San Jose State coach suspended after expressing concerns over transgender athletes
Senior correspondent Claudia Cowan reports the latest on the controversy from Sausalito, California.
San Jose State Spartans women’s volleyball associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose sounded the alarm about trans inclusion in women’s sports as she is embroiled in her own controversy.
Batie-Smoose was suspended indefinitely after she filed a Title IX complaint against the school alleging that Blaire Fleming, the team’s transgender player, conspired with an opponent to help the team lose a match and injure teammate Brooke Slusser.
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Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended by San Jose State. (Fox News Channel)
The coach told Fox News Channel just how dire the situation in women’s sports is.
"Safety is being taken away from women," Batie-Smoose said in a segment on "America's Newsroom." "Fair play is taken away from women. We need more and more people to do this and fight this fight because women’s sports, as we know it right now will be forever changed."
San Jose State released a statement to OutKick after Batie-Smoose was suspended.
"The associate head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time, and we will not provide further information on this matter," the team said.
Melissa Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint. (Fox News Channel)
Batie-Smoose said she was told not to speak to the media after the discipline came down.
"This is just another form of what San Jose State has been trying to do – silence people that are speaking up for their First Amendment rights and for what's right," she told OutKick earlier this month.
She added she wanted to "make sure I'm standing strong that only women should be in women's sports."
The transgender controversy has affected San Jose State’s season greatly. The team has seen five opponent teams forfeit matches against them.
Blaire Fleming, a redshirt senior at San Jose State University, #3, plays as an outside and right-side hitter on the women’s volleyball team. (San Jose State University)
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The Mountain West Conference women’s volleyball tournament begins Nov. 27. Right now, San Jose is 11-5 in conference play and 13-5 overall.
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