The University of Oregon and Willie Taggart, its former head football coach, are being sued by a former offensive lineman for $100 million in damages.
The lawsuit claims that he sustained lifelong injuries during a series of controversial workouts.
The law firm of Kafoury & McDougal first filed a lawsuit in January of this year in the state of Oregon, seeking $11.5 million from the NCAA. The claim for pain and suffering has been increased from $6 million to $20 million and the NCAA has been added to it.
The amended complaint was filed on March 24 after the discovery of depositions from NCAA president Mark Emmert and chief medical officer Brian Hainline. Irele Oderinde is a former strength and conditioning coach at the University of Oregon. Taggart is expected to attend the trial with Oderinde.
After one season at Oregon, Taggart left to become the head coach at Florida State. He is the head coach at Florida Atlantic. The lawsuit accuses Taggart and Oderinde of imposing physical punishment on the players, failing to prohibit it, and failing to ensure that Oderinde had adequate training to do his job.
According to the lawsuit, Oderinde did not have the required certifications to be a strength and conditioning coach.
Taggart said in a statement that he cares about every one of the players he has coached and that he wants them to be successful on and off the field. I am sorry we are involved in this lawsuit and I disagree with some of the things Doug Brenner has said. I wish him the best.
The NCAA declined to comment when contacted by ESPN.
The health and safety of our students is our highest priority, according to a university spokesman. Doug was provided the best care possible after he was injured. He was able to graduate from the University of Oregon and play for the team during the season. We disagree with the claims made in the lawsuit and will address them in court.
The NCAA is being sued for massive damages because there isn't a specific rule or bylaw regarding overexer. The NCAA does not have the authority to pass health and safety by-laws because the member schools and conferences are responsible for players health and safety.
The NCAA objected to the idea that the Sports Medicine Handbook should be subject to monitoring, investigation, and enforcement.
According to the lawsuit, Taggart told players when he was hired that he and the new coaches were going to focus on discipline in strength and conditioning and that they were going to find the snakes in the grass and cut their heads off.
According to the document, the workouts took place every morning on four consecutive days, and Brenner was in a group that began at 6 a.m. The lawsuit states that Taggart and Oderinde didn't review the training program with the school's sports medical staff.
According to the document, the workout lasted for 60 to 90 minutes, and the staff did not make water available in the workout room for at least the first day of the workouts.
Student athletes vomited, passed out, or collapsed during the workouts, according to the lawsuit.
Oderinde, who was hired by Taggart at Florida State for the same position, was suspended by Oregon for a month without pay in the summer of 2017, after two players were hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis after working out.
According to the lawsuit, the condition in which skeletal muscle tissue is broken down and products of that process are released into the bloodstream, caused permanent damage to Brenner's kidneys, and his life expectancy has been reduced by 10 years. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, rhabdomyolysis can be harmful to the kidneys if it is severe.
The responsibility of a sport association to tell their medical professionals and training professionals how to behave on campus has never been discussed with a president, according to a transcript of his deposition. In 115 years, that role has not been the right one for an athletic association to do.
According to the NCAA's opposition to the inclusion of punitive damages, which was filed on March 1, the proposal would attempt to replace the on-the-field medical judgments of experienced athletic trainers, coaches and team medical staff in Oregon.
The NCAA stated that Brenner and his attorneys failed to articulate what rule or bylaw should have been adopted by the NCAA or its members.
Oregon changed its reporting system after the incident, with the strength and conditioning coach answering to the director of performance and sports science instead of the head coach. At the time, Taggart issued a public apology, saying that he held himself responsible for all of the football activities and the safety of the students must come first.
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