WORCESTER (MA)
NJ.com
By The Associated Press
on October 16, 2013
WORCESTER, Mass. — A former Holy Cross basketball player from Monmouth County has sued the college and veteran coach Bill Gibbons, accusing the coach of emotionally and physically abusing her and the school of covering it up.
The lawsuit by 20-year-old Ashley Cooper says that at various times, Gibbons yanked and pulled her by the shirt collar, shook her by the shoulder and struck her on the back, leaving a red handprint. It paints Gibbons as so volatile that opposing players would remark, “Your coach is crazy,” and the players as so demoralized that alumni basketball games are impossible because players won’t return to the Jesuit school in Worcester to participate.
Cooper is a 2011 graduate of Rumson-Fair Haven High School.
The suit accuses Holy Cross of failing to turn over game tape that would show Gibbons striking Cooper and another player. It says the school has also refused to release results of an investigation into Gibbons’ behavior.
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