CHENEY, Wash. — Former Eastern Washington University (EWU) women's basketball coach Wendy Schuller is suing the school and its athletic director, Lynn Hickey, for age and sex discrimination.
According to court documents, Schuller, who had spent 20 years at EWU, alleges Hickey exhibited "a discriminatory animus" against older employees and coaches, specifically females.
In May 2018, Schuller had expressed interest in applying for the Open Senior Women's Administrator position. Hickey, who was hiring for the role, allegedly told Schuller "not to bother" with the position, despite Schuller's qualifications.
Documents go on to say that Hickey hired "a less qualified, 39-year-old woman" for the role with no prior coaching experience and only four years of experience as a senior women's administrator at another school.
In addition to this, documents alleged that Hickey would frequently ignore Schuller when it came to matters involving the women's basketball team and give more attention to the school's male coaches and teams.
Furthermore, Schuller's legal team asserts that the former coach was paid far less than her male co-workers. Documents provided an example from 2017 when Schuller and then head-men's basketball coach Shantay Legans signed their most recent contracts. Despite her 17 years of experience at EWU and Legans having no prior experience, Schuller received a base pay of just $110,000, $20,000 less than Legans's $130,000.
Several more examples of alleged discrimination from Hickey were given in the court documents, including a mishandled case of domestic violence involving an EWU football player that Schuller reported in 2019. Documents say Schuller's tumultuous relationship with Hickey hit a breaking point when the athletic director fired her in March 2021 "without warning or explanation."
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