Ex-NMSU players: Colleagues ‘pantsed’ coaches

• Sara Coello, ESPNMay 5, 2023, 10:14 AM ET

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  Sara Coello is an author in ESPN’s investigative and enterprise system. Before signing up with, they wrote about legal problems and criminal activity for The Charlotte Observer, The Post and Carrier and The Dallas Early Morning News. Coello studied sociology, journalism and Spanish at The University of Dallas.The 2 previous New

Mexico State basketball players who say they were sexually attacked by teammates told ESPN that their supposed enemies targeted others on the team, including some assistant coaches, and controlled players into not talking. “There were most absolutely other players

that got assaulted the way that we got assaulted,”Shakiru Odunewu said in an interview this week.”However … these other men, I feel like they manipulated them to think that if they came out, that they were snitching.” Odunewu and Deuce Benjamin told ESPN the players who bugged them also pulled down assistant coaches’ trousers in public.”After the at UTEP, when we lost, they pantsed one of the assistants, “Benjamin said. One assistant coach had his pants took down while he slept on the bus, he said, and another was targeted but screamed enough to dissuade the assailants. “[ Other coaches acted] like they didn’t see it, “Benjamin said.The coaches who the players said were targeted didn’t return voicemails or emails from ESPN looking for comment.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Benjamin and

Odunewu informed ESPN about the behavior after they spoke openly Wednesday for the first time since suing New Mexico State in April. In their lawsuit, they

declare that the

activity surpassed harassment to sexual assault and that 3 of their teammates would take down their trousers, slap their buttocks and touch their scrotums. Odunewu reported the abuse to then-head coach Greg Heiar, who told Odunewu he would look into it and issue suspensions but didn’t, according to the suit. Benjamin reported the alleged abuse to school authorities in February, leading New Mexico State to cancel the remainder of the group’s season and fire Heiar. The authorities investigation is continuous, and nobody has been charged yet.Odunewu informed ESPN that the players called in the claim– Kim Aiken Jr., Doctor Bradley and Deshawndre Washington– targeted”practically everyone”a minimum of as soon as. The more regular or serious punishments were booked for those who resisted, Odunewu said.Heiar and a representative for New Mexico State didn’t respond to messages seeking remark. Aiken, Bradley and Washington couldn’t be reached for remark and have not spoken openly about the lawsuit.The act of pulling down a player’s pants was in some cases dealt with as a pregame ritual, Benjamin said. In one event, Washington purchased another player to take down his uniform shorts for excellent luck as players readied to run onto the court for a game, Benjamin said.The frequency of the alleged harassment and relatively casual mindset of his colleagues– even a few of the most frequently targeted players– led then-freshman Benjamin to presume the alleged abuse was part of normal college basketball life, so he kept peaceful, he told ESPN. But he stated he started smoking cannabis heavily to handle the stress.It wasn’t up until his dad, Aggies Hall of Fame basketball player William Benjamin, captured him with cannabis and asked what was wrong that he opened up.” In the beginning I just asked him, like, if he was experiencing the very same things I was when he remained in college,” Deuce Benjamin said.” And he wasn’t. “At a news conference this week, William Benjamin stated his boy and his family have been stopped working.”And as a daddy, I seem like I failed my child for putting him in this scenario,”he said.Odunewu informed ESPN he

acknowledged his experiences as abuse from the beginning. Still, he kept quiet for months– largely, he said, because he didn’t

want to hurt his teammates’reputations. “Being Muslim, you approach situations and take a look at situations differently,”Odunewu said.” I was scared that if I did come out … I was going to tinker these people’s professions. However it just got to a point where I simply couldn’t bear it anymore.”Benjamin and Odunewu have actually entered the transfer portal however have yet to find another program.

They both prepare to petition the NCAA for another year of eligibility.”I don’t believe you’re supposed to push the reset button and lump the victims in with everybody they’re attempting to get rid of,” William Benjamin stated.