FILE – In this July 10, 2019 file photo, Jim Calhoun, men’s basketball coach for the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford, Conn., accepts the best coach award at the ESPY Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Calhoun has been accused of sexual discrimination by a former associate athletic director at the University of Saint Joseph, the Division III school where he now works. Jaclyn Piscitelli filed a lawsuit Wednesday, Oct. 9 in U.S. District Court against the school, which began admitting men in 2018. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Hall of Fame basketball coach Jim Calhoun is denying allegations of sexual discrimination made by a former associate athletic director at the University of Saint Joseph, the Division III school where he now works.
Calhoun says in a statement released Saturday by the school that he never “knowingly treated any woman unfairly because of her gender” and he fully supports women’s rights and equality.
Jaclyn Piscitelli sued the Catholic school in West Hartford in federal court Wednesday. She alleges she was fired after complaining about the conduct of men in the athletic department, including the 77-year-old Calhoun, who coaches the school’s men’s basketball team.
She alleges the former UConn coach once called her “hot” and forced her to clean up coffee grounds he spilled, among other things.
Diana Sousa, a school spokeswomen, has said the university doesn’t comment on pending litigation but that it “takes compliance with all matters relating to Title IX very seriously.”
© Copyright 2019 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
