Jared Anderson contributed to this report.
Niagara University head swimming coach Ben Nigro is out of a job 2 weeks after being accused of mishandling sexual harassment allegations made by 3 female members of the school’s swim team.
The school declined to say whether Nigro was fired or resigned, citing the lawsuit.
The 47-year old Nigro had been the head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming teams at Niagara for 13 seasons. 2nd-year head diving coach Josh Larcom is the only coach currently listed on the team’s roster. While one diver is among the 3 women who filed the lawsuit, Larcom was not named in the case.
3 current or former members of the women’s swimming & diving team are suing the school, saying that they were sexually harassed by members of the school’s men’s team, and that Nigro didn’t properly address the issue.
The three women filed a federal suit through the U.S. District Court in Buffalo. The suit also claims the women’s team was treated unequally in coaching and equipment, a violation of federal law. Specifically, the suit points to a lack of a female coach or athletic trainer on staff.
The women say members of the men’s team ranked the women by physical appearance, made fun of their bodies and gave them hurtful or vulgar nicknames. Per The Buffalo News, one woman was allegedly called a “water buffalo” and another “Princess Thigh Gap.”
The women say their coach, Ben Nigro, didn’t intervene, but rather told the women to ignore the behavior. The lawsuit says Nigro told the women that “boys will be boys,” and that “90% is how you react and 10% is what they do.” The unnamed diver in the lawsuit also says she made a complaint to an assistant athletic director in 2016, when a member of the men’s team allegedly had sex with a female recruit. The lawsuit says Nigro joked about the situation, saying “he must not have been very good, since she is not coming to NU.”
The lawsuit also says the school delayed the process of a formal complaint that was filed last December, allowing some of the male swimmers to graduate before the school decided whether to punish them or not.
Niagara was scheduled to swim its first meet, the annual purple vs. white instrasquad, on September 28th, but there’s no indication as to whether that meet happened. Their first intercollegiate event is scheduled for October 19th on the road against Binghamton.
Are comments and ranking on appearance and nicknames really sexual harassment? Or do we think there are untold allegations? Doesn’t really sound like a “sue my university” type of offense. The coach probably should have told them to stop, but they’re in their 20s, right? Rough all the way around.
That’s quite the name
… Because it sounds so close to “Niagara” right?
Just so we are clear . . . college students (ages 18-22) can be tried as adults and marched off to war, but ARE NOT EXPECTED to be able to handle social adversity or uncomfortable situations on their own? And now a 20-year professional in the field with a family to provide for is stuck in up-state NY without the ability to earn a living? And because he allegedly put the responsibility of young adults handling their own emotions regarding the poor decision making of other young adults on themselves? Yea, that sounds about right for where we are right now. Kudos & best of luck to these overly sensitive athletes and reactionary administration.
yea its f*cking ridiculous. i mean the military and war stuff
Perhaps a 20-year professional should know better than to ignore a problem like this. I’m pretty sure 90% of college coaches would have the sense to recognize the men’s team was in the wrong, deal with the situation, and keep their job. Pretty simple.
18-22 year-old men should be mature enough to know better than to be nasty to their teammates. If not, they should be do a lot of growing up to realize that this is not acceptable behavior. Coaches should step up and make these kinds of occurrences “teaching moments,” since they are in fact in college. The way Nigro chose to deal with it was wrong.
Notice how the women first took complaints to the coach. His inaction is telling, especially to the women whose trust he broke. They didn’t take it up higher, at first, hoping and trusting that Nigro would handle it. He didn’t.
Young men in college seem to be given the expectation that they grow… Read more »
I hope we don’t lose another college program because of this. This is how smaller programs like Niagra just get cut.
It’s about time.
Does “The Buffalo News” only post stories that contain the word “buffalo” or is that a coincidence in this case?
The meet did take place
Is he related to Army’s head coach?
No relation.
No