Sports
Nick Saban retiring as Alabama coach, ending 'remarkable' career
Nick Saban, who is widely considered the greatest college football coach because of his run guiding storied programs against the fiercest possible competition, is retiring after a 17-year stint at Alabama in which he delivered six national championships, he announced Wednesday night.
Saban called the university “a very special place” to him and his wife in a school-issued statement, adding that his legacy and the team’s process of sustained success is what was most important to him, not the number of wins or losses.
“The goal was always to help players create more value for their future, be the best player they could be and be more successful in life because they were part of the program,” he said. “Hopefully, we have done that, and we will always consider Alabama our home.”
His final championship in 2020 gave Saban seven national titles — he won one previously at LSU — and boosted him past another Alabama great, Bear Bryant, as the coach with the most championships, stamping a legacy defined by reaching the sport’s highest pinnacles.
BREAKING: Nick Saban is retiring, per source. The 72-year-old Alabama coach has won SEVEN national titles, six with the Tide. Chris Low first reported the news.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 10, 2024
Saban, 72, leaves his post with 292 career wins, fifth all time and the most among any active coach. He won 12 conference championships, more than 80 percent of his games and earned 17 total coach of the year honors nationally and in conference.
He led the Crimson Tide to winning seasons every year since 2008 and delivered something to Alabama that no other coach before him did: the Heisman Trophy, with four winners during his run, most recently Bryce Young in 2021.
Saban’s latest Alabama team went 12-2 and finished the 2023 season with a 27-20 overtime loss to Michigan — the eventual national champion — in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl.
Saban runs out with team ahead of CFP semifinal against Michigan. (Photo: Ryan Kang / Getty Images)
Before joining Alabama in 2007, Saban had college stints with LSU (2000-04), Michigan State (1995-99) and Toledo (1990), and he coached the Miami Dolphins in the NFL (2005-06). He has a 292-71-1 record at the collegiate level, with five wins vacated by the NCAA as punishment for players wrongly getting free textbooks for other students. Saban won 11 SEC titles — two at LSU and nine at Alabama — and made bowl appearances every year with the programs. His bowl record at Alabama was 16-7.
Saban was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. He’s a five-time SEC Coach of the Year, two-time Walter Camp Coach of the Year, two-time AP College Football Coach of the Year and two-time Paul “Bear” Bryant Award winner, among numerous other accolades.
Saban was a high school quarterback turned defensive back in college, and the defensive back group remained his baby through his tenure at Alabama. Yet his versatility in coaching each position was one of his less visible specialties. Since his Alabama tenure began in 2007, no school had more first-round NFL Draft picks than Alabama (44), and that number is set to increase in April at the 2024 draft. Overall, 123 players under Saban at Alabama have been selected to NFL teams, and his four Heisman winners include players at three different positions with quarterback Young, running backs Mark Ingram II in 2009 and Derrick Henry in 2015 and wide receiver Devonta Smith in 2020.
Saban has coached more Heisman winners than anyone else.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne called Saban one of the best all time in any sport. “What an honor it has been for us to have a front-row seat to one of the best to ever do it,” Byrne said.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said, “Knowing Nick, he’s not walking away from the game. He’s walking away from a role. I would anticipate Nick will have perspectives. I called his agent (and) said I’m looking forward to having a conversation. … I hope he’ll answer the call and share some thoughts from time to time on the big picture of college football.”
In 2022, Saban signed his last contract with the Crimson Tide, worth $93.6 million in total for a deal that had been scheduled to run over eight years, through 2030.
Saban walks off the field after Alabama defeated Auburn on Nov. 25. (Photo: Michael Chang / Getty Images)
There was no more perfect pairing than Saban, the biggest figure in the sport, and Alabama, arguably the most recognizable college football brand in America. As the game progresses, there will be coaches that approach his win totals and, perhaps, his championships. But the aura of Saban and Alabama together might not be matched again.
Alabama fans held him in the highest regard, opposing fans feared him and his teams while maintaining a respect for the level of success he sustained. And in spite of all those sentiments of love, hate or something in between, Saban and his teams were the must-see draws of the sport and the ultimate measuring stick for opposing programs.
Saban’s retirement immediately prompted a question of who could coach Alabama next.
The job is widely considered among the best — if not the best — in college football, given the longest stretch of sustained success in the modern era of the sport. With that will come immense resources, the highest of expectations and no shortage of interest. Potential coaches to watch for the post include Oregon coach Dan Lanning, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, Washington coach Kalen DeBoer, Florida State coach Mike Norvell, among others.
GO DEEPER
Alabama after Nick Saban: Pluses, drawbacks and candidates for the job
And as the program seeks a new leader, its players could be on the move. Before Saban’s retirement, the window for Alabama’s players to transfer had closed. But that opened up again for another 30 days with Saban’s move. To date, Alabama has 17 transfer portal entries between scholarship players and walk-ons.
The most intriguing prospects are players who just finished their freshman seasons and the 2024 early enrollees, many of whom were drawn to the allure of playing for Saban. A five-star recruit, wideout Ryan Williams, decommitted quickly after Saban’s exit Wednesday.
Still, Alabama has one of the most attractive rosters in college football, with the No. 1 roster talent composition according to the 247Sports Composite. Alabama’s coaching search is the top priority, but a primary job of that coach is attracting and retaining talent.
As Saban leaves Alabama as its winningest coach, he is forever intertwined with Bryant, whose 25-year run at the school came mainly during the 1960s and 70s. Bryant took Alabama to new heights during his time, and while Alabama continued winning after him, it did not see another run that could compare until Saban arrived.
And Saban even surpassed that.
Saban’s wife, in a statement on Facebook through the Nick’s Kids Foundation, said that she hoped the Saban legacy would be one of helping others in their lives and winning on the field. The foundation began in 1998, while Saban was at Michigan State, but its greatest impact has been in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where he and his wife Terry have resided since 2007 and donated more than $11 million to various organizations and causes to improve quality of life in the area.
“The rules for the game of football may change, but the ‘process’ will never go out of style: hard work, discipline, the relentless pursuit of a worthy goal, not cutting corners, and doing things the right way for the sake of constant personal improvement,” she said. “Not for the scoreboard.”
Saban and Smart shake hands after Alabama defeats Georgia in the 2023 SEC Championship game. (Photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)
Saban has few contemporaries in winning, but also has long moved the needle with his every thought and opinion. That showed in recent years as the industry of college sports ballooned with ever-increasing TV deals, wrangling over football’s postseason structure, the transfer rules and the emergence of legal endorsements for athletes through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.
“We have no contracts in college and we have no competitive balance. There is no salary cap, all right,” Saban said in November during his weekly call-in radio show. “Whoever wants to raise the most money and pay the player the most, they have the best opportunity to have the best team.
“In other words, just because School A over here has a bigger collective and is willing to pay guys more money, that gives them a better opportunity than School (B) over here that doesn’t have those same resources, so you’re not creating a competitive balance. So the haves are going to get further over here and the have-nots are going to get further over here,” he said.
Saban has supported players using NIL to create more value for themselves, and eventually, Alabama got its own NIL collective up and running.
It was another indication of Saban’s ability to adapt and continue winning through every change in college football, including the rules for student-athletes and the shift from the BCS to the College Football Playoff. He won national titles in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, and used the shifts in the sport to extend his dominance.
Alabama’s initial offenses under Saban were designed around one-back running schemes and powerful offensive lines. By the end of his tenure, Alabama became innovators in the offensive space with the use of spread formations and run-pass option schemes.
In fitting fashion, Saban went out on perhaps his best coaching job ever, which ironically did not result in a national championship. The 2023 Alabama roster had a number of heralded prospects and players facing high expectations, like any other Saban team, but battled back from a loss to Texas, its biggest non-conference home loss since 2007, and a quarterback controversy that became one of the biggest talking points in the sport. Alabama was at a crossroads just three weeks into its season.
What happened next was one of Saban’s best psychological jobs to date, publicly coming out and endorsing quarterback Jalen Milroe, acknowledging the outside criticisms about his team and using them as internal fuel while resorting to never-before-used tricks to inspire his team. When Alabama needed a win over Kentucky to clinch the SEC West, Saban had mouse traps placed throughout the football facility and locker room to alert players to not fall for a “trap game.”
The highlight of the season was a win over No. 1 ranked Georgia, the winner of 29 straight games, to earn one last College Football Playoff appearance. Though Alabama fell short to Michigan in the Rose Bowl, Saban said after the game that it was one of the greatest seasons in Alabama history and a team he will never forget — a team that saw a different side to Saban that other teams didn’t.
“I wouldn’t say more lenient, I would say he’s more open to us,” safety Malachi Moore, a senior, said. “He talks to us a lot. I think this year he’s made more jokes than I’ve ever heard him make before. So it’s just good to see that we brought that side out of him. I kind of credit to us a little bit.”
Now, Alabama and the sport as a whole is forced to turn the page, with an impossible question: Who will replace Saban?
The answer seems complicated but is really quite simple. There is no replacing Nick Saban.
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Chris Vannini, Bruce Feldman and Alex Andrejev also contributed to this story.
(Photo: Justin Ford / Getty Images)
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Venezuela defeated Team USA, 3-2, in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) final Tuesday, and the game was historic in more ways than one.
Venezuela won its first-ever WBC title, and players flooded the field with emotion and pride as they celebrated the thrilling victory.
History was also made during the telecast when 10,784,000 viewers watched the final on FOX and FOX Deportes.
It became the most-watched WBC telecast of all time.
Fox Sports broadcaster Tom Verducci interviews MVP Maikel Garcia of Venezuela and his translator after a 3-2 victory against the United States at loanDepot Park March 17, 2026, in Miami, Fla. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
The telecast averaged 10,228,000 viewers, while hitting its peak at 12,148,000 from 10:30-10:45 p.m. ET on FOX.
This number was up 128% from the Team USA-Japan WBC final on FS1 during the 2023 tournament, when Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to seal a third WBC win for his country.
TRUMP RAISES EYEBROWS WITH ‘STATEHOOD’ COMMENT AFTER VENEZUELA BEATS THE US IN WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
While this game had all the thrills, the WBC turned out to be an exciting tournament from the very start with pool play.
Whether it was feel-good stories like Ondřej Satoria’s standing ovation from Japanese fans at the Tokyo Dome during his final outing for Czechia or Italy’s espresso machine home run celebration, viewers from all over were tuning in to watch magic happen on the diamond.
Fox Sports broadcaster Tom Verducci interviews manager Omar López Team Venezuela after a 3-2 victory against the United States at loanDepot park March 17, 2026, in Miami, Fla. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The tournament averaged 1,294,000 viewers across FOX, FS1 and FS2, making it the most-watched WBC in its 20-year history on English language networks.
It looked like Venezuela was going to shut out Team USA, which had just two hits and four base runners in the bottom of the eighth inning when Bryce Harper walked to the plate.
The game turned on its head when Harper belted a two-run homer to tie the game during the peak viewing window.
Venezuela, though, never blinked. Eugenio Suarez hit a rope to left-center field, scoring the game-winning run with a double.
Members of Team Venezuela celebrate with their gold medals after defeating the United States 3-2 at loanDepot Park March 17, 2026, in Miami, Fla. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
Daniel Palencia closed things out for Venezuela, sealing the win with a strikeout of Roman Anthony. The party ensued for Venezuela at loanDepot Park.
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Thursday’s Results
BASEBALL
CITY SECTION
North Hollywood 5, Granada Hills Kennedy 3
Sun Valley Poly 11, Sylmar 9
Verdugo Hills 5, San Fernando 3
WISH Academy 11, Washington Prep 5
SOUTHERN SECTION
Adelanto 6, Granite Hills 4
Alhambra 10, Schurr 2
Animo Leadership 6, Compton Early College 3
Arroyo 14, Glendale 0
Banning 9, Yucca Valley 8
Beverly Hills 13, Lennox Academy 3
Bloomington 10, Carter 0
Buckley 7, Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 6
Campbell Hall 6, Brentwood 1
Chaparral 8, Citrus Valley 3
Charter Oak 3, El Rancho 2
Chino 7, Don Lugo 1
Compton Centennial 7, Lawndale 5
Covina 9, Pasadena Marshall 8
Diamond Ranch 5, Chaffey 4
Eisenhower 2, Colton 1
Environmental Charter 13, Ambassador 6
Etiwanda 2, Santa Ana Foothill 0
Gabrielino 23, Southlands Christian 4
Garden Grove 14, Rancho Alamitos 1
Glendora 14, Western Christian 3
Grace 29, Santa Clara 2
Grand Terrace 12, Arroyo Valley 0
Heritage Christian 12, Village Christian 1
La Mirada 7, Aliso Niguel 1
La Quinta 11, Rancho Mirage 0
Leuzinger 4, Culver City 3
Maranatha 12, Whittier Christian 4
Milken 4, Burbank Providence 1
Montebello 18, San Gabriel 0
Newbury Park 7, Buena 1
Norwalk 8, Sante Fe 3
Ontario 6, Montclair 3
Orange County Pacifica Christian 7, Laguna Beach 4
Palm Springs 17, Xavier Prep 4
Palo Verde 8, Bellflower 7
Redlands 15, Hesperia Christian 0
Redlands East Valley 18, Silverado 1
Rolling Hills Prep 13, HMSA 4
Rowland 3, Diamond Bar 1
San Juan Hills 11, Riverside Prep 10
Santa Clarita Christian 4, Desert Christian 0
Santa Monica 8, Calabasas 4
Santa Rosa Academy 9, San Jacinto Valley Academy 8
Shadow Hills 5, Palm Desert 3
South Hills 11, Los Altos 3
Summit 5, Rialto 1
Temecula Prep 14, SJDLCS 1
Temecula Valley 11, Trabuco Hills 0
Temescal Canyon 5, San Dimas 3
Trinity Classical Academy 7, Castaic 3
Twentynine Palms 4, AAE 2
Victory Valley 4, Barstow 3
Webb 16 La Puente 2
West Torrance 9, New Roads 0
West Valley 14, San Jacinto 4
INTERSECTIONAL
Borrego Springs 12, Anza Hamilton 0
Colorado Legend 10, La Habra 5
Eagle Rock 19, CALS Early College 1
Fullerton 14, Colorado Mullen 4
Gahr 7, Utah American Fork 1
Inglewood 16, Dorsey 1
St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 7, Port of LA 4
WISH Academy 11, Washington Prep 5
SOFTBALL
CITY SECTION
Animo Robinson 24, Animo Watts 14
Bell 11, Huntington Park 6
Bernstein 25, Contreras 12
Central City Value 18, Vaughn 14
Dorsey 21, Dymally 0
East Valley 20, Panorama 4
Garfield 6, LA Roosevelt 2
Hollywood 18, Belmont 5
Mendez 20, Roybal 8
SOCES 15, Northridge Academy 4
Triumph Charter 19, Bert Corona 1
Westchester 15, Narbonne 13
SOUTHERN SECTION
Alhambra 16, Mark Keppel 0
Aliso Niguel 4, El Toro 1
Alta Loma 6, Citrus Valley 2
Arrowhead Christian 19, Woodcrest Christian 2
Barstow 4, Victor valley 2
Beaumont 7, Rancho Verde 1
Bonita 20, Claremont 6
California 5, Sante Fe 4
Cantwell-Sacred Heart 5, Bishop Conaty-Loretto 2
Castaic 13, Golden Valley 4
Chadwick 22, Westridge 1
Chaffey 9, Diamond Ranch 0
Chaminade 7, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 6
Coastal Academy 9, Mayfield 0
Crescenta Valley 23, Hoover 0
Cypress 3, Segerstrom 0
Desert Christian Academy 11, California Military Institute 10
Don Lugo 3, Chino 2
Eastside 11, Littlerock 4
El Cajon Christian 8, Trabuco Hills 2
El Dorado 10, Mayfair 0
El Modena 9, La Habra 6
El Rancho 15, Arroyo 5
Fillmore 15, Channel Islands 4
Firebaugh 19, Hawthorne 13
Fontana 11, Bethel Christian 2
Foothill Tech 12, Bishop Diego 0
Fullerton 6, Los Altos 1
Garden Grove Pacifica 4, Anaheim Canyon 1
Gahr 10, Cerritos 0
Garden Grove 11, Westminster 1
Granite Hills 12, Adelanto 4
Hemet 16, United Christian Academy 5
Hesperia Christian 17, Immanuel Christian 2
Highland 2, Quartz Hill 1
Indio 18, Lakeside 1
Indio 14, Temecula Prep 1
Irvine University 9, San Marino 8
Jurupa Hills 16, San Gorgonio 0
Kaiser 14, Grand Terrace 5
Knight 14, Antelope Valley 1
Lakeside 7, San Jacinto 6
La Mirada 5, Valley Christian 0
La Quinta 10, Rancho Mirage 0
La Salle 13, Mary Star of the Sea 2
La Serna 16, Whittier 4
Lennox Academy 14, Compton Early College 8
Leuzinger 9, Culver City 6
Liberty 10, Linfield Christian 4
Los Alamitos 6, Huntington Beach 5
Marina 6, Edison 0
Millikan 9, Lakewood 0
Mira Costa 9, Bishop Montgomery 8
Mission Viejo 2, El Cajon Christian 1
Moorpark 14, Royal 2
Moreno Valley 9, Vista del Lago 6
Muir 18, Glendale 3
Murrieta Valley 15, Chaparral 5
Newport Harbor 7, Corona del Mar 4
North Torrance 6, Santa Monica 1
Northwood 8, Irvine 0
Oak Park 5, Camarillo 4
Ontario 5, Montclair 0
Oxnard 5, Buena 1
Paloma Valley 15, Tahquitz 2
Palos Verdes 4, El Segundo 0
Paraclete 9, Lakewood St. Joseph 4
Pasadena 19, Immaculate Heart 8
Pasadena Poly 10, Flintridge Prep 0
Rialto 18, Eisenhower 8
Ridgecrest Burroughs 31, Silver Valley 1
Riverside Notre Dame 6, United Christian Academy 0
Riverside Poly 2, Shadow Ridge 0
San Jacinto 15, Temecula Prep 1
San Juan Hills 8, Tesoro 5
Santa Ana Foothill 17, Esperanza 0
Santa Paula 18, Nordhoff 1
Saugus 3, Valencia 2
Schurr 25, San Gabriel 0
Shadow Hills 21, Palm Desert 14
Shadow Ridge 8, Louisville 4
Simi Valley 5, Newbury Park 4
St. Bernard d. San Gabriel Mission, forfeit
St. Bonaventure 20, Del Sol 0
St. Monica 16, St. Anthony 2
St. Paul 10, Bishop Amat 0
St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy 18, Gardena Serra 5
Summit 20, Arroyo Valley 0
Temecula Valley 4, Great Oak 2
Viewpoint 10, Brentwood 0
Warren 9, La Palma Kennedy 1
West Covina 9, Southlands Christian 8
Western Christian 16, San Dimas 15
West Ranch 13, Canyon Country Canyon 4
Whittier Christian 3, Maranatha 1
Windward 11, Archer 8
Yucaipa 5, Rancho Cucamonga 3
Yucca Valley 19, Banning 9
INTERSECTIONAL
Anza Hamilton 10, Borrego Springs 0
Eagle Rock 6, Alemany 4
Harvard-Westlake 6, El Camino Real 3
Nevada Bishop Gorman 5, Mission Viejo 1
Nevada Spanish Springs 7, Carson 4
Rio Hondo Prep 3, San Diego 2
Riverside Poly 9, Nevada Reed 0
San Fernando 4, Tri-City Christian 3
Sierra Canyon 17, Nevada Douglas 0
Sierra Canyon 3, Nevada Reed 2
Sun Valley Magnet 7, Lakeview Charter 6
Thousand Oaks 9, Granada Hills 4
Torrance 7, Legacy 2
Trabuco Hills 4, Nevada Bishop Gorman 4
Utah Lehi 10, Carson 5
Sports
Former Wyoming volleyball star reveals how the SJSU trans scandal permanently ruined friendships on her team
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As San Jose State University approaches a critical deadline in its Title IX conflict against President Donald Trump’s administration, another woman who was affected by the school’s 2024 volleyball scandal has come forward.
Former University of Wyoming volleyball star Macey Boggs said her team had been “torn apart” over a decision of whether to forfeit two matches to SJSU in 2024. The Spartans were embroiled in a national controversy at that time due to the presence of a biological male transgender athlete on the roster.
Boggs said in a recent interview the players had found out about the trans player, whom they had competed against two years earlier, in the spring of 2024. When the fall rolled around, the locker room became a hive of tension and nerves due to the two scheduled matches between Wyoming and SJSU, and disagreements about whether to forfeit or not.
Former University of Wyoming volleyball star Macey Boggs (Courtesy of Macey Boggs)
“You could tell that things got a little bit hostile,” Boggs told Fox News Digital.
“In between the whispering between each other’s back, and then we were no longer one team, one unit, it was like these two separate islands.”
Friendships were permanently ruined for Boggs and the rest of the Cowgirls, she said.
“Yeah,” Boggs said when asked if the situation “permanently ruined friendships.”
“There were some of the girls who I really enjoyed, and we got along great, and then this situation came up, some conflict came up, and ultimately we went in separate directions because of that … as soon as we played in our last game, we all went in separate directions… it was hard to maintain those relationships.”
How did it get to that point?
The first Mountain West team to forfeit to SJSU that year was Utah State, becoming the first of five conference teams to do so.
Former Utah State star Kaylie Ray previously told Fox News Digital that the decision was left up to a player poll, and the majority of players voted to forfeit.
Wyoming also left the decision up to a player vote, per Boggs. But that vote had troubling outcome for her.
“It was said that it was up to the players. So we took an anonymous vote, it ended up we were going to play because most of the girls on my team wanted to play,” Boggs said. But she and others weren’t going to play anyway, regardless of the vote.
FORMER SJSU VOLLEYBALL STAR OPENS UP ON LIVING WITH TRANS TEAMMATE WITHOUT KNOWING ATHLETE’S BIOLOGICAL SEX
“There were a few of us who were like, ‘We’re not gonna play.’ So we decided we’re not gonna play. . . . There was a lot of conflict within the team . . . and it was not something you should have to deal with on your team. . . . It just seems so silly and something that tore apart the team.”
The divide came with several difficult conversations for Boggs.
But most of the conversations weren’t necessarily ideological, over whether males should be able to play in women’s sports. Boggs said the conversations were mostly about the pain of taking two losses on their record, when they were all working so hard to make the playoffs.
It was especially hard for the seniors.
“One of the hardest conversations, there were two, one of them was a fellow senior and she said, ‘This is my fellow senior year, I don’t want it to be ruined by this. And I fully resonated with that because it was also my senior year, and it was ruined by that,” Boggs said.
“One girl was doing really well statistically in the Mountain West and the NCAA and she mentioned, ‘how is this going to affect my stats?’ And that didn’t settle well for me because I was like, ‘OK, that’s kind of selfish.’
“I understood where she was coming from … but ultimately it’s a bigger issue.”
Boggs and the players who were determined not to play the game were preparing to tell the coaches of their intent.
But just then, prior to the first match between Wyoming and SJSU on Oct. 5 of that year, the players were called into another meeting, Boggs said.
‘HORRIBLE’ MOMENTS EXPOSED FOR UNR VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WHEN THEY WERE ROPED INTO THE SJSU TITLE IX SCANDAL
Boggs claims that Wyoming Athletic Director Tom Burman told them they were encouraged by the Wyoming state government to forfeit the game, but Burman made the final decision on the forfeit
“By the time it was time to tell the coaches, we had another meeting… It was told to us by our AD Tom Burman, so he was the one who said, ‘this is the decision that has been made, it’s been taken out of your guys’ hands. And I’m so grateful for that,” Boggs said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to University of Wyoming Athletics and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon’s office for a response.
Public records show the university faced “outside pressure” to forfeit the match, according to WyoFile.
Gordon commended the forfeit in a statement at the time.
“I am in full support of the decision by Wyoming Athletics to forego playing its volleyball match against San Jose State. It is important we stand for integrity and fairness in female athletics,” Gordon said.
The dispute was resolved. But the consequences remain.
Wyoming went on to finish the season 17-13, losing six of their last nine games. They finished two games out of the final spot in the conference tournament, and would have made the tournament had they won their two games against SJSU. It was Boggs and other seniors’ last chance to make the tournament in their Wyoming careers.
Within the locker room, the disagreements over initial vote left rifts. Boggs and the women on her side dug their heels in deeper.
In November of that year, Boggs and teammates Sierra Grizzle and Jordan Sandy joined former SJSU volleyball star Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference. Slusser initially brought the scandal into the national spotlight that September, when she joined Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA, with Slusser citing her experience playing with and rooming with trans teammate Blaire Fleming without ever being officially told of Fleming’s birth sex.
Boggs, Grizzle and Sandy joined Slusser and seven other conference players in suing the Mountain West and representative of SJSU and the California State University (CSU) system.
Boggs said the decision to take things that far earned the respect of teammates who initially voted to play the game.
Once they joined, Boggs said she told her other teammates, “‘Hey, can we talk to you guys? We’ve decided to join this lawsuit, and this is why.”
“And after that, they like totally understood . . . I think that standing up for something can be extremely scary, and something you need to be very brave and bold in.”
FORMER COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL STAR KAYLIE RAY OPENS UP ON VIRAL CLASH WITH ARIZONA DEMOCRAT SENATOR
The Slusser v Mountain West lawsuit was partially dismissed by federal judge Kato Crews earlier in March, with all charges being dismissed against the Mountain West.
However, Title IX claims and representatives of SJSU and CSU were not dismissed. Crews is reserving a ruling on those charges until after the ruling in the ongoing B.P.J. v West Virginia Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports, and the Title IX implications.
At the same time, SJSU and CSU are waging a legal war of resistance to the Trump administration’s efforts to get SJSU to resolve its alleged Title IX violations for how it handled Fleming.
After the U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation determined that SJSU violated Title IX, and offered a series of compliance points to resolve it, SJSU and CSU sued the federal government to challenge the findings.
“I laughed,” Boggs said, when she heard the news of SJSU’s lawsuit. “That seems like something that is a little bit silly. I truly believe that we even shouldn’t be having lawsuits centered around men in women’s sports.”
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon responded to the lawsuits on March 11, giving the institutions a deadline of 10 days to come to an agreement or risk federal funding cuts and a referral to the U.S. Department of Justice.
With that deadline coming up within a week, Boggs is the latest woman to have been impacted by the scandal to speak out about the experience, joining Slusser and Ray.
Both Slusser and Ray have gone viral on social media in recent weeks after speaking out, prompting criticism and even online insults from people with pro-transgender views.
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Boggs said she’s faced online attacks from the other side ever since her decision to forfeit and join the lawsuit in 2024, and she is prepared to face more, if necessary.
“I will bare the weight all day, I will take any hate that has to come, because I truly believe in this. If you have to say these crazy things, I would rather you say them to me than those girls that I am fighting with.”
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Southwest1 week agoTalarico reportedly knew Colbert interview wouldn’t air on TV before he left to film it