INDIANAPOLIS — Three Butler women's soccer players filed a lawsuit alleging the team’s former athletic trainer sexually assaulted and groomed multiple players on the team.
According to the court documents, Butler University’s former athletic trainer, Michael Howell, has been accused of sexual assault, grooming and negligence by three players, whose identities have been kept anonymous.
The lawsuit claims Howell would give the players “long-lasting full body massages” in private locations, including his hotel rooms during away games, where he would touch the women’s genitals and breasts. It also states Howell had been photographing and videotaping the women.
According to the lawsuit, athletic massages typically lasted no more than 10 minutes, focused only on the target area and should have been used when no other method was effective.
The lawsuit claims Howell’s supervisor, Ralph Reiff, the senior associate athletic director for student-athlete health, performance and well-being at Butler University, knew the guidelines of athletic massages, but “never inquired, investigated, raised questions about the safety of the female athletes or followed safety protocols.”
“Reiff did not do anything reasonably required to investigate the circumstances, train the coaches, keep Howell or the athletes under watch, promulgate or request the implementation of safety policies, or otherwise protect multiple women as they were repeatedly abused by Howell in various locations on and off campus over extended periods of time,” the court documents state.
The lawsuit claims Howell told the players he had “files against them and would use them if they ever said anything bad about him.” One of those files was allegedly a photo of a player with an alcoholic drink during her freshman year.
It also states he told the players “If I go down, you all go down with me,” multiple times. Howell would allegedly get upset if the players did not show up for treatments and reminded them he “had control over who could and could not play.”
The lawsuit states the women felt “powerless, afraid of and intimidated by Howell.” It claims they did not speak up sooner due to his threats and how other coaches spoke of him.
The women allegedly reported Howell’s behavior to Butler University, in which the school notified Howell, allowing him to delete or transfer any inappropriate photos and videos off his phone.
The court documents state the university “had no written policies or procedures regarding proper athletic trainer conduct, setting boundaries with athletes or working with athletes of the opposite sex.”
A five month investigation found that Howell had sexually assaulted and harassed members of the Butler’s women’s soccer team, “evidencing a widespread pattern of inappropriate conduct.”
Howell was suspended and removed from campus on October 6, 2021, and was fired on June 2, 2022. He was hired in the spring of 2012 and worked with the women’s soccer, men’s baseball, women’s and men’s golf, men’s tennis and cheerleading teams.
Butler University provided the following statement to WRTV regarding the lawsuit:
The health, safety, and well-being of our campus community is always our top priority. In late September 2021, student-athletes on the women’s soccer team reported misconduct by Michael Howell, an assistant athletic trainer. Upon being informed of the allegations, the University promptly notified law enforcement, removed Howell from campus and suspended him from his job duties, pending further investigation. After a thorough investigation and hearing, the trainer was found responsible for violating University policies, and he was then terminated in summer 2022. Butler looks forward to the opportunity to show the high integrity and responsiveness of the coaches and senior personnel. Because the complaints do not name the plaintiffs and they have not waived federal student privacy protections, Butler is limited from further comment outside of the legal process.
