SAN FRANCISCO ― An assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of California, Berkeley, became the latest employee found to have violated the school’s sexual harassment policy, drawing swift and serious sanctions Monday after complaints that punishment was too lenient in previous cases.
Head coach Cuonzo Martin immediately moved to fire the assistant, Yann Hufnagel, and to bar him from traveling with the team during the upcoming NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the athletic department said in a statement.
“You’re talking about a guy who’s part of your staff and a family member,” Martin, who is in his second year coaching the California Golden Bears, told reporters during a conference call. “We continue to push forward. It’s not an easy thing, but we’ll find our way.”
The woman who accused Hufnagel of sexual harassment is not affiliated with the school, university spokesman Dan Mogulof said. It opened an investigation in August after she complained about a “detailed series of communications and behaviors” from Hufnagel between November 2014 and May 2015, Mogulof said.
The woman was in touch with Hufnagel as part of her work, and campus investigators concluded in a report issued Monday that some or all of the behavior she reported violated the university’s sexual harassment rules, Mogulof said.
Posts on Facebook and Twitter pages that appear to belong to Hufnagel say the charges are unfounded and that he planned on being cleared.
“My time to exonerate myself of a fruitless claim by a reporter will come,” posts on both sites said Monday.
