Former NC State athletes filed on Wednesday a fourth sexual abuse lawsuit against ex-director of sports medicine Robert Murphy Jr., bringing the total number of plaintiffs to 14. Three former athletes filed individual lawsuits in 2022 and 2023, and the case has now grown to include 11 additional alleged victims.
The latest lawsuit alleges Murphy of years of misconduct including improper touching of the genitals during massages and intrusive observation while collecting urine samples during drug testing. Murphy is one of nine defendants named in the lawsuit. The others are school officials accused of negligence.
The alleged victims claim that former athletic director Debbie Yow and other school officials were aware of concerns over Murphy’s conduct but that the university did not investigate his behavior nor prevent him from working with male athletes. According to the lawsuit, athletes throughout the university knew of Murphy’s actions and some refused treatment from him.
“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,” said attorney Kerry Sutton.
“A culture of fear in the NCSU athletics department led to this tragic set of circumstances. Athletes afraid of losing their scholarship or their spot on the team, trainers afraid of reporting their boss, coaches afraid of getting involved, directors afraid of harming NCSU’s reputation. Murphy took advantage of those fears to get away with abusing what we believe may turn out to be hundreds of former Wolfpack athletes.”
Former NC State men’s soccer player Benjamin Locke filed the initial lawsuit against Murphy in Aug. 2022. NC State placed Murphy on administrative leave during its investigation into the case and fired him that same year. He worked at the university from 2012-22.
That original lawsuit said that former men’s soccer coach Kelly Findley allegedly told a senior official in the athletic department in 2016 that Murphy was engaging in conduct “consistent with ‘grooming’ behavior. The latest lawsuit states that Findley raised concerns four years prior in 2012 and requested that Murphy be removed from his role as the team’s trainer. Murphy was reassigned in 2013 but resumed working with the soccer team in 2014.
Athletic department officials also allegedly told Murphy multiple times between 2016 and 2021 to refrain from treating male athletes and to distance himself from the men’s soccer team, but they did not enforce those requests when Murphy failed to comply. Murphy was promoted to director of sports medicine in 2018.
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