Fourteen former NC State athletes sue over alleged abuse by ex-head trainer

RALEIGH, N.C. — Fourteen former NC State male athletes filed a civil lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court on Wednesday, alleging years of sexual abuse and harassment under the guise of treatment by former Wolfpack director of sports medicine Robert Murphy Jr., expanding a case that began with a federal lawsuit filed by a single athlete nearly three years ago.

Murphy, who worked at NC State from 2012 to 2022, is named individually along with nine defendants, with the other defendants described as school officials accused of negligence in preventing misconduct or failing to adequately respond to concerns raised about Murphy’s conduct. Twelve athletes are listed as John Doe plaintiffs to protect their identities, while two former NC State men’s soccer players are named, including Benjamin Locke, who filed the original complaint in August 2022. Two other athletes had followed with their own federal lawsuits in February and April 2023.

Durham-based attorney Kerry Sutton, who has represented plaintiffs in the earlier and new lawsuits, has pursued moving the case from federal Title IX proceedings to state court, including adding 11 plaintiffs since the initial filing. The new complaint repeats similar allegations about Murphy’s conduct and outlines that concerns about Murphy reached former athletic director Debbie Yow and other senior athletics officials but nothing substantive was done to prevent Murphy from continuing to work with athletes.

“These 14 athletes have come forward together hoping to encourage others abused by Rob Murphy to see it wasn’t just them, they did nothing wrong, and NCSU should have protected them,” Sutton said in a statement.

Jared Hammett, a Raleigh-based attorney who had worked with Murphy in the earlier cases, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. An attorney who previously worked with Murphy in 2022 said Murphy offered “appropriate” medical procedures but “nothing that was ever of a sexual nature.”

Beyond Murphy, the defendants include Yow, who retired in 2019; former chancellor Randy Woodson; and current athletic director Boo Corrigan. N.C. State spokesman Mick Kulikowski said the school does not comment on pending litigation in response to a request for comment. Yow declined to comment, telling the AP she would defer to the school.

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