Cal fired assistant basketball coach after investigating reporter's harassment claim

Cal assist. coach shut out reporter after she refused sex, report says

Yesterday Cal fired Yonn Hufnagel for sexual harassment. Today more of the picture comes out -- the school finished an investigation into allegations that he repeatedly hit on a reporter, then refused to talk to her anymore when she didn't get down.

The reporter was let go by her employer after she was unable to perform her job, according to the redacted report of the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination. Neither the reporter nor her employer are identified.

. . .

The accuser, a reporter who covered the team last season, claimed that she received “sexually harassing communications” from Hufnagel on a bi-weekly basis between November 2014 and May 2015 in response to her attempts to communicate with the assistant coach for professional purposes. She detailed one March 2015 text message exchange in which Hufnagel allegedly made sexual innuendos to her implying, in her words, “Come have a three-way with me.”

Strange times. This is the third dismissal on campus in the last few months over a harassment accusation, and another high-ranking dude resigned in protest of the way some of the other cases were handled. And, as I noted yesterday, head coach Cuonzo Martin has worked his first two years without a signed contract, at least partly because of this investigation.

Huffnagel sez:

 

And an update -- the report itself is linked, and the writeup is better.

Fired UC Berkeley coach admits propositioning reporter for sex, trying to 'trick' her into going into his apartment

BERKELEY -- In a report released Tuesday, fired UC Berkeley basketball coach Yann Hufnagel admits bringing a reporter into the parking garage of his apartment building and, with the garage door closed, asking her more than once to have sex with him in his apartment.

"With all candor, I was trying to trick her into going upstairs," he told the investigator.

OK, major creeper.

 

Sucks that the paper who fired her over this gets to draft on her right of anonymity, too.

 

Wait, the reporter was fired?

 

"let go by her employer after she was unable to perform her job" is a mysterious way of putting it.

I know harassment is a far worse reason than the normal coach/reporter bullshit, but a freeze-out isn't uncommon at all, and reporters often work around it. But again, not many have faced that kind of freeze-out.

 

That does sound like an odd reason for dismissal. Switching beats is a way of giving in, I realize, and there's no reason to doubt Cal's report, but I wonder if other factors greased the skids?

But, yeah, the creepiness is strong in this one.

 

How vital is it that the beat writer be able to talk to a new assistant coach?

If she could no longer perform her duties to the point she was fired, it seems that would mean the big freeze extended to the head coach, the SID for player access and others in the department.

If that's the case, then everybody there needs to go, too.

 

Considering the paucity of outlets covering that team and the depth of info you'd need for consistent contact with an assistant the head coach passed her off to, my gut would be a recruiting site writer.

 

This got a little more interesting. Apparently Cal's coach knew of problems a couple of months before UC was notified.

Cal harassment scandal: Head coach knew about problems with assistant

If I remember my HR training right, isn't the coach obligated to report the problem to the university?

 

Ooh. Yeah he's a mandatory reporter.

They're probably at least talking about getting rid of him for that. And it will cost them zero dollars in buyout.

 

The article in the OP says Huffnagel was the unofficial press liaison for the team, so it would appear he had the ability to freeze her out of contact with the coach and players as well.

 

What does the SID do then?