Judge diminshes former coach's lawsuit

Former softball coach Teresa Wilson did not produce enough evidence of gender discrimination within University athletics to sue the UW on those grounds a federal judge ruled last week.

Wilson filed suit against the UW last April alleging gender discrimination, breach of contract, emotional distress, retaliation, lack of due process and wrongful discharge as a result of her reassignment in December 2003. The lawsuit came in the wake of an internal investigation that found prescription drug abuse in the softball program and implicated Wilson, stating she "knew or should have known" about the problems.

The retaliation claim was withdrawn by Wilson shortly after the lawsuit was filed and the gender discrimination and due process claims were thrown out Friday.

The judge only found that there was one instance of possible gender discrimination presented by Wilson's attorneys. Wilson alleged that Scott Centala, who was also named in the internal prescription drug investigation, was promoted to co-coach of the softball team while she lost her coaching responsibilities.

The UW argued that Centala was "less culpable" than Wilson and that student athletes had expressed trust in him, which is why he was allowed to continue coaching.

Lawyers for the UW are pleased with the ruling and predict the remaining allegations will eventually be dropped.

"I expect that one way or another, those claims will also be thrown out," said Mike Madden, an attorney for the UW.

A trial is scheduled for Sept. 12.

Wilson's attorney, Rayla Allison of Minneapolis, did not return calls from The Daily yesterday. Allison has said she plans on appealing the judge's decision about the gender discrimination claim. She will also pursue the rest of Wilson's claims and file a complaint with Seattle's Office of Civil Rights asking them to investigate gender discrimination against Wilson and women in UW athletics.

Madden said he will give Wilson's team two to three weeks to file an appeal and then he plans on filing another series of summary judgment motions to have the rest of the claims thrown out.

Wilson's contract with the UW expired in June. She is now coaching the Texas Tech softball team.

Information from an Associated Press article was included in this report.