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Athlete says she doesn’t ‘feel safe anymore’ after San Jose State kicked out coach

San Jose State University has suspended the associate head coach of its women’s volleyball team after she filed a discrimination complaint against the school for allowing a male to compete.

Coach Melissa Batie-Smoose (pictured) “is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter,” SJSU spokesperson Michelle McDonald said in an email Monday to The College Fix.

However, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports the coach “was suspended indefinitely by the university last weekend for undisclosed reasons.” She did not appear with the team at their game on Saturday against San Diego State University.

The Fix contacted Batie-Smoose for comment via her university email twice in the past week, but did not receive a response.

Earlier this month, she filed a 33-page sworn declaration against the university, the Mountain West athletic conference, and the National Collegiate Athletics Association for permitting transgender player Blaire Fleming to participate on the women’s team, according to Quillette.

Batie-Smoose told Fox News in an interview Monday she believes female athletes’ safety is at risk.

“Safety is being taken away from women,” she said. “Fair play is taken away from women. We need more and more people to do this and fight this fight because women’s sports, as we know it right now will be forever changed.”

Batie-Smoose also said she was told not to speak to the news media.

Fleming, a 6 feet 1 inch tall biological male, is an outside hitter for the San Jose State women’s volleyball team. He has played for SJSU since 2022.

In her complaint, Batie-Smoose said she was not notified of Fleming’s sex before becoming associate head coach of the Spartans.

“We had nine student-athletes who had not previously played on the SJSU team,” Batie-Smoose said in the complaint, according to Quillete. “It is my understanding that none of these players [were] told before coming to SJSU that Flaming’s natal sex is male, or that there was any player with a male birth sex on the team.”

Fleming has dominated the SJSU team’s leaderboard. The athlete has the most “kills” and points scored out of all his teammates.

Here’s a highlight reel from today’s San Diego State vs. San Jose State women’s volleyball game.

Male player Blaire Fleming, #3, is clearly stronger, her power unmatched. BUT, Fleming seems to have a lot of raw power and not too much technical skill, chalking up several errors… pic.twitter.com/9rhDntqx1P

— The College Fix (@CollegeFix) November 10, 2024

Batie-Smoose stated what “stood out was spiking the [ball] and blocking in the front row, due to Fleming’s leaping ability and hitting power, which far exceeded that of any player in the [Mountain West] Conference,” as reported by Quillete.

Fleming repeatedly has hit several female athletes in the head with the ball during matches. One video on X shows an athlete on the University of New Mexico team drop to the ground after getting hit in the face by a “kill” from Fleming.

Batie-Smoose claimed in the complaint that the behavior of SJSU officials, including head coach Todd Kress, may violate Title IX, according to Quillete. The federal law prohibits schools and athletic programs from discriminating on the basis of sex.

Spartans captain Brooke Slusser told Fox News that Batie-Smoose is the only coach she felt safe talking with about the situation. Slusser is one of several female athletes suing the NCAA over its transgender policy.

“You can’t truly voice how you’re feeling without them just trying to cover it up or act like it’s all OK. With Melissa, you could voice how you felt, and she could comfort you and validate your feelings,” Slusser said.

“After we found out that she was released, a lot of the team just kind of broke down and was kind of freaking out. And even one of my teammates was like, ‘I don’t feel safe anymore’ …” Slusser told Fox News.

The advocacy network Independent Council on Women’s Sports also criticized the university in a statement to The Fix this week.

“San Jose State has joined the list of institutions silencing and punishing women for calling out institutional abuse and sexual harassment,” it stated in an email. The network is made up of female athletes, their families, and others who advocate for safety and fairness in women’s sports.

“Male athletes in female sport are a physical, social, and psychological danger to women,” it stated. “… The future of women’s sports hangs in the balance. Will we wake up and recognize that women deserve to have sports opportunities or are we going to choose to prioritize male athletes in women’s sports?”

Currently, the San Jose Spartans are 11-5 in the conference and 13-5 overall.

To date, other teams have forfeited seven games against the Spartans due to Fleming, including the University of Wyoming, Utah State, and University of Nevada at Reno.

UNR team captain Sia Liilii told The Fix in a statement through the Independent Women’s Voice that the public support she and her teammates have received has been encouraging.

“At first taking this stand was intimidating because my teammates and I didn’t know the response we would get from the community and public,” Liilii told The Fix.

“I am so proud to say that our decision has rallied so much support,” the outside hitter said.

Liilii and her team received pushback from their university after they voted to forfeit their Oct. 26 game against the Spartans.

The university initially refused to cancel, stating the “players’ decision … does not represent the position of the University,” The Fix reported. However, it eventually was forced to cancel “[d]ue to not having enough players to compete.”

During a recent rally hosted by Independent Women’s Voice in Philadelphia, Liilii described the lack of support from her university as “emotional warfare.”

The Nevada athlete said she and her teammates were dragged into meetings where they were told they didn’t understand “the science” and were “not educated enough” about transgender athletes.

Addressing other female student athletes, Liilii said: “Be courageous. Be brave and don’t fear anything.”

Teams that have forfeited to San Jose State also have received support from local and national leaders, including Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, Lt. Gov. Anthony Stavros, former Hawaii U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and Idaho Gov. Brad Little.

“This experience has been eye opening and I can only hope we have inspired other female athletes around the world to defend their rights and be the change they want to see in the future!” Liilii stated to The Fix.

Editor’s note: The article was updated to include a statement from the Independent Council on Women’s Sports.

MORE: Female athletes lost nearly 900 medals to men: UN report

IMAGE: San Jose State University

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