Just days before the Golden Bears enter the men's NCAA basketball tournament as the South region's fourth-seeded team, the University of California-Berkeley confirmed an assistant coach violated its sexual harassment policy. The school announced Monday it fired Yann Hufnagel.
The UC system concluded an investigation that lasted several months, concluding Hufnagel violated the school's sexual harassment policy. The school has not released the details of the investigation. Cal's now-former assistant coach said on Twitter he would "exonerate" himself when the time is right.
"California's head men's basketball coach, Cuonzo Martin, has initiated termination proceedings under University of California policy against assistant coach, Yann Hufnagel, Cal's Intercollegiate Athletics Department announced today," the school said in a statement. "Effective immediately, Hufnagel has been relieved of his duties pending the outcome of the termination process and will not be traveling with the team during its NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament run."
Though he would not go into detail about the incident, Hufnagel denied he sexually harassed anyone and criticized UC-Berkeley for how it conducted its investigation.
"I'm crushed," he said. "I can't believe it. I'm blindsided. I never imagined this would be the outcome. Cal has been incredibly slow-moving in the process. I'm in the process of hiring a legal team to exonerate my name."
The UC system's president, Janet Napolitano, introduced a new sexual harassment policy Friday. Sujit Choudhry, the dean of UC-Berkeley's law school, resigned earlier that week amid a sexual harassment accusation against him and allegations the school mishandled the alleged victim's complaint.
Geoff Marcy, a former astronomy professor at UC-Berkeley, resigned in October when a litany of sexual harassment complaints from female students over a period of 10 years became public. Graham Fleming, once a vice chancellor for research at the school, resigned in April after one his assistants accused him of sexual harassment.
Hufnagel joined Cuonzo Martin's staff in 2014 after serving as an assistant coach for the Vanderbilt and Harvard men's basketball teams. In his four seasons at Harvard, Hufnagel helped the Crimson make the postseason every year. At Vanderbilt, he helped put together a nationally ranked recruiting class.
Last offseason, Hufnagel helped Martin bring in one of the best recruiting classes in the nation, which included a pair of five-star prospects who have been integral to the Golden Bears' NCAA Tournament run, Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb.
