Judge blows whistle on basketball coach's doctoring of email.

Byline: Kris Olson

All the technical fouls that longtime women's basketball coach William P. "Bill" Gibbons received during his career likely did not him prepare for this.

Superior Court Judge Valerie A. Yarashus recently dismissed with prejudice all his claims against his former employer, the College of the Holy Cross, after Gibbons admitted that he had added or deleted lines in some otherwise authentic email messages produced in discovery, while other emails had come from fake accounts he had created.

Gibbons said he was motivated by "utter desperation and anxiety that my name would never be cleared" and not a desire to bolster his claims for breach of contract, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, and other causes of action.

But Yarashus noted that the coach's duplicity went directly to a key issue in the case: whether Gibbons remained employable after Holy Cross decided not to renew his contract after the 2018-2019 season, his 34th on the bench for the Crusaders.

Gibbons finished his Holy Cross career with 591 wins and 422 losses, a .583 winning percentage. But the team had losing records in four straight seasons before turning things around in what turned out to be his final season on the bench.

In Gibbons' telling, his problems began during a game against Boston College early in that season. After a controversial call, Gibbons turned his attention to the referee, while one of his female assistants substituted a player into the game. Once he returned to the bench, Gibbons decided to reverse his assistant's decision and insert a different player instead.

The assistant reacted with what Gibbons took to be insubordination, repeating the word "wow" loudly enough to be overheard by the players, parents and others nearby.

Gibbons admitted that he pointed a finger at the assistant and told her, "Don't ever question my decision during a game like that again, or you will not be working here."

But Gibbons believed he had addressed the matter with the assistant in the locker room at halftime and again at a staff meeting the next day. However, as Gibbons would eventually learn, the assistant coach had gone to the college's human resources office to file a complaint against him early in the morning the day after the game.

Holy Cross botched the ensuing investigation, which led first to a suspension and then his termination, Gibbons believed.

Moreover, Gibbons' initial suspension came as the school was managing a public relations crisis...