Recent weeks have been big for college athletics in the news, but for a former college women’s hockey coach in Minnesota, the news is about more than just being an “underdog.” A recent news article detailed how the former coach recently won a jury trial in federal court based on employment discrimination claims and was awarded $3.74 million as a result.
According to the recent news article, the former coach, who was the coach for the women’s hockey team at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) for 16 years, pursued the employment discrimination lawsuit after she was terminated from her position in 2014. The facts that are detailed in the report certainly make it seem like something other than production was at issue in the case: the former coach’s teams won five national championships in her time as an employee of UMD, which is quite a feat.
The former coach reportedly raised some concerns about the differences between the women’s and men’s hockey teams at UMD. When her contract with UMD was not renewed in 2014, she claimed that it was retaliation for bringing up those concerns, as well as gender discrimination. Apparently, the jury in the case agreed.
UMD, however, may not let the jury verdict rest — the university is considering an appeal. UMD claims that, despite the history of national championships, the women’s hockey team had failed to qualify for the championship tournament during the former coach’s final four years with the team. UMD claims the firing was primarily due to this decline in results and performance.
Source: FOX Sports, “Former UMD coach awarded $3.75 million in discrimination suit,” March 16, 2018
