REVEALED: San Jose women's volleyball coach recruited male player to give team advantage

A new report has revealed that San Jose State University intentionally recruited Blaire Fleming, a trans-identified male, to the school’s volleyball team, because he was "good enough to make us better." Fleming made headlines in the 2024 season as teams from across the region protested playing against the transgender player, with a Title IX investigation being launched by the Department of Education under President Donald Trump.

Girls on the San Jose State team also protested having a male play on their team, citing unfairness and discomfort at sharing women's-only spaces with an male. Many women's college teams refused to play against San Jose State, taking the loss rather than compete in unfair circumstances. A San Jose coach was fired for speaking out against there being a man on the woman's team.

Fox News Digital obtained the written findings from the Department of Education’s investigation, which were provided by SJSU in response to a public records request. The findings included allegations about the recruitment of Fleming which took place in 2022.

The findings stated, "Internal email communications provided by the University indicate the head women’s volleyball coach contacted the Director of the San José State University PRIDE Center & Gender Equity Center to discuss recruiting a male volleyball player (Student 1) for the San José State University women’s indoor volleyball team. Additional communications indicate Coach 1 stated that Student 1 texted him wanting to commit."

Fox News determined through prior reporting that Student 1 was likely Fleming, while Coach 1 was likely former volleyball head coach Trent Kersten. The coach believed to be Kersten wrote in emails regarding the recruitment that the biological male player was "good enough to make us better."

The findings also revealed Kersten weighing whether to reveal to the team’s female players that a transgender athlete would be joining. 

"The internal communications also indicated a concern regarding whether or not Coach 1 should inform the women on the San José State University women’s indoor volleyball team that a male player would be joining the team. Coach 1 stated he wanted to ask the women on the team their thoughts after they found out Student 1 was joining the team, but he did not want to relinquish decision making power to the women on the team regarding whether a male player would be allowed to join the team," the findings stated.

The findings also revealed alleged interactions between SJSU head coach Todd Kress, who took over from Kersten in 2023 and is believed to be Coach 2, and former Assistant Coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, believed to be Coach 3, regarding the handling of Fleming.

The findings stated, "Coach 3 states she was specifically instructed by Coach 2 and the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student Wellness and Leadership Development to not tell anyone either on the team or off the team that Student 1 is male. Coach 3 states she was also told ‘anyone who disagrees with [Student 1] being on the women’s volleyball team needs to get therapy and needs to leave SJSU."

The findings included a subsection titled "Discord, Division, and an Effort to Silence Dissent," which outlined the hiring of a DEI administrator to be with the team after Fleming’s inclusion received backlash, and how female athletes were threatened not to speak out. 

"To silence dissent, ‘scare tactics’ were used. The women on the team were told they needed to be careful of what they said because they all signed a contract and could lose their scholarships. That threat made several members of the team afraid to speak out. Student 10 said that at one point, Coach 2 told the team to be careful regarding how they act with regard to Student 1," the findings stated. 

One student "stated after it was revealed to the team that Student 1 is male, Coach 2 expressed his belief that anyone who spoke up was attacking Student 1. Coach 2 told the team that the ‘hate’ affects him too as part of the LGBT community. Student 10 felt Coach 2 treated Student 1 with favoritism."

The findings stated that the DEI administrator, prior to April 2024, "had no experience with the women’s volleyball team. She was brought in to ‘help deal with the team.’ She began attending practices and traveled with the team. She stated her ‘job is to make sure DEI is part of athletic programming at the University."