Loyola Marymount University has responded to a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by its former women’s soccer coach.
Plaintiff and Coach Jenny Bindon was hired in December 2019. The team struggled to a 1-26-1 record. Bindon claimed that one of the reasons for the struggle was the “resistance” she encountered from students, parents, and members of the LMU athletic department.
“Despite Bindon’s valiant and herculean attempt to motivate and inspire the students, her efforts were rebuffed,” according to the complaint. “Her frank discussions as to the level of dedication needed to get back to the Sweet Sixteen were scoffed at.”
Further, “students who were directed to work out more, or differently, flatly refused to do so.”
Bindon also alleged that members of the team bragged to their teammates that they had gotten their last coach fired and would do the same with her.
The situation got worse in 2021 when Bindon was placed on a 10-day leave after being accused of uttering the “N-word.” The coach would claim in her lawsuit that she used the term as a way to admonish students never to say it.
She returned to work on Oct. 8, 2021. In a meeting with her team, she claimed she told them how she sought mental health assistance and contacted a suicide prevention hotline. Bindon alleged that an athletics department manager later told her that her psychological disclosures to her students caused them trauma and that she had committed misconduct.
When she questioned that assessment, she was accused of retaliation and fired on Oct. 28, 2021, according to her complaint.
Bindon filed her lawsuit on October 21, 2022 in Santa Monica Superior Court, alleging breach of contract, retaliation, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In its response to the lawsuit, LMU claimed it terminated Bindon “as the head coach of its women’s soccer team because she repeatedly made statements to students that were inappropriate, alarming and inconsistent with LMU’s behavioral expectations.”
