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Perri Hankins says the suit filed by a player is similar to her action against the school.
By ANTONYA ENGLISH
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 29, 2000
TAMPA -- When Perri Hankins logged onto her computer last week and began reading stories about a racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the University of South Florida athletic administration, she had a dreadful sense of the familiar.
The former USF volleyball coach, abruptly fired in December 1998, said Monday that the newest saga at USF bears a striking resemblance to her own fight against the administration.
"It was kind of like deja vu," Hankins said from her office at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C. "My first thought was that the athletic administration does whatever they want to do, right or wrong, legal or illegal. It seems like the USF athletic department has its own agenda above what's correct. Whether it's the female athletes or the coaches, people are getting hurt and their rights are getting stepped on.
"I don't know quite how to put it, but it's dysfunctional management. This new situation seems like another example of that. And if you're talking about the athletic administration, it all starts with (athletic director) Paul Griffin. It starts with him, then the staff."
Former USF basketball player Dione Smith filed a federal racial discrimination lawsuit Thursday against women's coach Jerry Ann Winters, Griffin and USF. Among the lawsuit's claims: Winters and Griffin violated Smith's civil rights; Smith was unlawfully dismissed from the team; and Winters discriminated against black players.
Smith was dismissed in April because she complained and objected to Winters' discriminatory behavior, according to Smith's lawsuit. Winters, however, contends Smith was let go because she disrespected Winters and questioned her job security. Hankins said she is not aware of specific details of Smith's case, but she knows firsthand how decisions by the school's athletic administration can have a profound effect on a person's life and career.
Hankins spent eight seasons at USF, 1991-1998, leading the Bulls to four Conference USA championships and to NCAA Tournament appearances five out of her last six seasons. She has the most volleyball victories in school history with a 189-72 record.
She was fired for undisclosed reasons that associate athletic director Barbara Sparks-McGlinchy at the time deemed "in the department's best interests."
Griffin and Sparks-McGlinchy could not be reached for comment Monday.
Hankins filed a civil lawsuit against USF in June alleging she was wrongfully dismissed.
Hankins said she has applied for nearly every Division I head coaching position that has become available since she was fired. With a lawsuit against her former employer hanging over her head, no major Division I program will hire her, she said.
"I've missed so many opportunities that would be more equal to my career and what I did at South Florida," Hankins said. "I don't want to knock Campbell, but I was solicited every year by top programs -- Big Ten, Pac 10, the big programs -- before this happened. After this happening, I can't get anybody to call me back. That's part of the animal of athletics. You get hurt if you talk."
Hankins' attorney, Lisa Cullaro, said she also was affected by stories on the latest allegations.
"It struck very close to home for me and I'm sure for Coach Hankins," Cullaro said. "Perri made complaints and raised a lot of questions in general about gender equity for months and months. She was constantly a thorn in their side about gender equity issues. As much as she complained, nothing got accomplished, then she was fired.
"All we were ever told is that they were taking the department in a different direction. To this day, we don't know what that means."
Cullaro and Hankins said another aspect of the Smith case that parallels theirs is the attempts to find a solution outside the courts.
"We spent 11/2 years trying to resolve this," Cullaro said. "We tried formal grievance, informal grievance, filed with the EEOC, went to mediation, attempted private settlements -- all to no avail. We got the same reaction (as Smith's attorneys allege). We were stonewalled."
Added Hankins: "We've tried to work with them and they are just not cooperative. It's the same thing: drag things out and maybe eventually it will get quiet, it will go away. It sounds like that's what their general feeling is."
Among the attempts at settling the dispute, Hankins and Cullaro said, was a meeting with former USF president Betty Castor and her attorney following Hankins' dismissal. Hankins said Castor has been supportive since her dismissal, including agreeing to write a letter of recommendation on her behalf.
Hankins said she sympathizes with Smith's situation. She doesn't think it will signal the end of problems in the athletic department.
"I feel bad for the kids involved and all the missed opportunities for those kids," Hankins said. "This isn't all of it, this is only what people know about. Obviously I have my lawsuit pending so it's difficult for me to really speak freely about what I know about the administration.
"But you cannot continue with a leadership that does whatever they want to do. It's a state university, and people's rights are being violated."
This is not the first time USF has come under fire for the way it handled a problem in the athletic department.
A committee report released in 1991 criticized high-ranking USF administrators in the handling of the case of former USF basketball player Marvin Taylor, who was accused of rape by a fellow student.
Then-USF vice president Dan Walbolt overlooked USF's discipline procedures and took personal control of the rape case in November 1989, the report said. He punished Taylor with a brief suspension from the team, saying "mitigating circumstances" justified a penalty less severe than Taylor normally would have received. He did not explain publicly what those circumstances were.
Since October 1999, three lawsuits have been filed against the athletic department. In addition to Smith and Hankins, former assistant men's basketball coach Jimmy Dixon filed a suit in October alleging Griffin made "false and malicious" statements to a potential employer and participated in a scheme to wrongfully accuse him of sexually harassing two women. Griffin has "categorically" denied those claims.
Another former women's basketball player, Avia Lee, said she is pursuing possible legal action through civil rights organizations. Lee's scholarship wasn't renewed by Winters after one season.