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A former coach on the San Jose State women's volleyball team, who claims she was suspended due to her filing a Title IX complaint against the school and a transgender volleyball player, revealed the athlete in question received preferential treatment.
Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended in November 2024 after filing a complaint which contained multiple allegations against SJSU and volleyball player Blaire Fleming.
Last week, Batie-Smoose filed a lawsuit against the Board of Trustees of the California State University system - alleging her suspension was 'retaliatory' after filing the complaint.
In the complaint, Batie-Smoose accuses Fleming of conspiring with an opposing player to have team co-captain Brooke Slusser spiked in the face during a match on October 3.
That incident came after multiple opponents in the Mountain West Conference forfeited games due to Fleming's presence on the court.
Slusser joined a lawsuit against the NCAA, alleging that SJSU withheld knowledge that Fleming was born a male. She also claims coaches paired her with Fleming at the athlete's request for away trips.
A former San Jose State volleyball coach says that trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming received special treatment like being allowed to miss practice and to pick roommates on trips
Former coach Melissa Batie-Smoose is suing the CSU system for a retaliatory suspension
Fleming denied the accusation of special treatment, telling Batie-Smoose to 'get a life'
Batie-Smoose was told about Fleming's transition by head coach Todd Kress after she was hired. She says Kress told her that if she revealed Fleming's identity, she would be fired.
Slusser revealed to Fox News in the past that Fleming was given the privilege of consulting with coaches about preferred roommates - something she says wasn't extended to other athletes.
In an interview with Fox News, Batie-Smoose confirmed this: 'Blaire wanted to room with Brooke Slusser, and that's who Blaire felt comfortable [with], so Blaire gets what Blaire wants.'
Batie-Smoose also claims that SJSU gave Fleming other special accommodations, including, 'Not showing up to practice with no excuses, sitting in the stands eating while practice was going on, those kind of things.'
The coach says those exceptions were exclusively for Fleming.
In response to Batie-Smoose's claims about those accommodations, Fleming told Fox News, 'The only times I showed up to practice with "no excuse" and sat in the stands was when I was injured and couldn't play. Brooke Slusser and Melissa need to get a life.'
Batie-Smoose also revealed that she wasn't made aware that Fleming was a trans woman until after she accepted the position at San Jose State.
'[Head coach] Todd Kress told me in passing... because I was asking... "Oh, by the way, Blaire is a male,"' Batie-Smoose says. She claims she was then informed that if she told any other athletes or parents that she would be fired.
Batie-Smoose says she 'never talked to Blaire' and had no prior experience coaching a trans athlete: 'I knew it from the day that I saw Blaire play, but for me it was a focus on the female athletes, that's really why I knew I was here, I had a purpose beyond coaching, which was to protect the female athletes for their privacy, safety and wellbeing, so that was always solely my focus, but not on Blaire.'
