Former University of Missouri (MU) assistant track coach Carjay Lyles has sued the school’s current head coach (Brett Halter), associate athletic director for compliance (Mitzi Clayton), and the Missouri Board of Curators in the Boone County Courthouse in Missouri.
Lyles, who is black, was an assistant at Missouri from 2013-17. His lawsuit, which came after “intolerable working conditions” led to his “constructive discharge,” named Brett Halter (head coach) and Mitzi Clayton (compliance) as individual defendants.
Lyles alleged that the defendants “instituted a continuous practice of exhibiting discriminatory and demeaning behavior toward black athletes and staff members,” including Lyles. For example, Halter allegedly referred to black athletes and staff members as “you people.”
Lyles also claimed that Halter wanted him to lay sod at his house. Lyles turned him down, leading Halter to allegedly reply: “I live at MKT and KT Trail and if I have one more K, you sure won’t be coming because three Ks in a row, there won’t be any of you coming.”
Clayton, a former MU athlete who has been in the school’s compliance office for two decades, also allegedly played a role in the discriminatory actions. Lyles alleged that she, along with Halter, warned people to stay away from Lyles. Then, after Lyles began seeing a team psychiatrist about the behavior, Clayton “immediately told the psychiatrist to stop seeing” him, according to the complaint.
Lyles also noted that he, allegedly, was the only track coach to not receive a title promotion, pay raise or contract extension, while his responsibilities for academic supervision and international recruiting were taken away.
Divisive Practice of Protecting the Head Coach Is Alleged
According to the suit, Halter told Lyles he was “siloing” himself by reporting the alleged racial discrimination. That term allegedly surfaced in the summer of 2017 when Lyle applied for a job at the University of North Carolina, where a school official reportedly told him that the school’s athletic department employees pride themselves “on not siloing ourselves here, being team players, and not overstepping a head coach and reporting them.”
In the lawsuit, Lyles claimed that he reported the conduct to the school’s human resources department and met with MU’s Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Office.
Missouri issued the following statement in response to the lawsuit: “The University of Missouri does not tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment and actively seeks to build an inclusive culture in which all differences among us — whether they be racial, intellectual, physical or based on gender, religion, sexual preference, age, ability or geographic origin — are valued,” the university said in the statement. “It is our strong belief as a university that the diversity of our students, faculty and staff makes us stronger and contributes to the success of our entire community.
“We deny that there was any racial discrimination or retaliation, and we will respond to Mr. Lyles’ claims in court.”
Lyles, who is represented by Kansas City-based Cornerstone Law Firm, is seeking back pay, lost benefits, front pay, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
