Sports

Axed Stony Brook AD denies harassment

Former Stony Brook athletic director Jim Fiore stands accused of discriminating against employees based on gender, age and sexual orientation, according to a report on espnW.com.

Fiore, who was fired by the school on Nov. 19, is also accused of inappropriately touching female student-athletes, in one instance rubbing the inner thigh of an athlete who was rehabilitating a leg injury.

On Wednesday, Fiore released a statement through his personal spokesman adamantly denying the claims, calling the ESPNw story “absolutely outrageous and rife with falsehoods.”

“The anonymous, ‘kitchen sink’ allegations that have been made against me are absolutely false,” the statement reads. “I cannot help but think that the motives of the unnamed ‘sources’ serve no purpose other than someone’s obvious financial gain and to hurt me personally and professionally. I will vigorously fight these bogus claims and defend my reputation.”

According to documents that were received by the Attorney General of New York and the State Inspector General, Fiore asked female coaches and student-athletes if they were homosexual, and behaved inappropriately.

Stony Brook University’s Office of Diversity and Affirmative Action received several complaints about Fiore and had knowledge of his actions for at least two years, but failed to act, according to the report.

One document said the university did not interview key female coaches, staff and administrators when conducting an internal investigation into the claims brought against Fiore.

That same document also accuses Fiore of misappropriating university resources, as he allegedly held practices for his son’s CYO basketball team on campus without compensating the school.

Sources told espnW there was no negotiation involved with his dismissal from the university.

According to Newsday, Fiore was summoned to a meeting with the school’s head of human resources, given a lump-sum payment, and told to leave. Fiore’s spokesman, Michael Conte, told Newsday last Wednesday “the letter Jim received informing him of the termination of his contract specified no disciplinary action. It would be counterintuitive to conclude the university would buy out his contract to the sum of nearly $800,000 if Jim was facing disciplinary charges.”

Fiore, who became the athletic director at Stony Brook in June 2003, was a candidate for the Rutgers athletic director job following the resignation of former athletic director Tim Pernetti as part of the Mike Rice fallout.

However, Rutgers eliminated Fiore from consideration after sources outside of the search process told the school about the allegations at Stony Brook.