Ashley Scoggin, who played basketball at Nebraska from 2020 to 2022, accused former Nebraska associate head coach Chuck Love of using his position and influence to groom her into a sexual relationship, according to a civil lawsuit filed Sunday.

The lawsuit lists Love, head coach Amy Williams, athletic director Trev Alberts and the Nebraska school of regents as defendants. Scoggin is seeking unspecified damages for the alleged violation of her civil rights.

“The University was made aware of the lawsuit this morning,” Nebraska said in a Monday statement. “While the University does not comment on the specifics of pending litigation, it does not agree with the allegations contained in the complaint and intends to vigorously defend this matter.”

Scoggin, who now plays at UNLV, accuses Williams and Alberts of failing to maintain appropriate boundaries between players and the coaching staff.

According to the lawsuit, Love — who had mentored Scoggin, met with her for individual practice sessions and implied promises of support in her career, according to the lawsuit — began inviting Scoggin out for drinks and messaging her late in the night while she was working an academic internship within the athletic department. After accepting one of Love’s late-night invitations, Love allegedly kissed her.

The pair began a sexual relationship and Scoggin stated in the suit that she was afraid to report Love out of fear of Williams’ retaliation.

Scoggin’s attorney, Maren Lynn Chaloupka, told The Athletic, “There are some very simple leadership principles involved here.

“A coach in charge should not have sex with the student he is in charge of. A Division I head coach should not have to be told that this kind of relationship is an abuse of power And, student-athletes should know they will be protected, not punished, if a coach is preying on them.”

Love, according to the lawsuit, created the perception for Scoggin that he could ‘make her or break her’ in terms of her place on the team and her future.

Scoggin, who alleges that Love would summon her for sex in his hotel room when the team traveled for road games, later stated that she felt like she was given less playing time during games after she refused to participate in a group sex session with Love and an undisclosed second man.

In February 2022, the lawsuit states team members caught and videotaped Scoggin in Love’s hotel room in State College, Pa., after a practice player tricked a hotel desk clerk into giving him Love’s room key. After showing the video recording to Williams, the lawsuit states that the coach took no measures to protect Scoggin’s confidentiality and “took no measures to meaningfully explore whether what had been reported to her was the result of an abuse of power, ethics and status by Love.”

According to the lawsuit, Williams called a team meeting the next day and invited team members to interrogate Scoggin and Love, with the coach allegedly encouraging team members to scream, cry and direct profanity at Scoggin. Both Scoggin and Love denied anything improper at the time, and Scoggin argues in the lawsuit that she could not “admit the truth of what had been happening” with Love standing beside her.

Williams suspended Scoggin after the incident, while Love was suspended with pay. Upon meeting with a member of Nebraska’s athletic department, Scoggin states she was not informed of her rights under Title IX. Later that day, Williams met with Scoggin to confirm that she was removed from the team.

Upon sharing with her parents, Scoggin and her parents met with Alberts, Williams and other athletic department officials. There, the lawsuit alleges that Alberts did not redirect or correct Williams, nor did the athletic director acknowledge “that coaches must not pursue sexual relationships with student-athletes,” according to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Love was maintained on paid suspension for the remainder of the semester and Alberts did not order an investigation of the situation. Love remained on the university’s payroll until he resigned on May 13, 2022.

(Photo: Joseph Cress / Iowa City Press-Citizen via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

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