Jason PetersJason Peters, the former head wrestling coach at the University of Pittsburgh, has filed a lawsuit against the school in federal court, saying he was unfairly fired in 2017 without cause in part because he's African-American.
Peters, who became head coach in 2013, is asking for his job back along with compensatory damages and other related costs.
Regarding Peters' just-filed lawsuit, the University of Pittsburgh said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Peters was fired Jan. 19, 2017, after an investigation into a reported incident on a team trip in late December to the 2016 Ken Kraft Midlands Classic wrestling tournament at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois just outside Chicago.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, all references to the Evanston events have been blacked out in the lawsuit as the parties resolve what details will be made public and what won't, said John Stember, Peters' lawyer.
The incident which may have led to Peters' firing
On the day of Peters' firing back in 2017, InterMat ran two separate news stories -- one, an official statement issued by University of Pittsburgh Sports Information, followed later that day by a more detailed article-- original to InterMat -- based on reports from Pittsburgh area media.
Pitt's official statement, weighing in at just 110 words, said, "The University of Pittsburgh announced today a leadership change with the Pitt wrestling program effective immediately.
"Assistant staff members Matt Kocher and Drew Headlee will serve as acting co-head coaches for the balance of the 2017 season. Jason Peters, the Panthers' head coach since 2013, is no longer with the University.
"We will continue to provide our student-athletes and coaches with our full support as they work to achieve the many goals they set for the 2017 season," said Dr. Randy Juhl, who will assume the responsibilities of acting athletic director at the end of this week.
"A national search for a new head coach will begin immediately."
InterMat's Jan. 19 report of the incident incorporated reporting from two Pittsburgh area sources -- WTAE-TV, the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh, and The Pitt News, the official student newspaper for the University of Pittsburgh. The original stories from these two sources differed only in details, which have been called out here.
"On the morning of January 13, the Pitt athletic department became aware of an incident that took place during the wrestling team's trip to Illinois for a competition on December 29-30," Pitt athletics spokesman E.J. Borghetti told WTAE. "An investigation was immediately launched and, while the details of that process will remain private, the university was compelled by its findings to make a change in the program's leadership."
The Pitt News had contacted Evanston police regarding a 911 call from a guest at the Hilton Garden Inn of Evanston at about 2:30 a.m. December 31. According to an employee at the hotel's front desk, the Pitt wrestling team was staying at this hotel at the time.
The police report stated that a 22-year-old man told them a friend, 19, had been robbed of $100 by three women, but did not want to press charges. A third man, also 19, told investigators the group had contacted the women through the internet on Backpage.com -- a controversial classified advertising website that has since been seized by federal authorities investigating sex trafficking -- but did it as a joke. The men told Evanston police they were in town from Pennsylvania for a wrestling tournament. The police report did not include the names of the men. No one was arrested.
What happened after the incident
Peters said in the lawsuit that when he got back from the trip, no one from Pitt said anything to him about it. But later, he said, Athletic Director Scott Barnes told him he was being suspended for a match at Pitt on Jan. 13.
According to the suit, Barnes and other Pitt officials then told him Jan. 17 that he hadn't "properly responded" to the Evanston incident. They fired him two days later.
Peters and his lawyers say no one ever presented him with any evidence of allegations against him, a violation of his due process rights, and violated the terms of his contract with Pitt by firing him without cause. He also said he was fired because of his race.
"We don't think there was any misconduct," Stember, Peters' attorney, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Monday. "What happened to him was really unfair."
Peters had been at Pitt for 16 years before being fired in Jan. 2017. He had been the head coach since 2013, when he took over for long-time coach Rande Stottlemyer who had announced his retirement. Prior to that promotion, Peters had served under Stottlemyer as an assistant coach for 10 years, including nine as his top assistant.
Prior to coming to Pitt, Peters had previously served as an assistant coach at Princeton University for four years, and had been an assistant for one year at his college alma mater, East Stroudsburg University.
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