San Jose State volleyball head coach Todd Kress spoke out against teams that forfeited matches against his team after losing the conference championship.
San Jose State volleyball head coach Todd Kress provided a statement to Fox News Digital Saturday after his team’s loss in the Mountain West Conference tournament final to Colorado State.
Kress addressed the national controversy surrounding a transgender player on his team and seven forfeited conference matches, including a tournament semifinal with Boise State.
“I will not sugarcoat our reality for the last two months. Our team prepared and was ready to play each match according to established Mountain West and NCAA rules of play. We did not take away anyone’s participation opportunities”, Kress wrote.
Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada forfeited a total of seven matches against SJSU this season.
Kress said each of those forfeits resulted in the team’s players, coaches and staffers receiving “appalling, hateful messages.”
“Sadly, others who for years have played this same team without incident chose not to play us this season. To be clear, we did not celebrate a single win by forfeiture. Instead, we braced for the fallout. Each forfeiture announcement unleashed appalling, hateful messages individuals chose to send directly to our student-athletes, our coaching staff and many associated with our program”, Kress wrote.
The coach, in just his second season with the team, admitted it was one of the toughest seasons of his life.
“This has been one of the most difficult seasons I’ve ever experienced, and I know this is true as well for many of our players and the staff who have been supporting us all along. Maintaining our focus on the court and ensuring the overall safety and well-being of my players amid the external noise have been my priorities”, Kress said.
Kress was named in a lawsuit filed by team co-captain Brooke Slusser and several other Mountain West players against the conference and San Jose State. The lawsuit alleges Kress has communicated with a private lawyer as part of his effort to get Slusser removed from the team and has told others he has filed Title IX complaints against Slusser based not on comments Slusser has made in practice, but on communications Slusser has made to the media and in public forums concerning her beliefs.
Slusser has also alleged the university has threatened to take away her scholarship for speaking on the issues of sharing a team, locker room and bedroom with transgender teammate Blaire Fleming.
