Fired USU Athletic Director Fighting 'Bully' to Clear His Name

In his first television interview, ex-interim Utah State University athletic director Jerry Bovee, who was fired in July, insists he did his job and is now in "a big fight with a bully" to clear his name.

"Doing my job and reporting it, with the result of being terminated, I just can't fathom that," said Bovee as he spoke to Salt Lake City CBS affiliate KUTV at his attorney's office in downtown Salt Lake. "It was a gut punch."

USU terminated Bovee at roughly the same time as head football coach Blake Anderson and two others in the athletic department.

Related: More Utah State University Athletic Department Personnel Terminated

It followed the arrest of a football player who was accused of domestic violence. The university said Bovee did not properly report the arrest to USU's Office of Equity, which oversees university compliance with Title IX, and policies over sexual misconduct and discrimination.

"Did you try to cover for this kid?" KUTV asked Bovee.

"I never tried to cover for a student-athlete," he said. "I've never tried to do that. I've never done it. I would never do it. I didn't know the kid. I didn't talk to the student-athlete directly."

What Bovee said he did do — according to the reporting of KMYU in St. George — is discuss the allegations directly after a planned meeting with two other administrators, including a vice president. It was agreed the VP would forward the information per policy, according to Bovee.

"Everything I knew, which wasn't a lot," he said. "But they've always told us get the report in, we can do the investigation, but we want to know as soon as you know, and we'll take it from there."

Bovee also made new allegations during the interview, including that new athletic director Diana Sabau was responsible for a "toxic environment" within the department.

Related: USU Athletic Director: No Agenda Behind Recent Firings

"I started to have job duties taken away from me," he said. "In an open staff meeting of mine, she came in and basically took over the meeting and threw me to the wolves in front of my staff."

Per KMYU's reporting, Bovee said he offered to resign on two occasions.

"I said, there's something going on here, I'll just get out of your way and go," he said. "And she pointed at me and said, 'You will leave when I say you leave.' "

Bovee said he, and unnamed others in the department, went to university human resources. Just days before he was fired, he had scheduled a meeting with HR to discuss Sabau.

"I arrived at the meeting to talk about the grievance, and the table turned," he said. "'Well, here's your termination letter, and here's the reason why, and it's over.'"

"And you're thinking?" KUTV asked, as reported by KMYU.

"So that's how it's going to go down with my alma mater," he said. "I was shocked, hurt."

Bovee took his dismissal to a university grievance committee, which upheld his firing, though he claimed under policy, it had no other choice.

In response, USU provided this statement to KUTV in response to a request for comment on Bovee's claims of bullying within a toxic work environment..

"Utah State University stands by our decisions. The university has provided a grievance process and that is now complete. We are focused on the future, particularly this weekend as we celebrate homecoming and our student-athletes."

As reported by KMYU, the U.S. Department of Justice in 2020 found failures in USU response to sexual misconduct allegations, and only recently said the university had not taken "steps to remedy an ongoing hostile environment in its football program."

The university has pledged to take more steps to comply with DOJ guidelines.

Bovee, meanwhile, is preparing to file a lawsuit against the university.