Six former University of Pittsburgh women's basketball players are suing the school and the head coach, alleging they created and maintained a psychologically abusive team environment, including an incident in which he told the team that it made him want to kill himself.
The lawsuits, which were filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, name head women’s basketball coach Tory Verdi as a defendant and allege that he fostered a "hostile" team environment, resorting to retaliation against the players when they expressed concerns to compliance officers and other staff members. And the suits allege the school displayed "deliberate indifference to that misconduct."
Verdi has been coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers women's basketball team since 2023. He did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a statement, a University of Pittsburgh spokesperson said the plaintiffs’ allegations “are without merit and will be vigorously defended.”
The plaintiffs are named as Favor Ayodele, Makayla Elmore, Jasmine Timmerson, Brooklynn Miles, Raeven Boswell and Isabella Perkins. They played for Pittsburgh for one or two seasons from 2023 to 2025.
The women allege that the university violated Title IX, which prohibits any gender-based discrimination at federally financed institutions, by turning a blind eye to what they said was Verdi's "pattern of emotional abuse, psychological manipulation, coercion, and retaliation." The plaintiffs said the university knew about the alleged behavior through reports from them, other coaches and the parents of student-athletes but failed to “intervene, investigate, or take meaningful disciplinary action.”
Most of the plaintiffs mentioned in their suits an incident after a practice during the 2023-24 season at which, they claimed, Verdi told the team, “Every night I lay in bed I want to kill myself because of you.”
Verdi is alleged to have sown racial division between Black and white team members and made gender-based comments that were discriminatory, including telling a few plaintiffs that they weren't liked as players "but would be acceptable to date his son," according to the lawsuits.
In another incident, Verdi is alleged to have told an international player to “go back home because ICE is coming."
He is also alleged to have mocked the players' appearances and personalities and made comments that surpassed constructive criticism, including calling them "bad people," according to the lawsuits.
A plaintiff alleges in one of the lawsuits that Verdi did not speak to her for six months while she was injured and dismissed her mental health concerns.
When the players expressed their concerns to other staff members, they said, Verdi retaliated against them by reducing their playing time and ultimately dismissing them from the team, the lawsuits say.
All of the plaintiffs say they suffered mental health ailments as a result of emotional abuse they say they received while they were on the team, as well as academic disruption and lost athletic eligibility.
The plaintiffs' lawyer, Keenan Holmes, said his clients' allegations speak for themselves.
"Our clients look forward to having their claims addressed through the judicial process, where the facts can be fully developed and evaluated," Holmes said.
The plaintiffs ask for the university to admit violating Title IX and for compensation in an amount to be determined at trial. Some plaintiffs also ask that all disciplinary notations from their academic files be removed.
