Texas Tech athletics: Lawsuit accuses Kirby Hocutt of discrimination, cover-ups

Former Texas Tech Lady Raiders’ head coach Marlene Stollings has filed a lawsuit against Texas Tech University and AD Kirby Hocutt in which some damning allegations are made.

Marlene Stollings refuses to go out silently.  Just over two months after being fired as the Lady Raiders’ head basketball coach, Stollings is now fighting back by bringing a lawsuit against Texas Tech and Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt.

In a press release from her legal team, Stollings not only accuses Hocutt of discrimination against female coaches but she also claims that Hocutt has covered up abusive tactics by male coaches.

On August  6, 2006, Stollings was fired in the wake of a report by the U.S.A. Today that alleged she and her staff of player abuse.  Included in the allegations were charges of abusive conditioning techniques, isolation and threatening by the coaching staff, the admonition of players who reported struggles with anxiety and depression, and sexual harassment by strength and conditioning coach Ralph Petrella.

"As a rebuttal, a press release that Stollings’ representation released Tuesday reads:“Nevertheless, for Texas Tech and Hocutt, any public attention on the school’s Athletics Department threatened to not only shine a light on Hocutt’s efforts to cover up abuses in the lucrative men’s sports programs, but also call attention to Hocutt’s previous and disturbing tenure at Ohio University and University of Miami, Florida.  Consequently, the decision was made to sacrifice Stollings notwithstanding her winning ways on and off the basketball court.”"

Also, the press release claims that Stollings was penalized and treated differently for identifying as part of the LQBTQ community.  It claims that as a result of her sexual orientation, she was held responsible for using “the same demanding and effective coaching techniques that male coaches at the school utilized, and continue to utilize, without consequence.”

This is the continuation of the terrible autumn of 2020 for Kirby Hocutt.  In addition to the allegations against and the firing of Stollings, he also saw softball head coach Adrian Gregory resign from her post after similar allegations of player abuse within her program surfaced in late September.

What’s more, Hocutt’s hand-picked head football coach, Matt Wells, has struggled out of the gates in his second season.  With his team sitting at just 1-3 overall, Wells has drawn the ire of the majority of the Red Raider fan base which had brought extra scrutiny on Hocutt’s leadership of the university’s most lucrative program.

Now, Hocutt has yet another round of allegations and claims within his athletic department to deal with.  However, the difference is that these latest charges have been levied against him, which is something he is going to have to answer for.