Utah coach Lynne Roberts said her team experienced a series of racial hate crimes last week after arriving at its first NCAA tournament hotel and was forced to change hotels for safety concerns.
Roberts didn’t go into detail but said Monday there were several incidents that happened last Thursday night after the team arrived in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, which is located about 30 miles away from Spokane, Washington, where the Utes were scheduled to play in the tournament’s opening weekend.
KSL.com reported early Tuesday that the N-word was yelled at members of the Utah basketball team, along with other members of the traveling party — including cheerleaders and the school band — on multiple occasions as they were walking to and from a restaurant near their hotel in Coeur d’Alene.
Utah deputy athletic director Charmelle Green, who is Black, told KSL.com that the first incident occurred while the team was walking from the hotel to the restaurant. An unidentified person in a white truck revved the vehicle’s engine near the team before yelling the N-word in the team’s direction and speeding off.
“We all just were in shock, and we looked at each other like, did we just hear that? … Everybody was in shock — our cheerleaders, our students that were in that area that heard it clearly were just frozen,” Green told KSL.com. “We kept walking, just shaking our heads, like I can’t believe that.”
Tony Stewart, an official with the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, confirmed Green’s account of the incident Tuesday to The Associated Press and added that the truck had a Confederate flag. Stewart also told the AP that a team from another school was with the Utes at the time but did not identify the school.
South Dakota State and UC Irvine also were staying at hotels in Coeur d’Alene, even with Gonzaga as the host school, because of a lack of hotel space in the Spokane area. UC Irvine said it was not involved in the incident. Even so, the team requested to move “for the well-being and safety of our student-athletes and the entire travel party,” Mike Uhlenkamp, assistant vice chancellor for communications and media relations, said in an email.
Green told KSL.com that a similar incident took place about two hours later as the team was leaving the restaurant. Green said two trucks parked near the team began revving their engines before people inside the vehicles again yelled the N-word in their direction.
Stewart later added that the same driver from the first incident had returned the second time “reinforced by others.”
Coeur d’Alene police Chief Lee White said about 100 people were around the area that night, but investigators still need to interview those affected. He said there are two state charges that could be enforced — malicious harassment and disorderly conduct — if someone is arrested. White also said he was working with the FBI.
“Until we get all the facts and the investigation is complete, what charges might actually be brought against the perpetrators is yet to be determined,” White said.
Roberts said the incidents were “shocking” and “incredibly upsetting for all of us,” saying the team had not been exposed to racism very often because of the diversity on college campuses.
“Racism is real and it happens, and it’s awful,” Roberts said after fifth-seeded Utah’s loss Monday to fourth-seeded Gonzaga in the tournament’s second round. “For our players, whether they are white, black, green, whatever — no one knew how to handle it and it was really upsetting. For our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up.”
Green told KSL.com that after the team safely returned to the hotel Thursday night, she “got emotional and started to cry.”
“I will never forget the sound that I heard, the intimidation of the noise that came from that engine, and the word (N-word),” Green said. “I go to bed and I hear it every night since I’ve been here.”
Roberts said the NCAA and Gonzaga worked to move her team after the first night in Coeur d’Alene.
Several years ago, Spokane was announced as a host for the first and second rounds of the men’s NCAA tournament and there was also a large regional youth volleyball tournament during the weekend. With limited hotel space, Gonzaga received a waiver from the NCAA to allow teams to be housed in Coeur d’Alene.
NCAA Vice President for Women’s Basketball Lynn Holzman told the Associated Press that the selection committee was slated to review the championship format after the 2025 tournament. She has been pushing for some time to move the review up to this year.
“That review would include the First Four, first and second rounds and also an evaluation of the two-site regional format,” Holzman said. “We want to look at the preliminary rounds of the championship and with the growth we’ve had the last few years I think we should move up that review to start in 2024.”
The NCAA on Tuesday issued a statement thanking the leadership at Gonzaga and Utah as well as law enforcement for quickly addressing the matter.
“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,” the statement read. “NCAA championship events represent the pinnacle of a student-athlete’s collegiate career. 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.”
Green said she contacted Utah AD Mark Harlan, who had not yet made the trip to join the team, after the incidents occurred Thursday night. Harlan told KSL.com that the incident was “disturbing” and that the team “should not have been” in Coeur d’Alene.
Far-right extremists have made a presence in the region of Spokane and northern Idaho. In 2018, at least nine hate groups operated in the region, including Identity Evropa, Proud Boys, ACT for America and America’s Promise Ministries, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“We should not have been there,” Harlan told KSL.com. “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.”
Gonzaga issued a statement after Roberts finished speaking, saying that the first priority is the safety and welfare of everyone 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.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued a statement Tuesday that read, in part: “There is no place for racism, hate, or bigotry in the great State of Idaho. We condemn bullies who seek to harass and silence others.”
Utah’s season ended Monday with the 77-66 loss to Gonzaga. The Utes were hoping to return to the regional semifinals after last year, when they lost 66-63 to eventual national champion LSU in the Sweet 16.
Roberts said that the incident in Idaho was a distraction to her team.
“It was a distraction and upsetting and unfortunate,” Roberts said. “This should be a positive for everybody involved. This should be a joyous time for our program and to have kind of a black eye on the experience is unfortunate.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
