Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley at odds with AD over allegations

Arizona State basketball coach Bobby Hurley accused athletic director Ray Anderson of “disturbing” actions when dealing with harassment allegations against a prominent athletic booster in a December email.

According to documents obtained by Yahoo Sports, Hurley emailed Anderson on Dec. 8 to express his displeasure with the way Anderson handled sexual harassment allegations by three women against booster Bart Wear.

“I thought there would be more sensitivity and consideration to all victims involved relative to [redacted]’s attendance at our basketball game. … You had prior knowledge that he was going to be in attendance and that was very disappointing,” Hurley wrote to Anderson in an email. “Mainly because you made no effort to make me aware of that, especially after you came to practice on Thursday and assured me that [redacted] would no longer be around men’s basketball. This was very misleading and I feel I have been lied to.”

Hurley went on to accuse Anderson of judging the alleged assaults on a scale.

“You have disregarded the safety and shown no sensitivity towards the women that have experienced sexual assault,” Hurley wrote. “You have chosen to create your own numeric scale on what sexual assault mean[s] which is disturbing.”

According to Yahoo’s documents, Anderson responded four hours later.

“Clearly, you have made judgements and conclusions, not to mention false and baseless allegations,” Anderson wrote. “Your approach here is puzzling. This matter should now be firmly put in the hands of the lawyers. I will not engage with you directly on the [redacted] matters.”

The email exchange stems from allegations that Wear sexually harassed Kathy Cohen, the wife of former Arizona State senior associate athletic director David Cohen; Leslie Hurley, Bobby Hurley’s wife; and one other woman. Arizona State has acknowledged its slow response to the allegations, telling Yahoo Sports in February that the case “could have been resolved in a quicker time frame.”

Yahoo Sports also obtained documents showing Wear’s season tickets being canceled on Dec. 10.

Hurley took over in Tempe in 2015, going to back-to-back NCAA tournaments in 2018 and 2019 and on track to go for a third straight time in 2020 before the NCAA tournament was canceled. Anderson was named Arizona State’s athletic director in 2014.