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MICHEL FORTIER / Daily News

FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw held a press conference Tuesday afternoon to announce findings from outside law firm Littler Mendelson into Title IX violations brought forth in federal court by former head volleyball coach Jayne Flood. Bradshaw announced Flood had been terminated due to an inappropriate relationship with a student, not for speaking out about alleged gender inequities at the university.

Jaye Flood, former head coach of Florida Gulf Coast University women's volleyball

MICHEL FORTIER / Daily News

FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw held a press conference Tuesday afternoon to announce findings from outside law firm Littler Mendelson into Title IX violations brought forth in Federal Court by former head volleyball coach Jayne Flood. Bradshaw announced Flood had been terminated due to an inappropriate relationship with a student, not for speaking out about gender inequities at the university.

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• Volleyball coach files federal suit over gender discrimination

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Florida Gulf Coast University athletics officials first tried to fire volleyball coach Jaye Flood over one year ago, according to documents released as part of an investigation.

In a Feb. 19, 2007 meeting, Athletic Director Carl McAloose and Associate Athletic Director Kathy Peterson were told by FGCU’s interim president, general counsel and director of human resources that Flood’s personnel file did not support a decision to fire her.

McAloose and Peterson were told in order to fire Flood, they would need additional documentation, like a poor performance evaluation.

On July 8, Peterson and McAloose finalized Flood’s evaluation that gave her an overall rating of below expectations, which is the second lowest score an FGCU employee can receive. This rating was modified from the original because human resources told Peterson her evaluation of Flood did not support an overall rating of unsatisfactory, the lowest possible score.

Also on July 8, Peterson and McAloose finalized an evaluation for women’s golf coach Holly Vaughn with an overall rating of meeting expectations — the third of five rankings — although the notes say Vaughn marginally meets expectations. This rating was modified from the original because human resources told Peterson her evaluation of Vaughn did not support a below expectations rating.

As a result of these facts found in an investigation by the law firm Littler Mendelson, on Jan. 21 FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw put written reprimands into the personnel files of Peterson and McAloose.

Peterson even told the Littler Mendelson

investigators she would find it hard to give Flood a good evaluation because she didn’t like the volleyball coach. If another employee Peterson did like gave the same performance as Flood, Peterson said she would give a rating of exceeds expectations, the second highest score a FGCU employee can receive.

After consulting with McAloose, the following day Peterson told the investigators that she did not mean to imply she gave Flood a bad evaluation because she didn’t like her.

Peterson did not return requests for comment, and McAloose could not be reached on the matter Friday.

McAloose and Peterson told investigators the evaluations of Flood and Vaughn were worse than previous years because this was the first year Peterson performed the evaluations, and she is much tougher than McAloose.

“AD Carl McAloose and Associate AD Kathy Peterson disagree with the Littler Mendelson reports’ description of the performance evaluations for coaches Jaye Flood and Holly Vaughn, and emphatically say that the performance evaluations were objectively conducted based on job performance,” FGCU spokeswoman Susan Evans said in an e-mailed statement. “Regardless, they are enthusiastically moving forward with President Bradshaw to lead FGCU’s successful athletics program and our student-athletes into NCAA Division I competition.”

These investigations stem from September complaints Flood and Vaughn filed with the FGCU Department of Equal Employment Opportunity, saying they were being retaliated against for their role in a sex discrimination complaint in the athletics department.

On Jan. 18, Flood filed a federal lawsuit against FGCU saying she was defamed and retaliated against for those same reasons.

“This case is about retaliation, and these reports reflect that,” said Linda Correia, the attorney for Flood. “While we are in litigation, I’m not going to comment beyond that.”

FGCU interpreted the Little Mendelson investigation reports as saying McAloose and Peterson did not go as far as retaliation for the sex discrimination complaints; but the poor evaluations weren’t supported by any evidence. That’s why the two received reprimands.

Littler Mendelson also investigated reports that Flood grabbed the shirt of a player during practice and sexually harassed someone during a volleyball road trip. Although the investigation cleared Flood of any wrongdoing regarding the shirt-grabbing or the sexual harassment, it did allege she aggressively pursued a relationship with a student athlete.

The claim of an inappropriate relationship with a student claim was backed up text messages, e-mails and witness testimony. Flood chose not to be interviewed by the investigators.

As a result, Flood was fired by FGCU on Jan. 21, the same day McAloose and Peterson received their reprimands.

When she was fired, Flood was the winningest coach in FGCU athletics department history and was named the Atlantic Sun conference coach of the year. During the fall season, the volleyball team won the Atlantic Sun conference in its first year in Division I competition.

During the course of the Littler Mendelson investigations, McAloose and Peterson said their bad evaluations of Flood and Vaughn couldn’t be in retaliation to a May 24 complaint filed by former athletic director Merrily Dean Baker about sex discrimination in the athletic department.

The internal investigation into Baker’s complaint wasn’t released until July 9, and their evaluations of Flood and Vaughn were finalized July 8.

However, Littler Mendelson discovered McAloose had knowledge of the Baker complaint as early as May 28, and Peterson knew June 4. Furthermore, the entire athletics department received two separate e-mails June 5 and 8 saying a complaint had been filed.

Peterson acknowledged to investigators that after she met with the FGCU internal auditor on June 11, Peterson believed Flood was involved in the Baker complaint.

A timeline of the events surrounding the retaliation complaints against FGCU made by two female head coaches:

-- Feb. 15, 2007: Volleyball coach Jaye Flood meets with Athletic Director Carl McAloose and Associate Athletic Director Kathy Peterson over concerns of her job performance.

-- Feb. 19: McAloose and Peterson meet with the FGCU interim president, general counsel and director of human resources about terminating Flood’s contract. They are told there are no grounds to fire her at that point, saying that only documentation like a poor performance evaluation could substantiate terminating Flood.

-- May 24: Former FGCU athletic director Merrily Dean Baker submits a complaint to the university interim president over how women are treated in the athletics department.

-- June 13: Peterson forwards a unfinished copy of Flood’s performance evaluation to human resources officials, who tell Peterson the individual ratings of Flood don’t substantiate an overall rating of unsatisfactory, the lowest of five scores an FGCU employee can receive.

-- July 8: Peterson finalizes Flood’s evaluation, and it is signed by McAloose. Many of the individual ratings from the June 13 evaluation have been changed toward the negative and has an overall rating of below expectations, which is the second lowest of five scores.

-- July 8: Peterson finalizes the evaluation for women’s golf coach Holly Vaughn, and McAloose signs it. The initial rating of below expectations was changed to meets expectations at the recommendation of FGCU human resources, although the notes say Vaughn marginally meets expectations. Three of the individual ratings from the evaluation originally sent to human resources have been changed downward before the report is finalized.

-- July 9: FGCU’s internal investigation into the Baker complaint is finalized and released, finding no sex discrimination in the athletic department.

-- July 11: Flood receives her evaluation and claims the negative rating came because Baker submitted a complaint to the university president.

-- July 16: Vaughn receives her evaluation and claims the negative rating came because Baker submitted a complaint to the university president.

-- Sept. 7: Flood files a complaint of inequity/discrimination with FGCU’s Department of Equal Employment Opportunity, alleging she has been retaliated against for her role in the Baker complaint.

-- Sept. 13: Vaughn files a complaint of inequity/discrimination with FGCU’s Department of Equal Employment Opportunity, alleging she has been retaliated against for her role in the Baker complaint.

-- Sept. 28: FGCU retains the law firm Littler Mendelson to investigate the Flood and Vaughn complaints.

-- Oct. 1: Vaughn resigns her position and gives two weeks notice after her golf team wins its first tournament of the year.

-- Oct. 15: Flood is placed on indefinite paid administrative leave for issues regarding student welfare, later to be discovered center around a shirt-grabbing incident at a volleyball practice and alleged sexual harassment on a team road trip.

-- Jan. 18, 2008: Flood files a federal lawsuit against FGCU, saying she was defamed and retaliated against for speaking out against sex discrimination at the university.

-- Jan. 21: FGCU releases the reports from the Littler Mendelson investigations, which were complete in Jan. 18. The investigation clears FGCU of any sex discrimination and Flood of both the shirt-grabbing and sex harassment claims. However, Flood is fired after another investigation says she pursued an inappropriate relationship with a student. Two other investigations find the poor performance evaluations shouldn’t have been filed against Flood and Vaughn, although the evaluations were not in retaliation against the sex discrimination claims. Letters of reprimand are placed in the personnel files of McAloose and Peterson

Source: Littler Mendelson investigations released Jan. 18