USA Today’s investigation highlights the Nevada Wolf Pack’s Title IX issues under former AD Doug Knuth

A USA Today investigation published Tuesday detailed the Nevada Wolf Pack’s Title IX issues under former athletic director Doug Knuth, who was fired in April 2022 after exactly nine years on the job.

The investigation cites interviews with more than two dozen current and former Nevada athletes and employees, as well as thousands of pages of emails and other documents obtained through public records requests. According to the report, Knuth was the subject of four Title IX investigations examining disparities in facilities, recruiting, meals, travel, equipment, advertising and access to medical treatment. allegedly derogatory comments about pregnant women (these claims were not confirmed following an investigation by a Las Vegas law firm); and allegations of an inappropriate relationship with Nevada’s assistant cheerleading coach (two investigations did not find that Knuth had violated school rules).

Wolf Pack employees also alleged that Knuth disproportionately hired men for key roles and paid them more than equally qualified women.

In 2019, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into Wolf Pack athletics for possible Title IX violations after receiving a complaint alleging the university discriminated against female student-athletes on the basis of gender because they did not comparable institutions and did not provide any financial support. The Office for Civil Rights said it would launch an investigation into the allegations, but did not proceed further for the next four years until USA Today asked the Department of Education for comment. The investigation did not find that Knuth violated school rules, but he was ultimately fired in April 2022, with Title IX issues a driving force, Nevada Sports Net reported upon his firing.

The Title IX problems reached their peak in March 2022, when the Nevada softball team’s makeshift locker rooms – shipping containers – were broken into and at least $15,000 worth of equipment was stolen. There were no signs of forced entry, but the doors did not lock properly, allowing easy entry. According to USA Today, Knuth met with two of the team’s players after the incident and told UNR President Brian Sandoval that it was a good conversation.

According to USA Today, Sandoval responded to Knuth via email on April 6: “The feedback I received from the meeting was that the athletes continued to be frustrated and not at all satisfied with the meeting.” I was also told that Blaming the administration for the deficiencies in athletics facilities.”

Exactly two weeks later after that email was sent, Knuth, who had built a reputation in Nevada for hiring strong coaches, was fired with one year left on his contract. Nevada ultimately paid Knuth a $308,000 buyout. He has since been hired as Southern Utah’s athletic director in January 2023, a role he still holds. His duties there included hiring Marie Tuite, the disgraced former San Jose State athletic director who was forced out of the position after a major sexual abuse scandal in her department. Tuite, who was hired by Knuth in February 2023, has since resigned.

Knuth declined an interview with USA Today but issued a statement defending his record.

“I have been and continue to be an advocate for women’s athletics throughout my career as a collegiate athletics executive,” Knuth wrote to USA Today. “During my tenure at Nevada, I led several initiatives to address decades-long problems of inequality that predated my time at the university.”

He also defended himself in light of two investigations into his relationship with Nevada assistant cheerleading coach Marci Banes. An email from Knuth to Banes in 2016 invited the cheerleading coach to stay with him in La Jolla. Both were married to other people at the time before divorcing their spouses in 2018. Knuth and Banes married in 2019. UNR denied USA Today’s public records request to investigate this situation. The school had previously declined Nevada Sports Net’s request for those files, describing personnel matters as confidential.

“All I can tell you is that I have fully participated and cooperated fully in any review or investigation,” Knuth wrote to USA Today. “I answered every question, including about gender inequality and my wife. In each of these actions and in following them, I was never made aware of any wrongdoing and was cleared of all allegations.”

Nevada has made strides in funding women’s sports at a higher level since Sandoval’s hiring in September 2020, especially since Knuth’s firing 19 months later. This is particularly true in locker rooms, where a 2020 assessment by Nevada’s Title IX coordinator found that 85 percent of the Wolf Pack’s male athletes had access to exclusive locker rooms, while this was true for only 17 percent of women’s teams, according to USA Today. Today, each men’s and women’s team has permanent locker rooms on campus, while the shipping container locker rooms at Hixson Park have been upgraded (softball also has permanent rooms on campus).

Nevada has poured more than $6 million into improvements to women’s facilities over the past three years, including, but not limited to:

* Adding a FieldTurf surface for Nevada softball that cost more than $3 million

* Addition of a permanent locker room for women’s soccer; women’s athletics; swimming and diving for women; women’s golf; and women’s tennis

* Established the Alpha Fund to improve nutritional services for female athletes in Nevada

*We offer free breakfast to all student-athletes on weekdays during school hours

* Including women’s basketball in a $12 million locker room/players’ lounge project that will create mirrored facilities for the men’s and women’s teams

* Partnering with the RSCVA to create a $5 million world-class indoor track and field facility in Reno that will host Nevada women’s track and field

* Adding improved mobile locker rooms for softball and women’s tennis on-site at their home play areas (both programs also have permanent locker rooms on campus)

* Established Nevada Volleyball coaching offices at the Virginia Street Gym while expanding and improving the team area

* Installation of a new playing surface at Mackay Stadium for women’s soccer/soccer in Nevada; This also included a new track surface for women’s track and field

In addition, Sandoval hired a female athletic director (Stephanie Rempe) to replace Knuth, while Rempe’s two top lieutenants – deputy AD Merlene Aitken-Smith and SWA Casey Stangel – are women. Nevada also had three head coaching vacancies in women’s sports during Rempe’s tenure, with all three hires being female – Vanessa Valentine of soccer; Shannon Hunt of volleyball; and softball player Marina Demore, operating under a temporary name. Women’s basketball coach Amanda Levens and women’s golf coach Kathleen Takaishi also received extensions under Rempe.

“The progress we have made over the past three and a half years in modernizing facilities for women’s athletics and strengthening the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX underscores our commitment to structural and organizational improvements consistent with evolving needs and expectations of our university community,” Sandoval said in a statement to USA Today.

You can read the full USA Today story here.