Melissa Batie-Smoose lost everything after filing a Title IX complaint protecting female athletes from a biological male on the volleyball team.
Wednesday delivered her first real victory – Trump's Department of Education ruled San Jose State violated federal law.
Now she's coming for what the university really fears – a massive court payout that could bankrupt their woke agenda.
Trump's Department of Education Hands Her The Legal Weapon She Needs
The Department of Education spent seven months investigating San Jose State after Batie-Smoose's October 2024 Title IX complaint exposed how the university let biological male Blaire Fleming dominate the women's volleyball team while hiding his sex from players and parents.
Wednesday's ruling demolished the university's defense.
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey found San Jose State harmed female athletes through unfair competition, compromised safety, denied equal opportunities, and then retaliated against women who spoke up – including suspending Batie-Smoose minutes before a home game.
The university has 10 days to comply with federal demands or lose every dime of federal funding.
Those demands include biology-based sex definitions, separating sports by biological sex, restoring all records Fleming took from female athletes, and personal apologies to every woman forced to compete against a male.
Batie-Smoose calls those terms "the bare minimum."
"They still have to pay a big price for what they've done," she told Fox News Digital.
Pennsylvania Title IX Case Shows Exactly What's Coming For SJSU
Trump's Department of Education already demolished one university's transgender athlete scheme.
Last summer, the University of Pennsylvania caved after feds threatened to cut $175 million over swimmer Lia Thomas – the first biological male to win an NCAA Division I women's championship.
Penn stripped Thomas of all records, banned transgender athletes from women's sports, adopted biology-based definitions, and issued personal apologies to displaced swimmers.
San Jose State faces the same pressure, except Batie-Smoose isn't stopping at federal compliance.
She wants them to pay for destroying her career.
"It's not over. I don't want people to think it's over. We have a huge fight ahead of us, we have to win at the highest level, meaning in the courts," she said.
Her attorney Vernadette Broyles says Wednesday's federal Title IX ruling changes everything for their wrongful termination lawsuit against California State University.
"When the agency that has been given responsibility to enforce a federal law has come to the conclusion that federal law has been violated, well they're subject matter experts on that federal law. So courts tend to pay a great deal of attention to the findings of that agency," Broyles explained.
Here's what that means: San Jose State just lost its best defense in the federal lawsuit, and now faces court with the Department of Education backing every retaliation claim Batie-Smoose makes.
How SJSU's Retaliation Against Women's Sports Advocate Backfired
Batie-Smoose moved her family from Connecticut to California in 2023 for her dream coaching job.
Nobody disclosed she'd be coaching a biological male on the women's volleyball team.
Head coach Todd Kress only admitted the truth weeks later, then allegedly ordered her to hide Fleming's sex from players and parents or lose her job.
She watched Fleming get special treatment for over a year – missing practices without consequences, eating in bleachers during practice, getting first choice on hotel rooms – while female athletes faced punishment for questioning why a 6-foot biological male spiked volleyballs at their faces.
When Batie-Smoose filed her October 2024 civil rights complaint alleging Fleming conspired with an opposing player from the Mountain West Conference to spike co-captain Brooke Slusser in the face, the university struck immediately.
Minutes before warm-ups for a home game, an administrator pulled her aside, banned contact with players, kicked her off campus, demanded her keys, and handed her termination paperwork.
San Jose State didn't renew her contract in January 2025.
She hasn't found coaching work since despite decades of success in women's sports.
"I've been a very successful coach and I've coached for a long time and I'm not even getting any looks for any coaching jobs," she said after filing her September wrongful termination lawsuit.
She moved her family to Texas to escape what she calls an unsafe environment.
"It's tough, it's a tough transition," she said. "It's taken a toll on all of us."
Federal Government Could Intervene In Her Discrimination Lawsuit
Broyles wants the Department of Education to intervene directly in Batie-Smoose's federal civil rights case or issue a statement of interest.
"That would be tremendously helpful," Broyles said.
If Education Secretary Linda McMahon's team backs Batie-Smoose in court the way they backed the Title IX investigation, San Jose State faces a nightmare scenario where the federal government testifies that the university violated federal civil rights law, then destroyed the coach who reported the Title IX violations.
That's the kind of case that settles for millions before discovery finishes, because universities can't risk a jury hearing federal investigators detail every discrimination claim under oath.
San Jose State has 10 days to cooperate with Trump's demands or lose federal funding.
But Batie-Smoose's wrongful termination lawsuit has no deadline.
That case drags through federal court for years unless the university writes a check big enough to cover back pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages, and public acknowledgment they destroyed her career for protecting female athletes from discrimination.
Wednesday's federal Title IX ruling just made that price exponentially higher.
Sources:
- Jackson Thompson, "Ex-SJSU volleyball coach reacts after Trump admin rules school violated Title IX with trans athlete handling," Fox News, January 29, 2026.
- Elaine Mallon, "Former SJSU coach claims retaliation after Title IX complaint against trans athlete," The National News Desk, October 1, 2025.
- "Trump administration releases $175 million in federal funding to Penn after transgender athletes agreement," CNN, July 2, 2025.
- "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports: Lia Thomas, UPenn's Settlement and the Future of Transgender Student-Athletes," Cohen Seglias, September 16, 2025.
