Former University of Nebraska women’s basketball assistant coach Chuck Love has denied ever having a sexual relationship with former Cornhuskers player Ashley Scoggin but acknowledged in a court document that he did meet with her late at night in a Lincoln parking lot.
As reported by The Associated Press, Scoggin in February filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court describing how Love allegedly took a special interest in her and saying the relationship turned sexual and caused Scoggin to fear retaliation if she refused to engage in it.
In a court filing Friday, the university and women's basketball coach Amy Williams asked a federal court judge to dismiss the Title IX lawsuit filed by Scoggin, Nebraska Public Media reported.
The lawsuit names Love, Williams, the university’s Board of Regents and former athletic director Trev Alberts (not the AD at Texas A&M) as defendants. Scoggin seeks a jury trial in Lincoln and unspecified damages for the alleged violation of her civil rights.
Specifically, according to the AP, Williams and Alberts are accused of not setting rules, training or policies prohibiting staff members from having sexual relationships with athletes.
Related: Former Nebraska Women's Basketball Player Sues Over Handling of Relationship With Assistant Coach
In her original complaint Scoggin accused Love of “grooming and initiating a sexual relationship.”
Scoggin, having played two seasons with the Huskers, was dismissed from the team on the same day Love was suspended with pay in February 2022. Love resigned three months later. Scoggin, an Oregon native, transferred to UNLV, according to NPM.
In a separate answer, attorneys for UNL wrote that because administrators “lack firsthand knowledge of the allegations” of the relationship described by Scoggin, they “therefore deny same.”
The NPM report continues:
Scoggin describes in her court filings an evening when team members traveled to Pennsylvania for an away game. She claims a group brandishing a video camera barged into Love’s hotel room where they confronted Scoggin and the assistant about the relationship. She claims the recording was shared with Coach Williams.
The complaint goes on to claim Williams called a team meeting where the coach “invited the team members to interrogate both Ashley and Love.” She describes being “assailed” by teammates “screaming, crying, and using profanity.”
In Friday’s court filing the university denies the coach knew about the hotel confrontation.
Scoggin states Williams and the university should have been aware of Love’s alleged inappropriate behavior and moved to protect the student, as required under Title IX guidelines. Instead, she claims, knowledge of the relationship and a confrontation with her teammates resulted in her being cut from the team mid-season.
At a time when Scoggin and Love were denying any romance, the athletic department maintains it was Scoggin’s dishonesty and a loss of trust with her teammates that led Williams to cut the player.
The court filings claim Scoggin “admitted to violating University rules and policies” and as her “dishonesty and the distrust between Plaintiff and her teammates” which “warranted her removal as active member of the Team.”
UNL maintains the athletic department acted in good faith, while providing Scoggin access to information on how to respond to concerns about inappropriate sexual contact.
Scoggin, in her complaint, argues the university was “motivated to avoid scandal and embarrassment to the Cornhusker women’s basketball program, instead of being motivated to protect its student-athlete.”
