
A day after women’s basketball coach Audra Smith filed a class-action and individual lawsuit against South Carolina State University, Smith has been relieved of her duties.
According to a press release from Columbia attorney Paul Porter, the lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges Title IX discrimination and retaliation and equal pay act violations. It states that women athletics and their coaches at SC State are not being treated fairly, and have not been treated fairly for some time.
Porter said during a later interview that Smith was fired Thursday from her coaching position.
Thursday afternoon, with no comment on the lawsuit, SC State issued a statement announcing Smith’s departure.
“South Carolina State University announced Thursday the decision to end the contract of women’s head basketball coach Audra Smith, effective immediately. Associate Head Coach Ervin Monier has been named interim head women’s basketball coach.
“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. “We wish her and her family well.”
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Smith, who was in her third season at the helm of the women’s basketball program, led the Lady Bulldogs to a 23-64 overall and a 4-21 record this season. Three games remain in the regular season.
The university said it will begin a national search for Smith’s replacement.
Smith’s lawsuit alleges system-wide problems, Porter said. “If you look at the statistics, the women’s teams are being considerably disadvantaged at South Carolina State in comparison to what the law requires and how other schools operate.”
Title IX is a federal civil rights law passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives funding from the federal government.
Smith’s lawsuit alleges:
- SC State discriminates and has discriminated against women including Smith in the terms and conditions of education, athletics and employment because of their sex.
- SC State fails and has failed to provide Smith with the personnel and resources necessary to properly run the women’s basketball program and has subjected her to a hostile environment and retaliation.
- “This has not only hurt the plaintiff but has also hurt the student-athletes. … Coach Smith is not an anomaly. Defendant is mistreating female athletes and coaches of women’s teams systematically.”
- SC State has provided inconsistent, disorganized and misleading information to regulators and oversight bodies.
Smith and her counsel sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the university president and athletics director in October 2021 for information pertaining to treatment and funding for men’s and women’s sports and related materials.
When no response was given, an FOIA lawsuit was filed in January.
“We FOIA’d the evidence that shows these Title IX problems at SC State,” Porter said. “The university dropped the ball and did not answer in the time allowed by the statute, so we filed a lawsuit. They knew at that point that there were Title IX issues being looked at by Audra.”
A current male/female breakdown of undergraduates at South Carolina State shows 53% female to 47% male.
“Women outnumber men at the school, so you would expect it to be a heck of a lot more even,” Porter said. “Title IX is supposed to even out the odds, but SC State State already has a staggered male-to-female ratio that should benefit women, but the opportunity, the educational and the money being spent is really hot and heavy in men’s sports. I’m sure SC State will try to insinuate that (Audra) Smith’s record was not up to snuff, but if you don’t give her the tools to do her job, then you’re tying a hand behind her back.”
Porter said the current lawsuit shows Smith being suspended for something outside of her control after a game Feb. 19 against Maryland Eastern Shore.
“That suspension ended today (Feb. 24),” Porter said. “She comes in and is terminated on … a laundry list of old news. We believe pretty confidently that we can show that the old news is just a pretext to justify getting rid of her because of her protected actions under FOIA and under Title IX.”
Ultimately, Porter said he wants to see SC State fix their Title IX problem, across all sports.
“Audra is really serious about this,” Porter said. “It’s one thing to take action against her, it’s another to undermine the experience of the female athlete and other female coaches. Audra had a contract that was supposed to run through the next year and a half, and we want to see her vindicated in respect to that as well. We’ll likely be forced to take more action on the termination of Audra today.”
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