Women's tennis legend Martina Navratilova has called for San Jose State University (SJSU) to fire volleyball coach Todd Kress after Fox News Digital reported on a letter containing allegations against Kress by a former player that was sent to the school in fall 2024, during the team's highly-publicized transgender athlete scandal.
Navratilova re-shared an X post by U.S. women's swimming Olympic gold medalist Nancy Hogshead, criticizing the coach and university.
"Fire his a--!" Navratilova wrote in one post. In another, the tennis legend wrote, "This is truly sickening… this coach should have been fired yesterday!"
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MADRID, SPAIN - APRIL 21: Laureus Academy Member Martina Navratilova speaks at a press conference prior to the Laureus World Sports Awards Madrid 2024 at the Palacio de Cibeles on April 21, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images for Laureus) (Getty Images for Laureus)
Hogshead's original post wrote, "Sex discrimination rarely manifests in just one form," before referencing Kress's alleged handling of female and a trans player during his first two seasons leading the team.
Fox News Digital has reached out to SJSU and Kress for a response to Navratilova and Hogshead's comments.
Fox News Digital reported Tuesday that in October 2024, the SJSU athletic department received a letter from one of Kress’ former players at Fairfield University from 1998. The letter included allegations that Kress attacked her in a hotel room in 1998.
Emails show that SJSU officials acknowledged the receipt of the allegations, thanked the former player for coming forward and apologized for her experiences. Despite this, Kress was never suspended and has continued to serve as the head coach of the women's volleyball team.
Fox News Digital was given copies of the emails exchanged between SJSU and the former Fairfield player, from an independently verified source. Fox News Digital has independently verified she played at Fairfield under Kress in the 1998 season, but is not disclosing her name.
That first email she sent to SJSU contained the letter with the written allegations against Kress, that was originally sent to Fairfield University. The alleged incident occurred in a hotel after Fairfield’s loss to Clemson in the first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament in December of that year. She wrote that a teammate asked her to bring her a shirt to Kress’ room.
"I told her I wanted no part of his insanity. I was distraught about the loss and wasn’t interested in his drunken insanity, which was commonplace on trips."
The former player added that her teammate "promised Todd would not throw water at me or do something juvenile so I reluctantly agreed to bring her the shirt."
"... I knocked on the door and Todd answered. He immediately took caramel from a plastic container and smeared it all over my face and hair. He then forcibly threw me on the bed and held me down. I was in shock. He let go of me and then pulled his pants down and put his back side in my face.
"Astonished... that is the only word I can think of to describe how I felt in that moment... Todd was drunk. I got up and went for the door.
"Todd again grabbed me, picked me up, and threw me into the bathtub where he held me down and threatened to turn on the shower with me laying there to ‘clean the caramel off of my face.’ At this point I was fighting back to get away from him.
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"Todd let me get out of the tub, laughing, and then he stood in front of the door blocking my exit. Todd told me he would only let me leave if I took a shot of liquor, which I did only to get him to move away from the door. Once he did, I ran for it. He chased me. I got into my room and although he seemed to be in a rage, he turned and calmly walked out," the letter alleges.
The former player goes on to allege her teammates "had been drinking with Todd underage." She also claimed she did not report the incident at the time because she "was scared of losing my scholarship and being the reason my teammates lost theirs."
On June 9, 2026, Fox News Digital submitted a formal public records request to San Jose State University seeking copies of the Oct. 24, 2024, complaint letter sent to Athletic Director Jeff Konya, the Nov. 1 follow-up email, and the subsequent Nov. 7 correspondence from the university's Title IX office.
On June 22, 2026, SJSU’s public records office formally denied the request. In a response issued by university legal counsel J. Leah Castella, the school acknowledged the existence of the records but determined they were not disclosable under the California Public Records Act.
"The requested communications implicate substantial privacy interests," the university's response stated.
"Disclosure of these records would therefore constitute an invasion of privacy that outweighs the public interest in disclosure. Specifically, these records are being withheld subject to the following exemptions: Personnel Records/Privacy... General Privacy Rights... [and the] Balancing Test. Here, the public interest served by disclosure is minimal and is outweighed by the public interest served against disclosure in protecting substantial and significant privacy rights."
Following the records denial, Fox News Digital sent a detailed press inquiry to Kress, Konya, Lim and Castella. The inquiry summarized the exact dates, timestamps and contents of the internal records obtained independently by Fox News Digital, and posed a series of explicit questions to the parties, including requests for Kress' response to the 1998 allegations, details on what specific next steps the Title IX office took following their November 2024 meetings, and whether athletic department officials interviewed current volleyball players regarding their safety.
The inquiry also questioned university legal counsel regarding the decision to classify the public interest in these safety warnings as "minimal" while the university is actively engaged in a federal lawsuit defending its Title IX compliance within the volleyball program. Fox News Digital has not sought judicial relief on SJSU’s claim.
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As of publication time, neither Kress, Konya, nor any legal or communications representatives for San Jose State University have responded to requests for comment.
Fox News Digital also reached out to Fairfield University for request for a response to the former player’s letter, but a spokesperson responded, writing, "The university does not comment on former or current personnel matters.
Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson's reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.
