South Carolina’s Dawn Staley files defamation lawsuit against Mizzou AD Jim Sterk
According to records, South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley filed a defamation lawsuit against Mizzou Athletic Director Jim Sterk today after comments made by Sterk during a radio interview on KTGR in January.
Staley is suing Sterk for $75,000 not including court and legal fees, and Sterk has 30 days to respond.
Following Mizzou’s loss to South Carolina on Jan. 28, Sterk alleged opposing fans spit and used racial slurs at Mizzou’s players and coaches as they walked off the court.
“It wasn’t a great atmosphere. It was really kind of unhealthy if you will,” Sterk told “The Big Show”. “We had players spit on and called the N-word and things like that. It was not a good environment. And unfortunately, I think Coach Staley promoted that kind of atmosphere, and it’s unfortunate that she felt she had to do that.”
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According to court records received, the lawsuit claims Sterk’s statement that “Coach Staley promoted a hostile and negative atmosphere designed to incite riotous conduct at a college basketball game in which her team was participating was false, defamatory, reckless and made with actual malice in that the Defendent knew the statement was false and still made it with reckless disregard for the truth.”
Sterk also met with South Carolina’s athletic director and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey in February to discuss Sterk’s statements and what transpired after the game.
Today, the SEC announced a public reprimand and fine of $25,000 against Sterk for a violation of the conference’s code of ethics based on his statements. The SEC also mandated an office-led reviews of South Carolina’s game management procedures and visiting team security.
In a statement, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said, “Both Missouri and South Carolina have cultivated highly successful women’s basketball programs, which enjoy tremendous fan support, and have earned the respect of this office. While we always appreciate a healthy level of competitive intensity on the court, there is no place in this league for discord inside or outside of the arena. I have had multiple conversations over the past few weeks with representatives of both schools about the problems emanating from their January 28 game and it has been my desire for those issues to be mutually resolved between the athletic programs and individuals involved. Unfortunately, a mutual resolution does not appear imminent. Our hope is that we can direct our focus back where it belongs – on our student-athletes and on-court competition.”
We reached out to the South Carolina athletic department for a comment, but it declined to make a statement on the lawsuit.
In a statement, UM system chancellor Alexander Cartwright and system president Mun Choi said, “We remain confident in University of Missouri Athletic Director Jim Sterk. Since he came here in August 2016, Jim has exhibited a passion for our student athletes and their success and safety both on and off the court. He has proven himself to be an excellent administrator.”
South Carolina Athletic Director Ray Tanner released a statement Jan. 31 stating, “The commitment to a secure environment for everyone at our home games, including fans, student-athletes, coaches and staff from the home and visiting teams is of the utmost importance. In anticipation of this rivalry game, the athletics department provided security for the Missouri basketball team, above its standard operating procedure. Upon hearing the accusations regarding our crowd’s behavior towards the Missouri team, the athletics department conducted a review of our operations from the game, including interviews with staff and security personnel. In this review, we received no confirmation of the alleged behavior directed at the visiting team by fans at the game.”
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/FrankMartin_SC/status/958684808409944064″,”author_name”:”Frank Martin”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/FrankMartin_SC”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;I don’t handle things very well when some1 attacks my family/friends.As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned not 2give ignorance my emotions.Ive learned 2invest my emotions 2love.I love what &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/dawnstaley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@dawnstaley&#lt;/a&#gt; stands 4&who she s everyday.I’ll stand w her & &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/GamecockNation?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#GamecockNation&#lt;/a&#gt; everyday ❤️ u guys&#lt;/p&#gt;– Frank Martin (@FrankMartin_SC) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/FrankMartin_SC/status/958684808409944064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 31, 2018&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
On Jan. 31, Staley said, “The allegations are false and they will be handled as such. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”
