Former soccer coach sues Winthrop

By Anna Douglas

douglasa@thejohnsonian.com

The former head soccer coach and founder of the women’s soccer program at Winthrop filed a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the college and three of its employees last week, according to a federal court filing. 

Melissa Heinz’s contract was not renewed in November 2009, just after her team lost the Big South Championship to High Point University in a penalty kick shootout.

Heinz alleges her termination was a “retaliatory firing” that stemmed from her complaints about “inequitable treatment of her program,” according to her filing. 

She is suing Winthrop University, President Anthony DiGiorgio, Athletic Director Tom Hickman and the men’s head soccer coach Rich Posipanko for creating an unequal work environment that she claims violates Title IX federal mandates, according to the court document.

The decision to sue came after a process of “healing from being hurt and frustrated,” Heinz said in a phone interview this week. 

Winthrop never stated a reason for firing Heinz, she said. 

Among her complaints filed in the suit, Heinz alleges the men’s soccer team has its own practice and game fields, while the women’s team practices inside the track oval.  She said her players were housed three to a room in hotels during away games, while only two players from the men’s team had to share a room. 

The suit also claims a 27-percent salary disparity between Heinz and her male counterpart, Posipanko.  Posipanko also benefited financially from summer soccer camps housed on campus, a benefit Heinz claims in the court filing she was not privy to.

“Coach Heinz persistently documented her complaints about disparate treatment in letters and e-mails addressing inadequate budgets, lack of publicity, lack of staffing comparable to the men’s teams and the inequities in summer camps,” the official court filing states.  “Her requests for gender equity were ignored or rejected by Winthrop, Dr. DiGiorgio, and A.D. Hickman.”

Smith replaces Heinz

Winthrop athletics hired former Radford University coach Spencer Smith to replace Heinz in February 2010.
Heinz claims in the suit that her successor has an inferior record to hers, has never coached women’s soccer and is getting paid more than she did while at Winthrop.  

Smith spent 16 years at Radford as head coach of the men’s soccer team.  During that time, he was named Big South Coach of the Year in 1994 and 1998.  His program earned one Big South Championship win and appeared in the NCAA College Cup twice.  

While at Winthrop, Heinz received Big South Coach of the Year in 2006 and NCAA National Division One Coach of the Year for new soccer programs in 2003.  Winthrop also won a Big South Regular Season

Championship under Heinz in 2006 and appeared in the championship game in 2009.
The coach was not aware of the unequal environment in the athletics department before she came to Winthrop, she said.

Because she was starting a new program, she said she knew the team would have to prove itself in order to gain more scholarships and more attention.

“Maybe I was naive (then),” she said. “But I didn’t start paying attention to it until time went on.”
Student-athletes in the program were largely unaware of the disparities, Heinz said, because as a coach she didn’t want to put that stress on her team.  

Heinz said her termination from coaching at Winthrop has resulted in her inability to land another Division One coaching job.  

She is currently head coach at Valdosta State University in Georgia.  She was hired by the Division II Gulf South Conference school to begin a women’s soccer team in January 2010.  

Proud of 2010 season

The women’s soccer team earned six All-Conference awards this year and the new coach Smith was named Big South Coach of the Year. Heinz said she is proud of the team.  

“Nothing to take from (Smith), but he didn’t bring in any players of his own,” she said.  
She said that while at Winthrop, she prepared for the successful season Winthrop is  now enjoying by bringing in good recruits and only graduating one starting senior.  

Officials from the Big South Conference did not comment directly on Heinz’s suit, but said, “The Big South Conference does discuss Title IX and Gender Equity issues with its membership, however, specific plans for compliance vary from campus to campus and is an institutional issue.”

Winthrop released a statement on the lawsuit, saying, “As of Monday afternoon, Winthrop officials have not yet received a copy of the lawsuit, so it would not be appropriate to comment based on third-party descriptions.

In general, athletic program decisions at Winthrop are always made in the best interest of our student-athletes and the individual sports program involved, and any allegation to the contrary will be demonstrated to be without merit in the appropriate venue.

Of the 10 colleges in the Big South Conference, the majority of schools have less than five female head coaches in their athletic departments. Every school in the conference except for UNC-Asheville has a male athletic director.

• Winthrop employs two female athletic head coaches currently for volleyball and golf, and one female coach for the spirit squad.
• High Point has a female golf and lacrosse coach.
• Charleston Southern employs four female athletic head coaches for basketball, cross country/track, golf and volleyball.
• Presbyterian College’s lacrosse team is led by a female head coach.
• Gardner-Webb has a female volleyball head coach.
• Coastal Carolina employs five female head coaches for golf, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.
• Liberty has a female lacrosse and soccer head coach.
• Radford employs a female head coach for volleyball, women's basketball and spirit squad.  In addition, head coaching duties for the cheerleading team are shared by a female and a male.
• UNC-Asheville employs five female head coaches in basketball, soccer, cheer squad, volleyball and tennis.  
• Virginia Military Institute has a female water polo head coach. 

Information obtained from each respective  university’s website.