San Jose State's Brooke Slusser reacts to coach's suspension: 'They took away the only safe space we had'
San Jose State Spartans women’s volleyball player Brooke Slusser reacted to the suspension of her assistant coach who spoke out against the team’s transgender player Blaire Fleming.
The team’s associate head volleyball coach, Melissa Batie-Smoose, was suspended indefinitely. The move came days after she filed a Title IX complaint against the school, alleging Fleming conspired with an opponent to help the team lose a match and attempt to injure Slusser.
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"My assistant coach spoke truth to protect my team. Then… they (suspend) her. They took away the only safe space we had in the program. Because she knew that it was right to stand up for the 18 women on the team. Not one man," Slusser wrote on X.
Slusser also filed a lawsuit against the school.
The lawsuit alleges that San Jose State had not warned any of its recruits that it had a transgender athlete on the team, even though "this was now a well-known fact to the athletic department and virtually everyone else at SJSU" when she joined the lawsuit, headed by former college swimmer and OutKick host Riley Gaines, in May.
San Jose State released a statement to OutKick after the suspension.
"The associate head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter," the team said.
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Batie-Smoose said she was instructed not to speak to the media after the discipline came down.
"This is just another form of what San Jose State has been trying to do – silence people that are speaking up for their First Amendment rights and for what's right," she told OutKick.
She added she wanted to "make sure I'm standing strong that only women should be in women's sports."
San Jose State won its match on Saturday against New Mexico, 3-1. The team has five games left in the season.
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