Court records from the Utah State Football team show that a former player has sued the school and its head football coach. The Athletic show. Patrick Maddox, who was a player for the AggiesHe claims that he was harassed and retaliated against for releasing audio recordings of Blake Anderson, head coach at USU, and Earl Morris, chief USU police officer. making derogatory commentsAbout sexual assault victims.
According to the lawsuit, the recordings include Morris telling the team that Mormon women may tell Church leaders that sex was nonconsensual even if it was consensual and that the police would “take care of you no matter what.”
In a separate video, according to the lawsuit, Anderson told the team it “has never been more glamorized to be a victim” and that the football team was a “target to some.”
Kaytriauna. Flint, a former USU student who was friends with Maddox, used those August 2021 recordings in a federal suit filed in 2021. She alleged that she was raped and beaten by a member the USU football team in 2019. Flint’s lawsuit was settled on Oct. 10.
Maddox alleges that once it was revealed he had released the videos, he “was threatened with physical assault for attempting to advocate against discrimination and the team’s harmful culture around sexual assault.” He alleges that Anderson told him that other players would “handle [Patrick]However, [they] saw fit” and that a former position coach said he “betrayed the team” and would not receive future scholarships or playing time because he released the video.
Maddox, according to the lawsuit, “officially left the team due to the retaliation taken by fellow teammates and coaches against him, and the hostile environment they created for him, for making and distributing the recordings of the football meetings.”
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