During Brooke Slusser’s last college volleyball season at San Jose State in 2024, she claims she was told to never be in a room alone with head coach Todd Kress. Slusser claimed that people close to her, including her parents, heard rumors that Kress allegedly attacked one of his former players in a hotel room many years ago.
“I was told just to be safe and not be in a room alone with him when my parents found out about it … I didn’t know all of the information, so it was kind of scary when I was concerned when everyone was telling me, ‘We’re not gonna tell you everything that happened ’cause we don’t wanna scare you, but we’re telling you from here on out, you are not allowed to be alone in a room with Todd Kress,'” Slusser told Fox News Digital on Friday.
Fox News Digital reported Tuesday that in October 2024, SJSU was sent a letter by one of Kress’s former players that included allegations he attacked her in a team hotel room in 1998.
SJSU WAS TOLD OF DECADES-OLD ALLEGATIONS AGAINST VOLLEYBALL COACH DURING CONTROVERSIAL 2024 SEASON
The letter’s contents included the allegations that Kress “forcibly threw me on the bed” then “pulled his pants down and put his back side in my face,” and then “picked me up, and threw me into the bathtub where he held me down and threatened to turn on the shower with me laying there.”
Slusser alleged that the school never informed her or other players of the allegations in the letter.
“The school gave us absolutely zero information. This was never brought up once. I think anyone would remember that. And even when the article had come out, I had a bunch of old teammates texting me asking me if this was true, if I knew anything else, those types of things. So they never brought this up once to anyone,” Slusser said, adding that since the article came out Tuesday, her former teammates have reached out to her to share they also were never told by the school.
Slusser said that during the 2024 season, rumors of Kress’s alleged past actions eventually reached her parents’ ears. She said they advised her to bring former SJSU assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose or a teammate when she entered a room with Kress.
“So basically, my parents just told me from there on, like, ‘Take Melissa with you if he drags you into a meeting,’ like he was doing every single day, or, ‘Take a teammate with you. Just do not be alone with him ’cause he can be aggressive,'” she said.
Emails show that SJSU officials acknowledged the receipt of the allegations in October 2024, thanked the former Fairfield player from 1998 for coming forward, and apologized for her experiences. Kress has continued to serve as the head coach of the women’s volleyball team, and made a post on social media boasting his recruiting efforts since the allegations were reported on this past Tuesday.
The letter containing the allegations was written by a woman that played for Kress at Fairfield University in 1998, and sent to SJSU on Oct. 24, 2024. Kress remained head coach, but Batie-Smoose was suspended just days later after submitting a Title IX complaint. Her contract was not renewed the following January, and now she is waging a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Slusser said she is most “bothered” by the university’s suspension of Batie-Smoose, all while its leaders had been informed of the allegations against Kress.
“I think that’s the part that bothers me the most, is that they’re gonna let go of Melissa, who was always there for us, protected us, cared for us, and then you’re gonna keep [Kress] on payroll,” Slusser said.
Slusser is also waging a lawsuit against the university and the California State University system (CSU) for her alleged experience under Kress with a transgender former teammate in 2023 and 2024. Now, she has a warning for the team’s current players, and its new recruiting class.
“I would say beware… see the man that you just committed to playing for for the next four years. It’s not someone I would wanna send my daughter to play for or anyone that I know. I wouldn’t send my worst enemy to play for him,” Slusser said.
Fox News Digital was given copies of the emails exchanged between SJSU and the former Fairfield player, from an independently verified source. Fox News Digital has independently verified she played at Fairfield under Kress in the 1998 season, but is not disclosing her name.
That first email she sent to SJSU contained the letter with the written allegations against Kress, that was originally sent to Fairfield University. The alleged incident occurred in a hotel after Fairfield’s loss to Clemson in the first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament in December of that year. She wrote that a teammate asked her to bring her a shirt to Kress’ room.
“I told her I wanted no part of his insanity. I was distraught about the loss and wasn’t interested in his drunken insanity, which was commonplace on trips.”
The former player added that her teammate “promised Todd would not throw water at me or do something juvenile so I reluctantly agreed to bring her the shirt.”
“I knocked on the door and Todd answered. He immediately took caramel from a plastic container and smeared it all over my face and hair. He then forcibly threw me on the bed and held me down. I was in shock. He let go of me and then pulled his pants down and put his back side in my face.
“Astonished… that is the only word I can think of to describe how I felt in that moment… Todd was drunk. I got up and went for the door.
“Todd again grabbed me, picked me up, and threw me into the bathtub where he held me down and threatened to turn on the shower with me laying there to ‘clean the caramel off of my face.’ At this point I was fighting back to get away from him.
“Todd let me get out of the tub, laughing, and then he stood in front of the door blocking my exit. Todd told me he would only let me leave if I took a shot of liquor, which I did only to get him to move away from the door. Once he did, I ran for it. He chased me. I got into my room and although he seemed to be in a rage, he turned and calmly walked out,” the letter alleges.
The former player goes on to allege her teammates “had been drinking with Todd underage.” She also claimed she did not report the incident at the time because she “was scared of losing my scholarship and being the reason my teammates lost theirs.”
On Nov. 4, 2024, former SJSU interim Title IX and Gender Equity Officer Peter Lim reached out to set up a meeting with the former Fairfield player who sent the letter and her attorney.
INSIDE THE FALLOUT OF THE SJSU VOLLEYBALL SCANDAL: ‘THIS IS AN OBVIOUS PROBLEM’
“Thank you for sharing your concerns about Coach Todd Kress. I am sorry to hear about your experiences. I have reviewed your letter and would like to meet with you to better understand your experiences with Coach Kress. The purpose of the meeting would be to help me assess potential next steps, which may or may not include an investigation into the reported conduct,” Lim wrote.
Three days after that, on Nov. 7, Lim sent another email to the former Fairfield player, thanking her and her attorney for meeting with them.
“I am so sorry about your prior experiences with Todd Kress at Fairfield University. I appreciate the time you took to describe those experiences, the impact those experiences continue to have on you, and the safety threat that you believe he presents to SJSU’s volleyball team,” Lim wrote.
“We are evaluating the information you provided and determining appropriate next steps. If it is okay with the two of you, I would appreciate staying in touch.”
There was no further correspondence between the two parties after that exchange, Fox News Digital has learned.
Kress continued to lead Slusser, Fleming and the rest of that year’s team until they lost in the conference championship. He remained in his position throughout and after 2025, as the team missed the conference tournament completely with a losing record, and has made multiple posts on Instagram in recent days boasting his recruiting class.
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In a post on his Instagram Stories on Wednesday, Kress shared a post about SJSU being a top-ranked university, writing his own caption, “That’s why we’re bringing in so many incredible future Spartans with our recruiting efforts!”
In a post on Thursday, Kress shared a photo of himself with a crowd of girls volleyball players, with the caption “Nike All-Skills campt at SJSU is a wrap Thanks to all who attended and we hope you had a blast!”
Slusser has previously told Fox News Digital that Kress, while recruiting her in early 2023, encouraged her to live in a house with former teammate Blaire Fleming, without disclosing to Slusser that Fleming was a biological male. She was made aware of the allegations in a season where she was already experiencing alleged heightened tensions with Kress throughout that season.
“It goes to show their goal at the end of the day was literally just to hide everything they could,” Slusser added.
“They wanted it their way, and if you disagreed with them, then they were gonna make your life a living hell, basically. And I mean, that’s what they did to me. So this is a lot more than just a man in our safe spaces or on our team. It’s about the people that allowed it to happen… you can see we’re not going after Blaire. I am not trying to personally attack Blaire. This is about the people that allow it to happen.”
Fox News Digital submitted a public records request seeking copies of documents with criteria that matched the emails exchanged between SJSU and Kress’ former player, but the university formally declined the request, stating “the requested communications implicate substantial privacy interests.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Kress, SJSU officials and the university’s legal counsel that handled the 2024 exchange with a series of questions, but did not receive a response from any of the parties.
Fox News Digital has reached back out to those parties for a response to Slusser’s statements.
