San Jose State assistant volleyball coach suspended indefinitely, files Title IX complaint

San Jose State University’s assistant volleyball head coach, Melissa Batie-Smoose, has been suspended indefinitely by the institution for speaking out against a transgender student-athlete on the team. Players were informed on Saturday prior to the start of their match against New Mexico.

Batie-Smoose claims the school is trying to silence her while other claims allege the transgender athlete, Blaire Fleming, conspired with an opposing player to injure a San Jose teammate, Brooke Slusser, who also was outspoken about Fleming being on the team.

Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint against the school earlier this week. Within that complaint, Batie-Smoose states she was aware of this alleged conspiracy — contributing to what she described as a “toxic culture” created by Fleming.

A recent story from Outkick detailed the Spartans’ suspension of Batie-Smoose and what spurred the ruling. Below is an excerpt from the Outkick story.

San Jose State said in a statement to OutKick: “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 assistant coach not only filed a complaint but spoke to an outlet about the toxic culture created by having transgender player Blaire Fleming on the team.

As a result of that interview, San Jose State issued a statement to OutKick: “San José State takes all reports and complaints seriously and is reviewing them. Due to federal and state privacy laws, the University is not able to comment on active reports or complaints,” the statement read.

“The University also has concerns about a number of inaccuracies in the article but is not able to comment further on those in light of those privacy laws. In addition, the University has significant concerns about apparent breaches of student and employee privacy and will be addressing those, as appropriate.”