A disgraced assistant basketball coach is trying to clear his name of sexual harassment accusations despite resigning from his position at the University of California, Berkeley.
University officials say they have no comment at this point because Yann Hufnagel no longer works for them and the investigation – into allegations that he sexually harassed a sports reporter – is complete.
Hufnagel’s attorney Mary McNamara, however, says the case is far from over. She said Hufnagel, who has been hired by the University of Nevada, Reno, exchanged more than 900 text messages with the alleged victim over five months.
"This is flirting," McNamara said of the texts, which she believes prove mutual consent.
When asked about the goal of continuing down this path although Hufnagel has no plans of returning to UC Berkeley, McNamara replied, "This controversy has followed him to Nevada."
McNamara said her client was a scapegoat. University officials rushed to fire Hufnagel because they were being decried for how they had handled other sexual harassment allegations on campus, including those against former law school dean Sujit Choudhry.
"It came at a time that the dean of the law school … that whole process was being criticized," she said. "It came just after the astronomy professor scandal. There is just no doubt in my mind that that is true."
