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Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal

The University of New Mexico paid a former student $170,000 to settle a lawsuit that was one of several blemishes during former football coach Bob Davie’s tenure.

The settlement agreement in Teriana Bagley’s case was released last week by the state Risk Management Division, which insures state entities such as UNM.

University officials previously declined to release the amount of the settlement, and state law allows the amount to remain secret for 180 days. UNM declined again to comment Monday, but in the settlement agreement, the university “continues to deny any allegations of wrongdoing” levied in Bagley’s lawsuit.

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Brad Hall, Bagley’s attorney, said victims of campus sexual assault are often constrained by Title IX law regarding damages. With the settlement, he said, his client has moved to another city, obtained therapeutic support and moved on with her life.

“My entire office and litigation team admired Teriana’s very credible presence, and we’re proud to help her fight back against the UNM football program, and even providing perhaps a ‘nail in the coffin’ of the Bob Davie era,” he said in an email to the Journal on Monday.

The Davie era came to an end in December, with the university agreeing to pay him $825,000 and other benefits for the next 30 months in exchange for his leaving with two years left on his contract.

Bagley filed her lawsuit against the UNM Board of Regents in January 2019 over the way the university responded to a rape she reported almost three years earlier.

In February 2016, Bagley accused a football player of raping her at his Lobo Village apartment. She reported the assault to campus police the day after the encounter.

After UNM police questioned the football player, Davie called a team meeting at which he allegedly told the players to “get some dirt on this whore,” according to the lawsuit and investigative reports into the football program. Davie has denied the allegation.

Bagley said in her lawsuit that for the rest of the semester, football players harassed, intimidated and retaliated against her as she walked around campus.

The accused player was never charged with a crime and played football the following fall. Bagley withdrew from school and moved back home to Arizona.

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The lawsuit is critical of both UNM police and the Office of Equal Opportunity’s investigation of the incident.

Bagley’s allegations appeared in reports by independent investigators hired by UNM in 2017 to review matters related to the football program. The school hired former federal Judge Bruce Black for up to $37,000 and the Chicago law firm Hogan Marren Babbo and Rose for an unknown amount to complete investigations.

The later investigation was cited when Davie was suspended in 2018.

After Bagley made the allegations against the football player, Davie stayed on as head coach for three additional seasons, never winning more than three games a year.

MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio — A 39-year-old Maple Heights middle school basketball coach is accused of punching a 14-year-old East Cleveland basketball player during a break in the game Jan. 16.

Robert Clark, who is a fourth and fifth grade teacher at Barack Obama Elementary School, is charged with assault and was placed on paid administrative leave in the incident that happened about 6:30 p.m. at Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland, according to court records and Maple Heights City Schools Superintendent Dr. Charles T. Keenan.

The school is currently conducting its own investigation into the incident, but Clark will remain on leave until the case is resolved through the courts, Keenan said.

Clark punched an East Cleveland basketball player in the face while he encouraged his team to fight the opposing team, police and Keenan said.

Court records say Clark was scheduled to appear in East Cleveland Municipal Court Thursday afternoon, but officials did not return a call seeking comment.

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PHILADELPHIA — Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon supports embattled University of Arizona men’s basketball coach Sean Miller, whom Gordon played for during the 2013-14 season.

ESPN reported that the FBI has records of wiretapped phone conversations between Miller and Christian Dawkins, a runner for a prominent sports agency, in which Miller talked about paying $100,000 to get star high-school prospect Deandre Ayton to sign with Arizona.

Miller has said he “will be vindicated,” and a lawyer representing Ayton’s family has said the allegation is false.

For two years, the FBI investigated bribes in college basketball. In late September, assistant coaches at four colleges were charged with crimes, including an assistant coach at Arizona, Emanuel Richardson. Dawkins and two Adidas officials also were charged.

Gordon attended Arizona for one year and was college teammates with current NBA players T.J. McConnell of the Philadelphia 76ers and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson of the Brooklyn Nets.

“Sean Miller was nothing but great for me and especially the guys that were on that team: T.J., myself, Rondae,” Gordon said Saturday when asked about the report about Miller.

“He was nothing but great — just upstanding, just a role model and a great coach, a great person,” Gordon added. “This doesn’t take away from who he is as a person and who he is as a coach. He’s very successful. Yeah, the NCAA has a stranglehold on the money revenue coming through, and they need to start paying players. They really do. They need to start paying players more. It’s too bad that the FBI is so concerned with that and not concerned with other things. It’s just a domino effect at this point. You want to tip one over and the rest are going to go down. So the NCAA should pay players.”

During Gordon’s one-and-done season at Arizona, the Wildcats reached the Elite Eight but lost in a regional final to Wisconsin in overtime 64-63.

Gordon was the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer that season, averaging 12.4 points per game, and the Wildcats’ leading rebounder, averaging 8.0 boards per game.

Miller admires Gordon, too.

In 2014, a few weeks before the Magic picked Gordon fourth overall in the NBA Draft, Miller praised Gordon in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.

“I think initially when he enters the NBA he’s ahead of the curve for a rookie with his ability to defend, because he can defend multiple players and he’s a great defensive rebounder,” Miller said then.

“That’s what he brings to the table early. As he continues to mature and grow as a player and get older, his scoring will continue to rise. His shooting will continue to improve, and I think at that point, when all of that comes together, then you’re going to have an elite NBA player.”

On Saturday night, Miller did not coach the Wildcats in their game against the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore.

In a statement, Miller said, “I believe it is in the best interest of our team that I not coach the game tonight. I continue to fully support the university’s efforts to fully investigate this matter and am confident that I will be vindicated. For now, my thoughts are with our team.”

Gordon supported Miller when Gordon was asked for his reaction to Miller not coaching Saturday.

“I’m super-disappointed,” Gordon said. “He’s such a hard worker, just an incredibly hard worker. A great coach. But his future is still bright when it comes to coaching. An awesome guy. Whether it’s in the NBA or whether it’s in college, he’s going to keep coaching. He’s got coaching in his blood. It’s too bad to see that.”

jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Detroit Pistons shooting guard Avery Bradley entered a confidential agreement with a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her in Cleveland this year while he was in town for the Eastern Conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, TMZ reports.

The woman said that Bradley sexually assaulted her on May 23 while she was drunk and passed out, the outlet reports.

Cleveland police have no record of the allegations in their database, Cleveland police Sgt., Jennifer Ciaccia said.

TMZ does not report where the incident was alleged to have happened.

The woman involved was a reality star, though TMZ has not reported any further details about her identity or the incident itself.

Bradley’s lawyer told TMZ Sports that Bradley “adamantly denies all wrongdoing” and entered into the confidential agreement to prevent false information from going public.

Bradley was a member of the Boston Celtics at the time of the encounter. His team fell to the Cavaliers on the day of the alleged incident, and were beat out 4-1 in the series.

The woman reached out to Bradley afterward and accused him of the assault, TMZ reports. Agreement negotiations at one point reached $400,000, and the two sides worked on a deal to keep her from speaking about the incident and prevent her from releasing video, photos or audio, TMZ reports.

The details of the final agreement remain unclear, and it’s unknown how much money was paid. TMZ reports that they were told “the final figure was high.”

Bradley’s attorney, Brian Wolf, released the following statement to TMZ:

“Mr. Bradley absolutely denies having engaged in wrongdoing whatsoever. The confidentiality agreement specifically refutes and denies the validity of all allegations of any wrongful conduct by Mr. Bradley. The sole purpose of the agreement was to protect the reputation and privacy of Mr. Bradley and his family. My office will take all appropriate action against all persons involved in the wrongful disclosure of this agreement. We will conduct a thorough investigation into who is responsible for this wrongful disclosure.”

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