The University of Idaho announced Friday that embattled women’s volleyball coach Chris Gonzalez has resigned, effective immediately.
The university suspended Gonzalez in March after investigators met with several current and former employees about allegations that the coach had verbally and emotionally abused them.
Gonzalez’s troubled history with players was first reported by the Orange County Register. Players have alleged that Gonzalez created an environment in which he targets specific players for almost daily bullying and even physical abuse, including overtraining, ignoring injuries, ignoring the instructions of doctors and withholding food.
University documents show that players, their parents and at least three university employees have raised concerns about Gonzalez to athletic director Terry Gawlik.
“The University of Idaho is deeply concerned about the allegations brought by some members of the women’s volleyball team against their coach, Chris Gonzalez,” according to a news release issued in January from the school.
“As a result, an investigation started in November around legal issues and has been expanded to include climate and culture concerns. The start of the investigation was delayed at the request of those who filed the complaints, in order to finish the season.”
In the statement Friday, university spokeswoman Jodi Walker wrote that Gonzalez resigned “prior to the conclusion of the university’s investigative process.”
The separation date was listed as Friday.
“With his resignation,” the statement reads, “the investigation stops, and no further action will be taken.
“With this resolution,” the statement continued, “we look forward to the volleyball program rebuilding an environment in which our student-athletes can be comfortable and succeed both on the court and off.”
Under Gonzalez, the Vandals finished 1-27 in 2023, his second year as coach.
Asked if the school gave Gonzalez a severance package upon his departure, Walker, the spokeswoman, said Idaho gave Gonzalez $50,000 “for the last six months of his contract.”
The school began an investigation after several recent or current players sought action from Gawlik, and former players under Gonzalez at different schools wrote Idaho officials to make them aware of past allegations.
In response, Idaho initiated a probe by the Office of Civil Rights Investigations. It hired Houston-based law firm Thompson & Horton to investigate the climate and culture of the program. Walker said Friday that she had inquired but did not immediately know how much the university has paid the law firm.
Thompson & Horton is the same law firm that defended Baylor University in a case settled in 2023 brought by 15 survivors of sexual assault who alleged that Baylor “permitted a campus rife with sexual assault” for years.
That case led to the firing of football coach Art Briles, two other football coaches and the resignation of Baylor President Kenneth Starr, who earlier served as the independent counsel who investigated allegations against President Bill Clinton involving Monica Lewinsky.
So far, the University of Idaho has spent $384,400 investigating allegations against Gonzalez, Walker said.
Included in material provided to UI was a letter dated Nov. 30, 2022, from former volleyball player Chelsey R. Mason, who played under Gonzalez at the University of Iowa in the early 2000s.
In the letter, Mason implored the university to listen to allegations from the players.
Mason suffered a broken rib in 2004 during intense practices under Gonzalez that she described in the letter as “dangerous.”
“Complaints levied against Christopher Gonzalez should not be dismissed as pouting or tempestuous outbursts thrown by teenagers and young adults, or overbearing, dissatisfied parents,” Mason wrote. “These are evidence of unprofessional, abusive, manipulative practice that have spanned Gonzalez’s career. These are cries for help.”
On Friday, UI spokesman Jerek Wolcott responded to a Spokesman-Review request to speak with Gawlik with an email saying she would not be available to talk about the situation because the coach’s resignation is a personnel issue.
As for the Vandals, the team’s website – from which Gonzalez’s name had been removed as of Friday morning – lists only 10 players on the roster.
“The student-athletes are given a 30-day transfer portal window after a coach leaves,” Wolcott wrote. “So that may change.”
Emma Patterson, a senior on the teams whose mother, grandmother and great-grandmother attended Idaho, said she was pleased that she and her teammates’ concerns “yielded positive results for the program.”
“I am hoping that the university is able to use this opportunity to find someone to lead the team and build a positive environment supporting student athletes,” she wrote in an email.
Patterson, however, said she was disappointed that the Idaho probe essentially ended with the Office of Civil Rights investigation, which was much more limited in scope than the larger effort to look at the program’s climate and culture.
“So there is a significant portion that will remain in the dark,” Patterson wrote.
“Overall, I am hopeful that all of our efforts will help the program and players grow and be something that all Vandals can be proud of.”
