EXCLUSIVE: A famed attorney who represents female athletes, including Simone Biles, in abuse cases, is the latest critic taking aim at San Jose State University (SJSU) and the California State University (CSU) system for its ongoing volleyball scandal.
The attorney, John Manly, is coming forward after Fox News Digital reported that SJSU was informed of graphic assault allegations against current volleyball coach Todd Kress during the 2024 season, while the university was already under a Title IX microscope for a national controversy involving a trans athlete on the volleyball team.
“This is not about trans rights… and frankly, the trans piece of this is a smokescreen for the university justifying its abominable treatment and protection of female students in the last 20 years,” Manly told Fox News Digital.
“What’s happened here, and I can tell you I believe that’s happened at San Jose State, is that the whole Title IX process has been bastardized. Instead of a process where it was supposed to be about protecting students and athletes, it’s really been about avoiding liability for the university…
“The school needs a wake-up call, and frankly, new leadership.”
INSIDE THE FALLOUT OF THE SJSU VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: THIS IS AN OBVIOUS PROBLEM
Manly served as the chief legal counsel from 2017-21 for Biles and the other women who were sexually abused by Larry Nassar, helping the victims reach a $380 million settlement. He also previously represented SJSU female athletes in a separate case of sexual abuse by a trainer as far back as 2009 to 2020.
The lawyer says he sees similarities in the culture behind SJSU’s handling of its volleyball situation, and the cultures behind the issues in two other cases.
“As to the culture, yes,” Manly said of the similarities to other cases he’s handled. “I mean, there was a culture at Michigan State where the Larry Nassar case was, and I was the lead counsel on that, where this was just acceptable and ignored because it benefited the university… Same thing with the trainer at San Jose State who was convicted of federal civil rights charges.
“When you have a culture that doesn’t value students and frankly treats them as funding devices, when it doesn’t value athletes and frankly treats them as funding devices, and to benefit the university’s, quote, ‘brand,’ this is what happens.”
SJSU previously settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in September 2021 for $1.6 million to be distributed to 13 female student-athletes.
The investigation found that the school’s former head trainer, Scott Shaw, subjected athletes to unwelcome sexual touching under the guise of medical treatment, and that the university ignored complaints for more than a decade. Manly served as legal counsel for those SJSU victims as well.
Then at the end of January this year, the U.S. Department of Education determined the school violated Title IX again in its handling of the volleyball team. But in March, SJSU and CSU sued the federal government to challenge the investigation and its findings.
SJSU and CSU are meanwhile being sued by 11 female players across the Mountain West
