An additional 17 former North Carolina State male student-athletes have joined a lawsuit alleging “sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and sexual exploitation” by the university’s former sports medicine director, Robert Murphy. The amended complaint, filed late Friday, brings the number of plaintiffs to 31.
The lawsuit also names, as defendants, senior administrators of the athletic department, asserting the student-athletes reported the misconduct but the defendants failed to take action. It accuses them of “willful, wanton and/or reckless” conduct “done in conscious and flagrant disregard of and indifference to the rights and safety of others.”
The lawsuit was first filed in Wake County Superior Court in September. There is currently a separate case against the university filed with the North Carolina Industrial Commission, a state agency that has sole jurisdiction to adjudicate negligence cases against state public entities. That case has been stayed pending resolution of the civil case.
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“The health and safety of students and student-athletes is paramount to NC State Athletics and the university,” a university spokesperson said in a statement Monday. “Sexual misconduct of any kind is unacceptable, prohibited by NC State’s policies, and in direct opposition to the mission, culture and standards of the university. NC State is reviewing the lawsuit and determining appropriate next steps.”
The spokesperson said the school would not comment beyond the statement. A lawyer listed for Murphy has not responded to ESPN’s request for comment.
The amended complaint accuses Murphy of misconduct during his 2012-2022 tenure at the school by using “his position of trust and confidence to sexually assault, abuse, harass, and/or groom Plaintiffs as student-athletes entrusted to him for required medical care and treatment.”
The former student-athletes allege that Murphy would inappropriately touch their groin during massage treatments or made them uncomfortable during “unnecessarily intrusive urine sample collection methods” during mandatory drug testing.
Ben Locke, one of two named plaintiffs, said he had to shower in front of Murphy less than 24 hours after surgery under the guise that Murphy would help wrap the player’s bandages and make sure it didn’t get wet. Locke said he did not feel empowered to question Murphy, given his sports medicine role.
The complaint also alleges athletes would discuss Murphy’s “tendency to come into the locker room showers, watch male student athletes as they showered, and stare at their genitals.” The plaintiffs say that the behavior was so pervasive it was known as the “Rob Murphy Special,” and they shared a “joke” that “If you had a headache, [Murphy] was probably going to touch your” genitals. One plaintiff complained of a backache, which Murphy treated with a groin massage, the lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiffs say they first reported their complaints to the men’s soccer head coach, Kelly Findley, in 2012, who allegedly reported it to athletic department administrators. They say that Murphy was reassigned to other teams but resumed working with the soccer team in 2014.
Kerry Sutton, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said that student-athletes from eight different sports teams, all men, have come forward so far in the lawsuit and that she “expect[s] to hear from more men in coming days who were sexually harassed or assaulted by Mr. Murphy.”
