Holy Cross women’s basketball coach placed on administrative leave after former player sues him for ‘physical and verbal abuse’

WORCESTER (MA)
New York Daily News

BY DAREH GREGORIAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2013

The longtime head coach for women’s basketball at College of the Holy Cross was placed on administrative leave on Wednesday, one day after a New York woman filed suit against him for being “verbally, emotionally and physically” abusive.

In a statement, Holy Cross said veteran coach Bill Gibbons told his Division-1 team that “he has voluntarily offered to step back from his coaching duties” while the Worcester, Mass. school reviews former player Ashley Cooper’s allegations.

Cooper, 20, said she walked away from basketball and a full scholarship to escape Gibbons’ “bullying.”
Cooper, a standout high school player in New Jersey, played for Gibbons between 2011 and 2013, and said he would “act in an outrageous manner in his yelling, ranting, screaming and hysterics directed towards the Holy Cross players as well as game referees.”

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