Simone Biles' Attorney Calls SJSU Volleyball Handling Part of a Pattern, Says Title IX Process Protects the University, Not Students

Attorney John Manly, who represented Simone Biles and other survivors of Larry Nassar's abuse, is now publicly criticizing San Jose State University over its handling of assault allegations against current volleyball coach Todd Kress, according to Fox News Digital.

Manly's comments follow reporting by Fox News Digital that SJSU was informed of graphic assault allegations against Kress during the 2024 season. The university was already under national scrutiny over a transgender athlete on its volleyball roster, a controversy that drew Title IX complaints and public attention throughout that season.

"This is not about trans rights," Manly told Fox News Digital. "And frankly, the trans piece of this is a smokescreen for the university justifying its abominable treatment and protection of female students in the last 20 years."

Manly's credibility on this subject comes from his record. He served as lead counsel from 2017 to 2021 for Biles and dozens of other women abused by Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor, helping secure a $380 million settlement. He also represented SJSU athletes in an earlier abuse case involving a former athletic trainer.

That earlier case is not ancient history for SJSU. The university settled with the U.S. Department of Justice in September 2021 for $1.6 million, distributed to 13 female student-athletes, according to Fox News Digital. The DOJ investigation found that former head trainer Scott Shaw subjected athletes to unwelcome sexual touching under the guise of medical treatment, and that the university ignored complaints for years.

Manly argues the Kress situation reflects the same institutional pattern. "There was a culture at Michigan State where the Larry Nassar case was, and I was the lead counsel on that, where this was just acceptable and ignored because it benefited the university," he said. "Same thing with the trainer at San Jose State who was convicted of federal civil rights charges."

His broader claim is about incentives, not ideology. "When you have a culture that doesn't value students and frankly treats them as funding devices, when it doesn't value athletes and frankly treats them as funding devices, and to benefit the university's, quote, 'brand,' this is what happens," Manly said. His allegation is that Title IX, a federal law designed to protect students from discrimination and abuse, has become a liability shield for universities instead. That is a serious accusation, and it remains Manly's characterization rather than a finding from any court or federal agency at this point.

The transparency question adds weight to his argument. According to prior Fox News Digital and OutKick reporting, SJSU refused to provide public records related to the investigation of allegations against Kress, denying a records request tied to a former Fairfield player's complaint. A public university refusing to release records about a Title IX-adjacent investigation is the kind of fact that invites suspicion regardless of political lens. It is a transparency failure that the school has not yet explained on the record.

No charges have been filed against Kress, and no formal finding of wrongdoing by the university has been announced by the Department of Education or any court. The allegations against Kress are, at this stage, allegations made by a former player, and they have not been adjudicated. Universities also face real legal constraints on what personnel records they can release publicly, particularly around ongoing personnel matters, and a records denial alone does not prove a cover-up. SJSU has not issued a detailed public rebuttal to Manly's specific claims in the material reviewed here, and the university's own account of its Title IX process and its reasoning for withholding records deserves scrutiny once it responds.

Whether the CSU system or any outside body opens a formal review of how SJSU handled the 2024-era complaints against Kress remains unresolved, given the school's history with the DOJ settlement. Manly's call for "new leadership" at the university is his opinion, not a legal demand backed by a filed complaint. But the timeline he lays out—an assault allegation surfacing during the same season the school was already fending off national Title IX scrutiny over an unrelated matter—is a fact pattern that a school under a federal consent history should be expected to answer clearly, not stonewall.