NEED TO KNOW
- Former Boston University (BU) women’s soccer coach Casey Brown was reportedly accused of sexual harassment before she resigned in December 2024
- The Boston Globe reported details brought to light by current BU midfielder Shayla Brown, who contacted the university’s confidential ethics hotline about it
- Alex Cooper, who accused former BU women’s soccer head coach Nancy Feldman of sexual assault, previously opened up about her experiences with Brown during her time on the team
The Boston University (BU) women’s soccer team faces more allegations.
Two weeks after Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper accused her former head coach Nancy Feldman of sexual harassment in her Hulu docuseries Call Her Alex, The Boston Globe published an article alleging that Feldman’s former assistant coach Casey Brown faced similar allegations.
Per the outlet, BU soccer player, Shayla Brown, contacted the university’s confidential ethics hotline about Brown on Sept. 14, 2024. Four days later, the athlete — who’s currently a senior midfielder on the BU women’s soccer team — made additional moves, sharing details with the team’s sports psychologist.
“The coach, she said, was acting inappropriately toward one of BU’s key players, focusing excessively on her and trying to manipulate her in ways that were distressing to the player and her teammates,” reported The Globe.
“This was not a case of a coach coddling a prized player, Shayla Brown said. Her teammate was ‘being groomed,’ she told the psychologist,” the outlet added.
Shayla and 17 other BU women’s soccer players reported similar claims to BU’s Equal Opportunity Office the next day, per The Globe, noting that their teammate, who was allegedly targeted, also shared her experience with school officials.
The key player, who remains on the BU soccer team and asked The Globe not to be identified, reportedly told the university then — and the outlet recently for the story — that her coach fawned over her for over two years in ways that felt relentless and wrong.
“She recalled navigating a stream of awkward texts, unsettling invitations and unwanted attention,” the outlet reported of the key player.
PEOPLE reached out to both Brown and Boston University for comment, but didn’t immediately hear back.
Brown, who used to play for BU herself before becoming an assistant coach under Feldman (who has yet to publicly address Cooper’s sexual harassment allegations), was placed on leave midseason.
According to The Globe, Brown officially resigned in December after BU commissioned an investigation into complaints from the soccer players.
“At the conclusion of the investigation, there were no BU policy violations and no evidence of sexual harassment,” BU told The Globe in a statement. “Nevertheless, BU and Brown parted ways, and Brown is no longer the head coach.”
In a different article published by The Globe on June 13, Cooper called out Brown — who was BU’s assistant women’s soccer coach at the time — for doing “nothing” after she asked her for help during a meeting with Feldman, despite “locking eyes” with each other.
In a statement to the Globe, Brown said she had “no recollection of what has been suggested” by Cooper.
“But let me be absolutely clear: I would never ignore, dismiss or turn away from anyone — a player, a teammate, a friend, a family member — who sought my help in any capacity,” Brown told the outlet.
“As a coach, I understood the weight of my responsibility to protect my players and act accordingly. The suggestion that I would do otherwise is completely false,” she added.
Read the full article here
