By BILL HETHERMAN
LOS ANGELES — The former California State University Northridge women’s soccer coach is suing the school, alleging he was wrongfully fired in 2022 in retaliation for exposing alleged wrongdoing at the university, including being told to recruit someone whose uncles were likely to be generous school donors.
Keith Andrew West also names the Board of Trustees of the California State University as a defendant in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, which alleges whistleblower retaliation, discrimination, harassment and breach of contract. West seeks unspecified damages.
A CSUN representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Friday.
West, now 50, was hired as CSUN’s assistant soccer team men’s coach in 2000, and six years later was named head coach of the women’s team, the suit states.
West’s soccer teams were successful on the field, and he played a major role in the development of his student athletes by creating a safe and learning environment for his players, both physically and emotionally, according to the suit.
In 2012, Diane Harrison was hired as CSUN president, and the next year Brandon Martin was named athletic director, the suit states. Martin instructed West to terminate one of his male assistant coaches to make room for a female assistant coach, the suit alleges.
When West inquired why he was not awarded a multi-year contract with CSUN in 2015, Martin replied, “Every year I justify your existence, I am protecting you,” according to the suit.
That same year, Tom Ford, the senior associate athletic director for development, told West, “The president wants a female in your position,” according to the suit, which further states that West felt he had a “target on his back.”
In 2018, former Athletic Director Michael Izzi told West to recruit a certain student athlete, explaining that the person’s uncles were “very well connected” and would be donors, the suit…
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