14 former NC State athletes have filed a lawsuit alleging abuse by ex-head trainer
By AARON BEARD
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Fourteen former North Carolina State male athletes have filed a lawsuit in state court alleging sexual abuse under the guise of treatment and harassment by the Wolfpack’s former director of sports medicine, expanding a case that began with a federal lawsuit from a single athlete three years ago.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday evening in Wake County Superior Court, alleges years of misconduct by Robert Murphy Jr., including improper touching of the genitals during massages and intrusive observation while collecting urine samples during drug testing. Murphy, who worked at N.C. State from 2012 to 2022, is among nine defendants named individually. Others include school officials accused of negligence in oversight roles.
Twelve of the athletes are John Doe plaintiffs to protect their anonymity, while two former men’s soccer players are named. One is Benjamin Locke, who filed the original complaint in August 2022. The other is one of two athletes who filed their own federal lawsuits in February and April 2023.
The Associated Press typically does not identify individuals who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused unless they have spoken publicly, as Locke has done.
Durham-based attorney Kerry Sutton, who has represented plaintiffs in all four lawsuits, filed to dismiss those pending Title IX lawsuits before moving the case to state-level jurisdiction — now with 11 additional plaintiffs. Wednesday’s lawsuit outlines similar allegations of Murphy’s conduct and the school’s response.
It alleges concerns about Murphy reached former athletic director Debbie Yow and other senior athletics officials, but nothing substantive was done to investigate nor prevent Murphy from having free rein in working with male athletes despite being told to stop.
The lawsuit states Murphy’s conduct was so well-known that athletes on multiple teams joked derisively about it, and multiple athletes refused to let Murphy treat them again. It also alleges Murphy’s observation methods while collecting drug-testing samples were unsettling and undignified, with athletes exposed from calves to chest and sometimes Murphy standing closely in the same bathroom stall.
“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 on behalf of co-counsels Lisa Lanier and Robert Jenkins.
“A culture of fear in the NCSU athletics departm
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/09/18/nc-state-abuse-lawsuit/
