certainly would follow the U.S. team at the Games; six of the 12 team members played for Auriemma at UConn. The Americans have won the last four Olympic gold medals and are gold medal favorites again this year.
Requests for further comment from USA Basketball were declined Tuesday.
The U.S. Olympic Committee, which has final approval over all team selections for every sport, has offered an appropriately stronger statement:
“Any allegation of this nature demands serious attention,” said spokesman Patrick Sandusky, who added that the USOC was working with USA Basketball to “determine the facts.”
The USOC moved quickly on another potential controversy last year. When it was reported that 2012 U.S. Olympic team chef de mission Peter Vidmar had participated in two anti-gay marriage demonstrations and donated $2,000 to that cause in California in 2008, Vidmar abruptly resigned from his high-profile leadership position after a firestorm of negative attention.
Auriemma issued a strong statement in his defense Monday. “This claim is beyond false,” he said. “I will defend myself to the fullest, and I’m confident that the truth will ultimately prevail. In the meantime, I remain focused on representing the United States this summer and getting our team ready to compete for the gold medal.”
In her suit, Hardwick, a law school graduate and former New York City undercover narcotics detective, accused the NBA and USA Basketball, as well as Auriemma, of employment discrimination. In an attempt to retain her Olympic assignment, Hardwick provided a list of witnesses to the NBA who she said knew about the encounter with Auriemma. But the league’s general counsel did not talk to these people or to Auriemma, she said.
This is the latest in a series of sexual harassment charges involving the NBA. Last year, a veteran security official sued the organization saying that top officials had ignored his complaints that female employees had been sexually harassed and discriminated against. A year earlier, Bernard Tolbert, the league’s former senior vice president for security, left the NBA after settling a sexual harassment lawsuit.
And in 2007, the New York Knicks paid $11.5 million to former executive Anucha Browne Sanders to settle a sexual harassment suit against the Knicks and former coach Isiah Thomas.