By Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., Senior Writer and Professor, Sports Media, Ithaca College staurows@ithaca.edu
Former University of North Dakota (UND) head women’s soccer coach, Chris Logan, has alleged that he was wrongfully terminated and subjected to retaliation for attempting to address gender equity issues adversely affecting women on his team with UND administrators.
Background
Coach Logan is an experienced soccer coach, having worked his way up through the ranks of coaching, starting out as a goalkeeper coach, moving on to assistant and associate roles at four institutions, and eventually receiving an appointment as the head coach of women’s soccer at the University of North Dakota. He served UND in that role from January, 2016 through December, 2024, when the university opted not to renew his contract.
Logan claims that the non-renewal of his contract followed his admonitions to the UND administration to treat athletes on the women’s soccer team equally to UND men athletes. According to the complaint and news reports, the women’s soccer venue known as Bronson Field posed a safety hazard because it was smaller than the recommended NCAA dimensions. The field was also not level, with the field sloping in a significant way on the perimeter; a “deep embankment near the goal”, and a decline in one corner of the field that prevented players from executing corner kicks properly. Unlike all other men’s athletic venues at UND, the women’s soccer field did not have proper enclosures causing security issues, with unauthorized students using the field and people walking their dogs on it. While men’s fields and playing areas had permanent bleachers, spectator seating at Bronson was comprised of two small portable bleachers that were not sufficient to accommodate people attending games. While UND men’s athletic venues had permanent press boxes, the “press box” for women’s soccer was makeshift, located in a shared storage shed.
Women athletes were also afforded less access to indoor playing and practice facilities with three women’s teams (soccer, softball, and cheer) sharing half an indoor field while men’s football was given priority and permitted to use the entire field. Access to the facility varied for men and women athletes, with women limited to the hours of 8:00am to 8pm and men given 24-hour access.
Coach Logan’s Claims of Retaliation Under Title IX and the North Dakota Whistleblower Act
Coach Logan alleges that there is a causal relationship between his engagement in protected activities under Title IX and the non-renewal of his contract. A timeline of events reveals the following:
- March 2, 2024 – Coach Logan emailed administrators raising concerns about gender inequities in the access his team had to facilities and the contract renewal process for coaches of men’s and women’s athletic programs at UND
- October, 2024 – the UND women’s soccer team filed a formal letter of complaint with UND’s Title IX Office alleging gender-based disparities in the way they were treated compared to men athletes at the university
- October 21, 2024 – Coach Logan met with UND Human Resources (HR) to discuss retaliation he experienced as a result of supporting the letter submitted by members of his team
- Late October, 2024 – within a week of Logan meeting with HR, he had a meeting with Senior Associate Athletic Director Liz Jarnigan for an end of season review
- November 6, 2024 – Logan participated in an investigation into the complaints filed by the UND women’s soccer team
- November 25, 2024 – less than three weeks after Logan participated in the university’s Title IX investigation, he received notice that his contract would not be renewed
- November-December, 2024 – sometime during this period, Senior Associate AD Jarnigan is alleged to have commented to another UND coach that the Title IX complaint had an impact on UND’s decision to part ways with the coach
- December 31, 2024 – the official date of Coach Logan’s termination due to non-contract renewal.
A coach’s advocacy to address gender inequities on behalf of their team, support for a team’s internal Title IX complaint, and their participation in a Title IX investigation would be considered protected activities under Title IX. Under the North Dakota Whistleblower Act, an employee is protected from being discharged, discriminated against, or disciplined because of their efforts to report a violation or suspected violation of a law (state, federal, or local).
Coach Logan’s Alleged Harms and Sought After Relief
Coach Logan claims that during his tenure at UND, he had never been formally disciplined or warned about his job performance until the events that occurred leading to his lawsuit. As a result of his wrongful termination and the retaliation he was subjected to, Coach Logan seeks economic compensation for the harms he has experienced. Those include the emotional distress and mental anguish he suffered; the damage done to his professional reputation; and other economic damages as well as compensation for non-economic damages. He also seeks injunctive and declaratory relief that would require UND to have effective policies and procedures in place to avoid retaliatory action in the future; to require UND to conduct Title IX compliance training and anti-retaliation practices; and to require UND to address the gender inequities that exist in the athletic department in terms of resources and facilities for women athletes. Coach Logan seeks a jury trial.
The Answer From the University of North Dakota
North Dakota Attorney General, Drew Wrigley, on behalf of the University of North Dakota offers a fairly broad denial of all allegations in the complaint. The Defendants also affirmatively deny that Coach Logan is entitled to any relief. First, they argue that Logan’s claims are barred by Eleventh Amendment Immunity as well as the doctrine of qualified, statutory, or official immunity. They further rely on defenses that the actions taken with regard to Coach Logan by UND had a legitimate, non-discriminatory foundation and while Coach Logan has presented facts that fail to establish a prima facie claim, even if he were able to establish it, he would not be able to escape underlying legitimate non-discriminatory reasons for his non-renewal.
Next Step and Other Thoughts
As the case proceeds, the Court is expected to hold a pre-trial scheduling and discovery conference on June 27, 2025. This is not the only Title IX athletics case that the University of North Dakota is currently facing. The Plaintiffs in Becker et al. v. the University of North Dakota (2024) seek to revive the once popular women’s ice hockey team at the university that was allegedly cut in violation of Title IX. While the two cases raise different issues, members of the women’s soccer team mentioned that following the university’s decision to cut women’s ice hockey, an agreement was reached that improvements would be made to the women’s soccer team. As of last fall, the failure of the university to fulfill the promises made in that agreement led to the internal Title IX complaint filed by the women’s soccer team in October of 2024. A media request to review the agreement was declined by a university official citing state law that exempts such a report from being made public (Miller, 2024).
References
Becker et al. v. University of North Dakota. United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Opinion – Appeal from United States District Court for the District of North Dakota – Eastern No. 23-1213. (2024, August 14).
Christopher John Logan v. University of North Dakota. United States District Court District of North Dakota. Order for Rule 26 (f) Planning Meeting and for Rule 16(b) Scheduling Conference, and Order Regarding Discovery Disputes. Case 3:25-cv-00085-PDW-ARS (2025, May 23).
Christopher John Logan v. University of North Dakota. United States District Court District of North Dakota. Answer. Case 3:25-cv-00085-PDW-ARS (2025, May 22).
Christopher John Logan v. University of North Dakota. United States District Court District of North Dakota. Complaint and Jury Demand. Case 3:25-cv-00085-PDW-ARS (2025, April 16). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ndd.67978/gov.uscourts.ndd.67978.1.0.pdf
McFeeley, M. (2024, August 15). Federal appeals court says women hockey players’ lawsuit against UND can go forward. The Rink Live. https://www.therinklive.com/womens-college/wcha/mcfeely-federal-appeals-court-says-women-hockey-players-lawsuit-against-und-can-go-forward
Miller, T. (2024, October 18). UND women’s soccer players voicing concerns regarding facility, equality. Great Forks Herald. https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/college/und-womens-soccer-players-voicing-concerns-regarding-facility-equality
morning, on fields, on courts, and in stadiums, in ways we have yet to consider.
