Former SC college women’s basketball coach sues school alleging discrimination

South Carolina State University is facing a lawsuit accusing the university of discriminating against female athletes and retaliating against the Lady Bulldogs basketball coach after she raised concerns. On Thursday, the day after she filed the lawsuit against the university, the coach was fired.

Audra Smith, the now-former head women’s basketball coach at S.C. State University, accused the university of “systematically” mistreating female athletes by providing less financial aid to them than to male athletes, depriving women’s teams of recruiting funds and paying female coaches less money, according to a legal complaint filed in federal court Wednesday.

While there are more male athletes than female athletes at S.C. State, women’s sports programs are still underfunded when the figures are adjusted on a per-athlete basis, the lawsuit alleges.

“Our goal in this lawsuit is to improve the lives of women athletes and their coaches at S.C. State University,” Samantha Albrecht, an attorney at Cromer Babb Porter & Hicks, LLC who is representing Smith, said in a news release. “Our goal is also to remedy professional wrongs done to our named client for years of being disadvantaged by systematic sex-based discrimination at (S.C. State).”

Thursday, S.C. State announced it would immediately end Smith’s contract, according to a release from the school. Smith had previously coached Clemson University’s women’s basketball team. S.C. State has named Associate Head Coach Ervin Monier as an interim replacement, and the school will conduct a national search for a new head coach, according to the news release.

“We would like to thank Coach Smith for her dedication to our student-athletes and for the hard work she has committed to the women’s basketball program,” Director of Athletics Stacy Danley said in the release. “We wish her and her family well.”

While the S.C. State news release noted Smith’s rocky record as a coach — Smith has a 23-64 record overall and a 4-21 record this season — Smith attorney J. Paul Porter called the firing “unlawful” and “retaliatory.”

Even before Smith’s firing, the lawsuit accused S.C. State of retaliating against her after she raised concerns internally about alleged inequality in sports teams’ funding.

This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 3:57 PM.