MSU Player Claims Coach Purposely Aimed at Her Head

From left, senior outfielder Jessica McBride, assistant softball coach Jessica Bograkos and head softball coach Jacquie Joseph. (Photos via Michigan State University Athletic Department)

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Michigan State University athletic officials may face charges after a player on the Spartan softball team alleged an assistant coach retaliated against her for making negative comments about the program by deliberately pitching a softball at her head twice during batting practice.

A university spokesman said Friday a joint investigation of campus police and Michigan State Police has been completed, and charging decisions rest with prosecutors in Ingham and Isabella counties, The Detroit News and MLive.com report.

In a statement to The Detroit News, MSU spokesman Kent Cassella said the university is launching its own investigation into the allegations. The investigation will be handled by Gerald J. Gleeson II of the Miller Canfield law firm in Troy.

The former student, 22-year-old Alyssa McBride of Mattawan, alleged the assistant coach, Jessica Bograkos, hit her once in the arm, deeply bruising it, and once on the wrist during practices in late April and early May.

The senior outfielder alleged head coach Jacquie Joseph condoned Bograkos’ actions after McBride, who just completed her senior season with the Spartans, told a reporter she wished she had gone to a different school.

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McBride said she was asked to conduct a post-game interview with reporters after the Spartans 16-1 loss to Notre Dame on April 28. She said she initially declined to answer questions about her time at Michigan State, but agreed after a reporter told her three times her remarks would be off the record.

“Honestly, I wish I would’ve gone to a different school,” she told the reporter “He’s like, ‘Why’s that?’ ‘Because I came here to win and we never won, all four years. I shouldn’t have said that, but we just lost by 15 runs. Like, I’m a gamer. I love to win. That’s all I care about it.”

During her time at MSU, the Spartans compiled a losing 66-140 record.

McBride said Joseph got wind of the comments, which three other players – all non-starters – reportedly echoed. When Joseph asked if she’d made the comments, she admitted she had.

A team member who spoke to The Detroit News on the condition of anonymity said she overheard the coaches talking about the comments.

“I heard Bograkos, the assistant, say, ‘I can hit her?’ I didn’t think anything of it at the time,” the source said. “Then Coach Joseph said, ‘Yes, you can hit her.’ Bograkos responded, ‘So, I can hit her?’ and Coach Joseph said, ‘Yes, you can hit her because I can’t. If you hit her, it would be considered an accident.’ ”

• Read the full story on The Detroit News.

McBride and others said a pitcher with Bograkos skill – she was a two-time All-American as a Spartan – wouldn’t have control over her pitches. She fell back dodging one pitch, she said, and another resulted in a deep contusion, according to records of a hospital diagnosis obtained by The Detroit News.

McBride thinks Joseph should be fired.

“Realistically, I don’t even need to tell you this story to know that she needs to get fired,” McBride said. “You just look at her record.”

Joseph has compiled a 607-627 record during 22 seasons as the Spartans’ head softball coach. Bograkos, formerly Jessica Beech, joined the staff in 2007. She was a two-time All-American pitcher for the Spartans.

Bograkos’ attorney, James T. Hoes, has demanded that McBride retract her “defamatory assertions … involving but not limited to criminal conduct by Mrs. Bograkos.”