Sports
Former Ohio QB Bryant Accused of Sexual Harassment
By: Matt Archibald
Posted on:
A former Ohio quarterback has been fired from his job because of sexual harassment.
Cleve Bryant, the associate athletics director for football operations at Texas, was dismissed from the university last March after a university investigation.
According to ESPN, an investigation within the Longhorns’ program determined “Bryant made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward a female administrative assistant over a two-year period.
Bryant oversaw daily activities for Texas, including game-day-operations, team travel and recruiting weekends. According to ESPN’s report, Bryant was fired after a university investigator determined "that Mr. Bryant did sexually harass [Rachel Arena, a 24-year old football department employee]” and that "the harassment was likely both verbal and physical."
According to ESPN, documents show that Arena told investigators:
• During a July 2010 meeting in Bryant's office about whether she would receive a raise, Bryant pulled down the top of her dress and bra and fondled her breast.
• Bryant repeatedly either told her in person or texted her that "I want to kiss you."
• Bryant retaliated after she told him to stop texting by creating a false allegation that she had acted inappropriately at a minor league baseball game she attended with some former Texas football players.
• One day while in the break room, getting a bottle of water, Bryant came in, stood in front of the door as she started to leave and said, "Kiss me." Arena said she turned away and Bryant kissed her on the neck before she could leave.
• Two other female office workers alleged that Bryant had inappropriately kissed them in the past.
• Another woman in the athletic department referred to Bryant as "old-freak-nasty" and that he once told Arena "he wanted to touch me, that he wanted to pleasure me, that he could, that he could make me happy, referring to sexually, things like that."
Bryant was the starting quarterback of the 1968 Ohio Bobcats, a team that posted a perfect 10-0 regular season. Ohio went to the Tangerine Bowl but lost to Richmond 49-42 on December 27, 1968.