OMAHA, Neb. -- Former Nebraska women's basketball assistant coach Chuck Love 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.
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.
The lawsuit named Love, the university's Board of Regents, women's head basketball coach Amy Williams and former athletic director Trev Alberts as defendants. Scoggin seeks a jury trial in Lincoln and unspecified damages for the alleged violation of her civil rights.
Williams and Alberts, now the
athletic director at Texas A&M, are accused of not setting rules, training or policies prohibiting staff members from having sexual relationships with athletes.
Scoggin played two seasons for the Huskers. She was dismissed from the team on the same day Love was suspended with pay in February 2022.
Love resigned three months later. Scoggin, who is from Dallas, Oregon, transferred to UNLV.
Love's response, filed Friday, disputed most of the allegations by Scoggin, who was kicked off the team a few days after teammates discovered her, fully clothed, in Love's room during a road trip.
Love denied Scoggin's claims he sought sexual relationships with students, that he discussed inappropriate topics with her and that he invited her to go out for drinks.
Love acknowledged he met Scoggin at a parking lot, saying in court papers she was "emotionally distraught and urgently insisted that she needed to see (him) immediately, so they agreed to meet at a parking lot, a place where Scoggin felt she could speak without fear of being heard by others, in particular other players on the team."
Love denied Scoggin's allegation of a second late-night meeting at a Costco parking lot, where she said he kissed her and asked, "Have you ever done anything with a coach before?"
Scoggin was discovered in Love's hotel room during a trip to Penn State in February 2022. Teammates engaged in a ruse to obtain a key to Love's room. When they entered, they discovered Scoggin on the bed fully clothed. Love said Scoggin had been in his room at her request to discuss a personal problem.
The regents, Williams and Alberts said in their joint response to the civil lawsuit that they didn't have "sufficient information and belief to either admit or deny the allegations" of a sexual relationship between Scoggin and Love.
They said Scoggin admitted during a meeting with administrators that she violated university rules and policies. The nature of those violations weren't specified in the court document. Williams and executive athletic director Keith Zimmer then told her she was off the team. Alberts supported that decision during another meeting that included Scoggin's parents. Scoggin, at that meeting, said there was nothing sexual between her and Love.
"Defendants admit Williams told Plaintiff and her parents that violation of the University's rules and policies, and the dishonesty and distrust between Plaintiff and her teammates, warranted her removal as an active member of the Team," the document said.
www.espn.com
