Utah women’s basketball team changed hotels during NCAA Tournament after experiencing racial ‘hate crimes,’ coach says

SPOKANE, Washington — The Utah women’s basketball team encountered multiple instances of racially charged hate during its trip to the NCAA Tournament, coach Lynne Roberts said late Monday.

Due to the incidents, the team changed hotels after spending its first night in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, about 35 minutes from Spokane, Washington, where the Utes played in the first two rounds of the tournament.

“We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes towards our program,” Roberts said in Monday’s postgame press conference following her team’s loss to Gonzaga in the second round of the tournament. “(It was) incredibly upsetting for all of us.

“It was a distraction and upsetting and unfortunate. This should be a positive for everybody involved. It should be a joyous time for our program, and to have kind of a black eye on that experience is unfortunate.”

The Utes’ coach, who didn’t detail the incident, explained that the team flew in Thursday and the incidents occurred Thursday night.

The team stayed that night at a hotel in Coeur d’Alene. As first reported by KSL.com’s Josh Furlong, the team — as well as members of the school band and cheerleading team — met at a restaurant.

On the walk to the restaurant, a white truck made its presence known to the team by revving its engine and someone yelled the N-word before the truck sped off, KSL reported.

That happened again, this time involving two trucks, as the team left the restaurant, and in response, school officials coordinated efforts to ensure people returned safely back to the hotel, according to the KSL report.

Roberts said after staying in Coeur d’Alene on Thursday night, the team worked with host school Gonzaga and the NCAA to find new hotel accommodations Friday.

“You think in our worlds — athletics and university settings — it’s shocking, you know. Like there’s so much diversity on a college campus, and so you’re just not exposed to that very often. And so when you are, it’s like, you know, you have people say, ‘Man, I can’t believe that happened,’” Roberts said.

“You know, racism is real and it happens, and it’s awful. So for our players, whether they are white, black, green, whatever, no one knew how to handle it, you know, and it was really upsetting for our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA Tournament environment. That’s messed up.”

Gonzaga issued a statement after Roberts’ comments, saying it had been made aware of the incident while adding its first priority is the safety and welfare of all student-athletes and personnel participating in the event.

“We are frustrated and deeply saddened to know what should always be an amazing visitor and championship experience was in any way compromised by this situation for it in no way reflects the values, standards and beliefs to which we at Gonzaga University hold ourselves accountable,” the statement said in part.

On Tuesday, Coeur d’Alene’s mayor, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations and Coeur d’Alene Resort held a joint press conference addressing the racial incident.

The task force’s statement on the incident noted that two teams were affected.

The Coeur d’Alene Police Department is currently seeking surveillance footage as part of its investigation and has encouraged anyone with information to reach out to the department, according to Alexandra Duggan of the Idaho Spokesman-Review.

The press conference ended abruptly when protesters burst in and demanded that the speakers address free speech rights, Duggan reported.

Later on Tuesday, the NCAA issued a statement about Utah’s experience in Coeur d’Alene.

“The NCAA was made aware of the incident that occurred last week and immediately worked with Gonzaga and Utah to provide increased security for the team until new accommodations could be arranged within the same day in Spokane. The NCAA condemns racism and hatred in any form and is committed to providing a world-class athletics and academic experience for student-athletes that fosters lifelong well-being. ... We are devastated about the Utah team’s experience while traveling to compete on what should have been a weekend competing on the brightest stage and creating some of the fondest memories of their lives,” it read, in part.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little also issued a statement on the incident.

“Idaho leaders and community members at all levels have been consistent and clear about our values — we fully reject racism in all its forms. There is no place for racism, hate or bigotry in the great state of Idaho,” it read, in part.

NCAA Tournament in Spokane

The three visiting schools that joined Gonzaga in the women’s subregional in Spokane — Utah, South Dakota State and UC Irvine — all were staying at hotels in Idaho due to a lack of hotel space in the Spokane area, according to The Associated Press.

Spokane was also hosting the first two rounds in the men’s basketball NCAA Tournament — a group that included eight schools, including Alabama, Auburn, Charleston, Grand Canyon, Saint Mary’s, San Diego State, UAB and Yale — and there was a regional youth volleyball tournament in the area, per the AP.

With limited hotel space, Gonzaga received a waiver from the NCAA that allowed teams to be housed in Coeur d’Alene, the AP reported.

Among the group who was present when the incidents happened was Charmelle Green, according to KSL. Green is the university’s deputy athletics director and is Black.

“When we’re on the road, we don’t want to go through anything that was described,” Utah athletic director Mark Harlan told KSL. “We should not have been there. I do appreciate the NCAA and Gonzaga moving us from that situation, but we should never have been there in the first place, so a lot of folks need to get home and heal from the whole matter.

“But for Charmelle Green and what she’s done in terms of being the director of this group, being the victim of this, along with so many others, is something that is going to take a long time for us all to process. It’s not the experience that our student-athletes and our students overall should have experienced.”