Just over a year after being informed he would no longer coach Emporia State University’s soccer program, Bryan Sailer has filed a federal lawsuit against the university.
Sailer’s lawsuit addresses concerns about gender equity when it comes to the team’s playing conditions, as well as strength and conditioning matters. Sailer says the university’s soccer pitch was unusable during at least part of the 2023 season, meaning the team had to use a high school field at the detriment of home-field advantage and fan interest. Sailer also says the field conditions were neglected for over a year.
On top of that, Sailer says the soccer team had “limited and inadequate” weightlifting sessions that were shared with university teams at a time when the soccer team had a graduate assistant serving as weight coach instead of somebody in a full-time position.
Sailer says he mentioned his concerns on several occasions to Director of Athletics David Spafford, Senior Associate Athletic Director of Internal Relations and Senior Women’s Administrator Colleen Mischke and President Ken Hush.
Sailer’s lawsuit also says seniors on the soccer team took shots of alcohol while posing with the MIAA tournament championship trophy and with university officials nearby. He says he did not see any alcohol on the return trip to Emporia before seeing a bottle as the team was getting into town. According to Sailer, the issue wasn’t a concern until brought up by assistant Chloe Marquez and an unnamed graduate assistant. Sailer says both mad false accusations about him both aware of the alcohol use and participating. A subsequent campus investigation led to soccer team captains alleging freshman football players drinking alcohol before games that, according to Sailer, went uninvestigated — as did allegations football players drank alcohol when returning from the team’s 2022 bowl game. Sailer also alleges the university investigation was limited to three “handpicked” students, not everybody on the bus as Sailer had requested.
The lawsuit also mentions an unemployment hearing from March where the Kansas Unemployment Referee said ESU did not establish misconduct from Sailer and Spafford was not a credible witness in those proceedings.
The lawsuit mentions both Emporia State University and Spafford as defendants. It says Sailer’s Title IX rights were violated and requests over $75,000 in damages for “economic losses, noneconomic losses, compensatory damages, general damages, punitive damages” and attorney payments.
Sailer had led the soccer program from 2011-2023, amassing the most wins in program history — including NCAA Tournament trips from 2021-2023 and two MIAA Tournament titles during his tenure. However, he was suspended shortly before the 2023 Sweet Sixteen matchup after what the ESU Department of Athletics said were violations of athletic department policies and the student code of conduct by ESU soccer players. He was terminated in early December 2023.
Sailer had an overall record of 121-87-34 before he was replaced by Jane Grimley-Gunn this past February.
No hearing dates have been posted to the federal Public Access to Court Electronic Records website.
Emporia State says it has not been served the paperwork. ESU typically will not comment on pending litigation.
