Idaho volleyball head coach Chris Gonzalez resigned under pressure on Friday after a university commissioned investigation that confirmed dozens of allegations of abuse and bullying by Gonzalez first detailed in a Southern California News Group report last December.
While current and former Idaho players welcomed Gonzalez removal, saying it was long overdue, they expressed outrage in interviews with SCNG over the university’s decision to shut down the investigation without addressing how university officials ignored repeated complaints about Gonzalez behavior since the opening weeks of the 2022 season.
“At least he’s not going to be able to harm any other athletes in the future,” said Marissa Drange, a former Idaho player. “But think the university should have continued to pursue the investigation. It just kind of a cop out to say oh, he resigned.”
“With his resignation, the investigation stops, and no further action will be taken,” the university said in a statement to SCNG. “..With this resolution, we look forward to the volleyball program rebuilding an environment in which our student-athletes can be comfortable and succeed both on the court and off.”
But for current and former Vandals players, their families and supporters the scandal is far from resolved.
“Now the question is who’s next?” said Taryn Vrieling, a standout on the 2022 and 2023 Idaho squad who recently transferred to Washington State. “We got the action we wanted” with Gonzalez’s being forced out “but it’s frustrating because there’s still of a lot of parts that need to be (addressed).
“Terry is a part, she ignored it, President Green ignored it” Vrieling continued referring to Idaho athletic director Terry Gawlick and university president Scott Green, who have both facing mounting criticism and calls for their resignations among Idaho alumni and leading donors. “Now all of a sudden, it’s stopped?
“There is no justice.”
Players also criticized Texas attorney Jackie Wernz, who in recent months has served as the university’s acting director for the Office of Civil Rights and Investigations, complaining that she was inaccessible and did not respond to their questions and concerns in a timely manner. Wernz as recently as March listed herself on social media as an attorney with Thompson and Horton, the Texas law firm hired by Idaho to conduct the Gonzalez investigation. University officials told players that Wernz continued to live in Dallas despite her position at Idaho, according to multiple Idaho players. Idaho players said they were frustrated that Wernz had ignored their emails in recent days after previously promising the athletes she would be accessible.
Wernz did not respond to a request for comment.
Players were also upset that they found out about Gonzalez’s resignation from SCNG and not the university.
“Pretty typical of the university,” Vrieling said.
Idaho spokesperson Jodi Walker said Green and Gawlick remain in their current positions and declined to address the players’ criticisms of the decision to shut down the investigation, the university’s handling of the matter and of Wernz.
“I don’t have any further comment other than what’s in the university’s statement,” Walker said.
Walker said in February that Idaho would “most likely” not release a final report on the findings of the investigation into Gonzalez.
While the university said Gonzalez resigned “prior to the conclusion of the university’s investigative process,” attorneys hired by the university had forwarded dozens of findings to school officials that confirmed SCNG reporting of Gonzalez’s routine abusive behavior.
The move comes two months after Gonzalez was placed on leave after a preliminary report by the university’s Office of Civil Rights and Investigations (OCRI) found “sufficient evidence” that Gonzalez committed sex-based harassment, retaliated against Vandals players and violated other university policies, the Southern California News Group has learned.
The OCRI also found “sufficient evidence” that Gonzalez, the Southern California native and former U.S. national team coach, discriminated against players based on national origin and violated three other university policies, according to the OCRI’s 42-page report. The OCRI found insufficient evidence that Gonzalez sexually discriminated against female assistant coaches.
Gawlik has been the subject of harsh criticism for how she has handled repeated credible complaints alleging abusive behavior by Gonzalez since October 2022. Several current and former players, as well as parents and Idaho alumni, have called on Gawlik to be fired.
“This should have been taken care of a long time ago,” Drange said. “This should have been taken care of when I first went into talk to Terry Gawlick in the fall of 2022.”
The OCRI investigation focused on only a part of the allegations by current and former Idaho players, their parents and university employees that Gonzalez has been abusive toward players on an almost daily basis.
Idaho hired Thompson & Horton to investigate the culture of the school’s volleyball program under Gonzalez in response to a 9,000-word SCNG investigation in December that detailed allegations that the coach routinely physically, verbally, emotionally abused, bullied, body shamed players, pressured them to play or practice against the orders of the university’s sports medicine staff and denied players food. Players also alleged that on at least two occasions Gonzalez physically pushed players so hard in frustration or anger during practices that he knocked them over.
Gonzalez routinely pressured Vandals players who had not been cleared to play or practice by the school’s sports medicine staff to participate in matches, withheld pre-ordered food from players after losses, physically pushed players during practices, bullied and body shamed athletes. and on multiple occasions touched players without getting prior permission from them, making the women uncomfortable, according to summaries of player interviews conducted by attorneys.
The interview summaries, obtained by SCNG, detail what one Idaho starter described as a “fear-based environment” created by Gonzalez and substantiated allegations first reported by SCNG in December and January that prompted the university-commissioned investigation.
Player interactions with Gonzalez, one starter told investigators were “70 percent negative.” The summaries portray Gonzalez, who is 5-51 overall, 1-32 in Big Sky Conference play in two seasons at Idaho, as a coach who has failed to connect with his players and often lashed out in frustration. The Vandals have lost 24 consecutive Big Sky matches.
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The summaries also detail how the players repeatedly voiced concerns to Gawlik that Gonzalez and his staff were putting their physical safety and mental health at risk early in 2022-23 academic year but that Gawlik was dismissive toward them and their concerns.
Thompson & Horton attorneys interviewed more than three dozen people, compiling more than 80 hours of interviews and also “reviewed information provided by players, coaches, other athletic staff, and administrators,” according to an email to Idaho players from Holly McIntush, an attorney for Thompson & Horton.
Current and former Idaho players, their parents and supporters have repeatedly expressed frustration about the length of the investigations and what they describe as the university’s inadequate response to repeated credible allegations.
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