Former North Carolina Central University women's basketball coach Trisha Stafford-Odom has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired in Sept. 2023 because she was a "zealous advocate on the NCCU campus for gender equity and because she fought to ensure that the NCCU’s women’s basketball team was properly resourced and treated on par with men’s athletics.”
The university denied the allegation and later settled the lawsuit for $100,000.
Odom had argued that she was repeatedly raising concerns about unequal treatment, including “disparate salaries of coaches and recruiting and operating budgets of women’s teams versus men’s teams,” which the lawsuit described as a "clear violation of federal law."
Stafford-Odom also argued that these inequities impacted women's recovery and rehab.
“Because of a lack of continuity and support by a dedicated trainer and training staff, injuries that female players should have overcome in short periods of time persisted for much longer,” the lawsuit states.
According to The Charlotte Observer, NC Central said it fired Stafford-Odom for reasons that included roster turnover, poor graduation rates, and concerns about “the safety and welfare” of student-athletes.
The conflict between Stafford-Odom intensified in August of 2023 when two players arrived on campus without housing. Despite Stafford-Odom's repeated pleas to administrators to find the players housing, the players ended up staying with teammates. They were removed at 1:00 a.m. from the dorms during the first week of classes.
“The players had no money for housing from the athletic department, had no vehicles, and they had nowhere to stay,” the lawsuit states.
The next morning, when Stafford-Odom took the players in, the staff allegedly questioned whether she had violated NCAA rules by giving them a place to stay. She was fired Sept. 13.
