A top San Jose State University athletic trainer accused of sexual misconduct toward more than a dozen female athletes a decade ago is being reinvestigated after an initial university probe quietly cleared him of wrongdoing, a USA TODAY investigation found.

Scott Shaw, who has served as San Jose State’s director of sports medicine since 2008, allegedly touched female athletes beneath their undergarments, massaging their breasts and pelvic areas when they sought treatment for other parts of their bodies.

The university’s first investigation started in late 2009 based on the accounts of 17 members of San Jose State’s women’s swimming and diving team. Their accounts are documented in a nearly 300-page file compiled by the swim coach, Sage Hopkins. The coach notified campus police at the time, the file shows, but Shaw was never arrested or charged.

Show caption Hide caption San Jose State University is reinvestigating decade-old claims of sexual misconduct against its director of sports medicine, Scott Shaw, pictured here in an SJSU promotional... San Jose State University is reinvestigating decade-old claims of sexual misconduct against its director of sports medicine, Scott Shaw, pictured here in an SJSU promotional video. Seventeen female swimmers alleged in 2009-10 Shaw inappropriately touched them during treatments. San Jose State University

Hopkins sent the file to the school’s Title IX office in 2018, it shows. In it, he also alleges that university officials over the years retaliated against him and his team for speaking out against Shaw. Hopkins has circulated the file among NCAA and Mountain West Conference officials in the last year, the university said.

USA TODAY obtained a copy of the file. The bulk of it pertains to the allegations from a decade ago. Dozens of pages address other issues related to the swim team and claims of dysfunction in the athletic department in the years since.

No new complaints have been made against Shaw since 2009, the university said, but it reopened the investigation in December, when the file came to the attention of the school’s president, Mary Papazian. It was the first Papazian had heard about the matter since taking office in 2016, she said in a statement. While the first investigation found no wrongdoing, the file “gave me pause and I wanted to know more about what happened,” she stated.

Four of the 17 swimmers who provided accounts in 2009 independently gave their accounts to USA TODAY this year, claiming Shaw often worked alone with them in the training room, did not explain his treatments and did not obtain informed consent.

In addition, reporters tracked down two former athletes from other San Jose State women’s teams who said they stopped seeing Shaw after similar touching that made them uncomfortable. Both said the university never asked them about Shaw.

Caitlin Macky, a junior swimmer during the first probe, told USA TODAY that Shaw used a muscle stimulator to treat her knee and shoulder. But once while applying an adhesive pad to her chest, he inexplicably reached his hand beneath her bra and touched her nipple, she said. On another occasion, she said, Shaw reached his hand into her underwear while placing a pad on her hip.

“He didn’t give me any forewarning of like, ‘Oh, I’m going into your underwear,’ or anything like that,” Macky said.

Caitlin Macky, pictured here swimming for San Jose State University, said athletic trainer Scott Shaw reached his hands in her bra and underwear during treatments. Caitlin Macky

Three other swimmers described Shaw touching their breasts or groins while conducting trigger point therapy away from the site of their pain. Shaw, they said, was the only trainer who performed that type of massage, which entails applying pressure to various points in the body to relieve pain in other areas.

“I don’t think that that was the one thing that had to be done in order to help us heal or recover,” said former swimmer Linzy Warkentin, one of the original complainants. “And I’m pretty sure it would have been the same outcome if it was on top of my bra.”

Shaw declined to comment. Through his attorney, Lori Costanzo, he has denied any wrongdoing. She declined to answer detailed questions, citing the pending investigation.

“San Jose State University made a thorough and complete investigation into one allegation made against Mr. Shaw 11 years ago," Costanzo wrote in a cease-and-desist letter to Hopkins accusing him of resurrecting the allegations against her client to ruin his reputation.

"The matter was promptly dropped with no further action taken against Mr. Shaw,” Contanzo wrote. “In fact, Mr. Shaw continued to work in his current role, without consequence, to the present.”

Hopkins declined to answer questions for this story, saying in a statement, “After reviewing my contract ... and noting the requirements to keep my public comments complimentary of SJSU and the athletic department, my attorney has advised that I should not comment at this time.”

Hopkins’ attorney, Paul Smoot, dismissed Costanzo’s claims in an email.

San Jose State’s human resources department investigated the allegations against Shaw in 2010 and cleared him of any wrongdoing, the university told USA TODAY. It did not address the specific allegations against Shaw, saying only that its investigation “concluded Trigger Point Therapy was a bona fide and accepted method of treatment.”

Since the 2009-10 case, San Jose State has changed its sports medicine policies to bar the type of touching Shaw allegedly did without explicit consent and the presence of a chaperone. It did not answer a question about whether it changed the policies because of Shaw.

Shaw has since served as the head trainer for all sports and the primary trainer for men’s basketball, men’s soccer and women’s golf. He is not treating athletes during the current investigation, the university said.

Reopened investigation

San Jose State said it hired an outside investigator to review the matter in January, and Papazian asked the California State University System Title IX coordinator to supervise “to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.”

In a statement responding to questions from USA TODAY about Shaw, CSU spokesperson Toni Molle said, “It has come to the attention of San Jose State University that there may be students who were not interviewed” as part of the 2009-10 investigation.

San Jose State did not make employees available for interviews and provided written responses to questions instead. Ten current and former officials contacted by reporters declined to comment, referred questions to spokespersons or did not respond. The university also declined to release any records from the first investigation, including the police report, citing privacy interests.

“I am committed to full transparency and SJSU will provide an update at the completion of the investigation,” Papazian said.

San Jose State’s investigation comes as several universities have conducted their own inquiries and faced criticisms and lawsuits for allegations of medical providers sexually abusing students.

Caitlin Macky, former San Jose State University swimmer I’m upset that this person abused his power, but I’m even more upset that this larger power allowed him to do that and then still keep his job there. Quote icon

The University of Michigan announced in February an investigation into former athletic doctor Robert Anderson for sexual misconduct dating back decades. It is ongoing. An Ohio State investigation released last year found Richard Strauss sexually abused at least 177 former students. Both men are now deceased.

Former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar is serving an effective life sentence for state and federal convictions. More than 350 girls and women — including Olympic gymnastics champions Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas — have said Nassar abused them under the guise of medical treatment.

At San Jose State, swimmers who spoke to USA TODAY faulted the school for the way it conducted the first investigation.

Rather than investigate their accounts individually, San Jose State said it investigated a formal complaint from one swimmer. The other swimmers' claims were treated as witness statements, it said. The school closed the case without sharing the outcome with any of them beyond the one complainant.

Despite the school clearing Shaw, he in 2012 agreed not to treat swimmers, except in emergencies. The agreement is reflected in an email he wrote to Marie Tuite, then the deputy athletic director and now the athletic director. But Shaw continued to treat swimmers on at least three occasions after that, Hopkins alleged in the file, citing specific examples.

In the new investigation, the swimmers see similarly worrying steps.

First, the Title IX coordinator who started reinvestigating Shaw resigned from the university without explanation in late February. And just days after that, Tuite fired her second-in-command, who alleges the decision was in retaliation for his defense of Hopkins.

“I’m upset that this person abused his power, but I’m even more upset that this larger power allowed him to do that and then still keep his job there,” Macky said. “We weren’t taken seriously, and we weren’t protected at the time.”

Similar accounts

Shaw came to San Jose State as an associate head athletic trainer in 2006. He served as the women’s swimming and diving team’s primary trainer at the time and continued working with the team after his promotion two years later to sports medicine director, a position he still holds.

Allegations against him first surfaced in December 2009, when Hopkins alerted university administrators that 17 of his swimmers described alleged inappropriate treatment by Shaw. After meeting with his team, Hopkins typed and emailed summaries of the swimmers’ accounts to university administrators.

According to the notes, 14 said Shaw had put his hands under their bras, in many cases massaging their breasts and sometimes exposing their nipples. One said Shaw touched her breasts without going under her bra, while another said Shaw placed his hands within a half-inch of her nipple. Five said Shaw touched them beneath their underwear.

San Jose State University swim coach Sage Hopkins typed and emailed summaries of the swimmers’ accounts to university administrators. Provided

Warkentin, a junior during the investigation, told USA TODAY Shaw treated her about three times a week for two years after she suffered an elbow injury as a freshman. During that time, she grew to like and trust him, she said.

But Warkentin said Shaw without explanation switched to using trigger-point treatments, which entailed him placing his fingers under her sports bra and pressing her breast.

“I remember laying there and being like, ‘Oh my god. Either he can see my nipple, because his hand is lifting up my bra, or he’s about to touch it,’” Warkentin said. “It was not comfortable.”

Kirsten Trammell, a junior swimmer at the time, told a reporter Shaw performed trigger-point therapy when she saw him for an injured hip. He reached his hands beneath her underwear and pressed into her groin, she said.

Kirsten Trammell (left) and Linzy Warkentin both said San Jose State University athletic trainer Scott Shaw touched them inappropriately while performing treatments during their time as athletes on the college swim team. Linzy Warkentin

Another former swimmer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said she stopped seeing Shaw for treatment after he touched her nipples on multiple occasions while performing trigger-point therapy for her injured shoulder.

“He would work into the side of my breast, would go from one side to the other side and would graze over my nipples,” she said.

In addition to the swimmers, athletes from two other San Jose State women’s teams described similar encounters with Shaw from around the same time. Both told USA TODAY in February they had never reported their accounts before.

Greta Leach, a former Spartans gymnast, said Shaw reached under her bra and placed his hands “a little close” to her breasts while treating her upper back. She said she did not consider it “severely inappropriate” but found it uncomfortable enough to stop seeing him for treatment.

And a former Spartans water polo player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said she frequently saw athletic trainers for tight hip flexors, but that her one experience with Shaw was “very different” from other trainers.

Whereas others kept their hands near the tops of her thighs, Shaw massaged “all over” her groin area, much closer to her vagina, she said. He applied pressure for much longer, and unlike others, treated her with no one else in the room, she said.

“Something in my head went off, like, ‘This doesn’t feel right,’” she said. “Finally I was just like, ‘OK, I’m good, thanks,’ and stopped. I actually left after that, and I never really talked to him again. And if he was in there, I’d wait for another trainer and come back later."

“Looking back now,” she said, “that was really not right what he did.”

‘No wrongdoing’

A decade later, the athletes say they are still searching for answers about why the university cleared Shaw of what they claim was inappropriate behavior.

Despite giving their accounts directly to university investigators, the swimmers who spoke to USA TODAY said they graduated without ever being informed of the investigation’s results.

“There was no closure on it,” Macky said. “When I came back for my senior year, he was still working there.”

Caitlin Macky is one of 17 swimmers to have alleged inappropriate touching in 2009-10 by San Jose State University athletic trainer Scott Shaw . Caitlin Macky

Other than to describe trigger-point therapy as an accepted treatment method, the university did not directly respond to questions about how it determined Shaw was not responsible for wrongdoing. Nor did it address whether it is necessary for trainers to place their hands underneath athletes’ bras and underwear during treatment.

Hisashi Imura, an athletic trainer at San Jose State at the time, told USA TODAY that staff wasn’t informed of the results either. He said he had no direct knowledge of Shaw’s conduct because they worked in different training rooms on campus, but that he was interviewed for the investigation as a medical expert of sorts.

“As far as I was concerned, it disappeared,” said Imura, who now works with a team physician but is no longer employed by the university.

Imura said investigators asked whether trigger points could be massaged to relieve pain. He said yes, but that the trainer should explain the therapy first, obtain consent and, if the athlete is a different sex, have someone of the same sex present.

“There shouldn’t ever be a need to go under clothing,” he said.

Show caption Hide caption San Jose State University is reinvestigating decade-old claims of sexual misconduct against its director of sports medicine, Scott Shaw, pictured here in an SJSU promotional... San Jose State University is reinvestigating decade-old claims of sexual misconduct against its director of sports medicine, Scott Shaw, pictured here in an SJSU promotional video. Seventeen female swimmers alleged in 2009-10 Shaw inappropriately touched them during treatments. San Jose State University

Shawna Bryant, another former San Jose State athletic trainer who worked with Shaw from 2008 to 2017, told USA TODAY she witnessed Shaw reaching under female athletes’ clothing her first year on the job. She said she confronted him about it and memorialized their conversation in an email and shared it with university investigators in 2009-10.

Bryant said she wasn’t privy to conversations between Shaw and athletes, but that Shaw would often massage near their chests and hips while treating them for injuries to other body parts. Her workload increased, she said, because athletes would stop going to him for treatment and see her instead.

“I just don’t think that you should be touching somebody’s pecs and interior muscles when you have to deal with, like, a knee injury,” she said. “And even then, you can still do it over the sports bra or the spandex.”

Administrative action

In the years after it cleared Shaw, the university adopted policies that now require athletic trainers to explain all treatments to athletes, who must give verbal consent.

The university’s current sports medicine policy also now requires a chaperone to be present when a trainer treats “intimate or potentially intimate” areas on athletes of the opposite sex “for the protection of the student-athlete and the medical practitioner.”

San Jose State University's current sports medicine policy San Jose State University

In addition, records show Shaw agreed to informal restrictions on his contact with at least some female athletes.

In late 2012, Shaw agreed to stop treating swimmers, except in emergencies if no other trainers were available, he wrote in an email to Tuite, who took over as athletic director in 2017. But Shaw continued to treat swimmers on at least three occasions in the six months after that, Hopkins wrote in subsequent emails to Tuite.

San Jose State University athletic trainer Scott Shaw agreed not to treat female swimmers, in an email to Marie Tuite, then the deputy athletic director. Provided

In one instance, a text message to Hopkins from the swimmer showed Shaw's continued treatment of swimmers, as do emails from Shaw acknowledging it.

Furthermore, emails sent by Hopkins suggest that Tom Bowen, the athletic director during the first investigation, instituted a verbal policy afterward barring Shaw from having physical contact with any female athletes.

San Jose State denied this but acknowledged that a “mutually agreed” no-swimmer directive may have existed. Bowen declined to comment for this story but repeatedly said he would provide a statement. He never did.

Recent personnel changes have left some swimmers concerned the university is retaliating against their coach for rereporting their accounts about Shaw.

For one, Tuite ordered her second-in-command, Steve O’Brien, to formally discipline Hopkins as the new probe ramped up in mid-February, O’Brien told USA TODAY.

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According to O’Brien, the proposed disciplinary measures stemmed from an allegedly hostile email exchange between Hopkins and his supervisor, senior associate athletic director Eileen Daley, which caused Daley and Tuite to raise concerns about Hopkins’ “mental state.” O’Brien said Tuite delegated to him because she had a conflict of interest due to the investigation.

After O’Brien told other university officials that the measures could be retaliatory, Tuite fired him without explanation on March 2, he said. In O’Brien’s assessment, the discipline against Hopkins amounted to “an effort to discredit him and potentially undermine the merits of the recently reopened Title IX investigation.”

"I was not being given the opportunity to independently assess the merits or the basis for the administrative actions to be taken against Sage Hopkins,” O’Brien told USA TODAY. He said the university ultimately administered a no-contact order between Hopkins and Daley and temporarily changed his supervisor.

The university did not comment on O’Brien or Hopkins, saying it does not discuss personnel matters. Tuite referred questions to the university. Daley did not respond.

Additionally, just days before O’Brien’s firing, Tracey Tsugawa, the university’s Title IX coordinator, abruptly resigned after just over a year on the job. A 20-year veteran of civil rights investigations, she played a key role in the new probe as the official who reconnected with and interviewed the 2009-10 swimmers.

The swimmers said they learned of her resignation in early March, when Tsugawa introduced them to Linda Hoos, the California State University systemwide Title IX coordinator now supervising the case. Tsugawa did not disclose her reasons for leaving, the swimmers said, except to say “complications” arose with the investigation.

Tsugawa declined to comment for this story. The university also said she did not provide a reason for resigning.

The swimmers had trusted Tsugawa to run a fair investigation, they said. Now they fear it will stop in its tracks.

According to Warkentin and Trammell, Hoos told them the investigation might not proceed unless new athletes come forward, and that the investigators don’t want to go “fishing.” Trammell said, “It felt like yet another loophole to get out of it.”

Hoos referred questions to Molle, the CSU spokesperson who said in a statement that “many factors determine whether a formal investigation can be initiated.”

The statement continued, “The University acknowledges that inquiries of this nature are sensitive and difficult to discuss and encourages any former or current students with information to come forward if they are willing.”

Kenny Jacoby is a reporter on the USA TODAY investigations team, focusing on sports and criminal justice. Contact him at kjacoby@gatehousemedia.com or @kennyjacoby.

Rachel Axon is a reporter on the USA TODAY investigations team, focusing on sports and gender issues. Contact her at raxon@usatoday.com or @rachelaxon, or on Signal at (352)234-3303.