Video: Utah State WCBB HC Kayla Ard Reveals She Was Fired at Postgame Presser
Mar 11, 2024
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Usually, athletic departments gives a coaching staff some time after a season ends before firing them.
It turns out the administration at Utah State University could not even wait a couple of hours to fire women's basketball coach Kayla Ard, who broke her dismissal at a bizarre press conference following Sunday's loss to Boise State.
“I’m not gonna be rebuilding, I just coached my last game” 😳
Utah State HC Kayla Ard was informed moments before her postgame press conference that the university was heading in a different direction
"I just coached my last game at Utah State. I spoke with [athletic director Diana Sabau], and they're going in a different direction, and I respect her decision and I hope they get a really good coach in," Ard said.
That Utah State would fire Ard is not much of a surprise. The Aggies went just 5-25 in the 2023-24 season and were 2-16 against conference foes. Ard led the program to a 24-90 overall record in four seasons.
"We appreciate everything Kayla and her staff have contributed to Utah State," Sabau said in a statement. "However, it is in the best interest of the program to make a change."
The timing of the decision will draw understandable criticism. Sabau could have waited until after the press conference to inform her of the program's decision.
Utah State isn't a job that will have half the country clamoring for an interview, so it's an announcement that certainly could have waited until after the team had time to digest the end of its season.
Aggies players likewise found out about Ard's dismissal during the press conference, so that's another factor that was not considered in the timing.
Sabau is in her first stint as an athletics director after previously spending time as the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Sports Officer for the Big Ten Conference.
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Utah Tech is investigating women's head coach JD Gustin after both current and former members of the team accused him of "bullying, physical intimidation and retaliation," according to Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Per that report, "11 women allegedGustin used obscenities while insulting them, humiliated them in front of teammates, gave the silent treatment to some, and threatened to revoke scholarships."
He additionally has been accused of giving "unsolicited back rubs and shoulder massages" and making inappropriate comments about his players' sex lives and bodies, along with angry conduct that included throwing markers and breaking clipboards or flipping over chairs. In one alleged incident, he kicked a chair that then struck one of Utah State's players, and in another he kicked a ball that nearly hit several players.
The university has said it takes the "reported allegations seriously" and is "working decisively to address and resolve these matters."
"Utah Tech University is committed to the safety and well-being of our students, staff and university community," spokesperson Jyl Hall said to Walden in a statement. "Harassment or inappropriate conduct of any kind is unacceptable ... As this is a personnel matter, we cannot comment further."
Parents of the athletes and former athletes in question hired a private investigator, former FBI special agent Greg Rice, to look into the situation. He put together a 55-page report on the allegations, which included testimonials from "more than 20 players and assistant coaches, past and present."
In May, that report was submitted to Utah Tech's Title IX office. In July, however, Utah Tech's director of equity compliance and Title IX coordinator Hazel Sainsbury said in an email that the evidence "would not rise to the level of a policy violation," per Walden.
The report was then submitted to Utah State's human resources department in July. Utah State has hired consulting firm BestDayHR to further look into the allegations.
"It was a lot of trauma and a lot of emotional and mental issues that came from that treatment," former player Brooke Vance told Walden. "And so my hope is to get him out of that job, so that no other freshman who's just excited to go to college and excited for the basketball experience [has] to go through that as well."
"I hope he's fired," former Utah State player Ashley Greenwood added, "and that he never steps foot in coaching women's basketball ever again."
