On Monday, June 22, Michele Sharp argued that the NCAA got what it wanted when Kean University fired Sharp and should not be dismissed from her wrongful firing suit. The former women’s basketball coach filed her original complaint in January 2014 against Kean and a number of its administrators. When that complaint was dismissed, she filed an amended complaint at the beginning of 2015, adding the NCAA and her previous counsel as defendants.
In the lawsuit, Sharp argues that Kean officials unfairly punished her and made her a scapegoat for several violations that prompted the NCAA to place the school’s athletic teams on probation until 2016. According to Sharp, after the NCAA began its investigation, Kean removed one of its female student-athletes from the team. Once Sharp said that Kean should have opposed the NCAA’s allegations and that the university did not give the student due process rights, Kean fired her as coach and reassigned her to work in recreational facilities.
The NCAA claimed that it is not a state actor and thereby requested dismissal. In opposing this request, Sharp argued that the NCAA often picks and chooses when it wants to be considered a state actor. She then gave several arguments as to why the NCAA must be considered a state actor in this case, including how federal and state governments do not oversee the NCAA, giving it inherent power of a state actor, and how NCAA sanction decisions can ultimately affect schools’ academic performances.