Former Lamar softball coaches granted restraining order
Published 9:35 am Tuesday, June 12, 2018
By Chris Moore
chris.moore@panews.com
BEAUMONT — Former Lamar University softball coaches Holly Bruder and Allison Honkofsky were granted a temporary restraining order Monday against the university. Both sides agreed to the deal before Judge Justin Sanderson in the 60th District Court. A hearing for a temporary injunction will be July 9.
Both sides presented opening statements centered around their accounts of what took place during and after the May 11 firing of the former Lamar softball coaches.
The attorney for the coaches, Cade Bernsen, said the former coaches filed grievances with the university using the policy outlined on the university’s website. He said that the university tried to invoke the Texas State University System policy and ignore the Lamar University policy.
Assistant Attorney General Andrea Batista, who is representing Lamar, said the university had a right to following either the guidelines outlined on Lamar’s website or the TSUS procedures and that it was up to Lamar’s discretion. Batista argued that a restraining order was unnecessary because Bruder was already fired and no further action was needed.
Bruder was hired by the university in 2011 to rebuild the softball program, which had lapsed.
Bernsen presented to the court the accolades for community service the coaches and players had accumulated since the program resumed.
“Ever since they have been there, the softball program has led the college in academic achievement,” Bernsen said. “They have led the college in community awards. They have had glowing evaluations from the former athletic directors as late as December 2017. They won the Red Cup Award. It’s an award given to the athletic program that does the most community service work at Lamar University. I think the softball program won three out of the last four years.”
Bernsen said that the hearing was not about why Bruder was fired or the allegations surrounding the firing.
“In the spring of 2018, false allegations were made by a player against Coach Bruder and her entire staff. They were false allegations then, and they are false allegations now. What the evidence will ultimately show is the Athletic Director (Marco) Born did not investigate those allegations at all. Instead of defending these coaches and defending the program, he threw the coaching staff and the entire program under the bus. Then, on April 27, Born puts Coach Bruder on leave from her position as head coach.”
Bernsen said Bruder was not allowed to attend Senior Day and that there were six games remaining on the schedule.
“Coach Honkofsky is the associate head coach, and they happen to be married, by the way. It shouldn’t matter, but it has been brought up. For some reason, the athletic director and the human resources director skip over her to be head coach while Bruder is on leave.”
Bernsen said during that time, the player who made the allegations and her father were attacking the coaching staff in the news media and that the coaches had a gag order placed on them by Born.
“On May 11, Born contacted Bruder and tells her to come to his office,” Bersen said. “He tells her that she had to resign that day or she is fired. She asked why she had to resign and Born said that he did not have to tell her. Vice President Vicki McNeil said they didn’t have to tell her. They refused.”
Bersen said that his client wasn’t going to resign if there was no reason to resign and they weren’t giving her a reason.
“So they fired her,” he said. “Then we get to the grievance appeals process. (Bruder) said, ‘This isn’t fair. This isn’t right.’”
Batista said that Lamar University was within their rights to fire the coaches.
“It’s our position that the only relevant facts are that Ms. Bruder and Ms. Honkofsky were terminated from employment. In fact, Ms. Bruder was put on administrative leave, pending an investigation that was being conducted. Ultimately, she was fired on May 11. Ms. Honkofsky was notified, also on May 11, that she had the decision to resign or be terminated from her employment. Ms. Bruder got that same option.”
Batista said that on May 16, both coaches filed their grievances with the university and that Honkofsky was fired effective Aug. 31. She said that on May 18, the university declined to hear the grievance because the policy did not apply post-termination.
After a break of about an hour, both sides agreed to a deal that allowed the temporary restraining order, halting the use of the TSUS policy and process until the temporary injunction hearing at 1:30 p.m. July 9.
