Attorneys close to completing Idaho volleyball interviews as former players reflect on coach’s abuse allegations

Feb. 13—Shannon Webb inadvertently helped recruit two players into her personal “nightmare” of alleged verbal and physical abuse from Idaho women’s volleyball coach Chris Gonzalez.

Webb played for two teams at American University, based in Washington, D.C., that made it to the NCAA Tournament. Then in 2018, the school brought in Gonzalez as an assistant coach.

“Volleyball was the best part of my day,” said Webb, 26, who works as a physician’s assistant in Pocatello, Idaho. “I was all in.”

But the new coach changed everything.

“When Gonzalez was there, I was crying every day after practice. I was depressed. I couldn’t focus in class. I shut myself in the library to avoid teammates,” she said. “It was a pretty miserable season.”

Webb was one of at least 37 current and former players interviewed by a Texas-based law firm, Thompson & Horton, LLP. The university recently informed current players that the firm, which is investigating player allegations against Gonzalez, expects to wrap up those interviews soon.

Idaho spokeswoman Jodi Walker said school officials are not sure how long it will take the attorneys to submit their report to school President C. Scott Green.

“It sounds like they are close to being done with more than 80 hours of interviews,” Walker said. “We anticipate it will take quite a bit of time to put all that together. In the meantime, we continue to support those students through the resources we’ve made available.”

While the university is paying private attorneys to investigate allegations into his interactions, Gonzalez is still coaching offseason practices. Only five players are continuing to work out from a roster that had 18 at the end of the 2023 season, which produced a 1-27 record.

Several players, including Senior Emma Patterson of Boise, have opted out of practice even though the university has made…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/attorneys-close-completing-idaho-volleyball-045900653.html

Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Publish date : 2024-02-14 04:59:00

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