Volleyball coaches at Southern Utah University are under investigation, according to a Volleyball on Sports Illustrated article, after 15 of the team’s 17 players filed complaints with the school. The women and their parents shared concerns about the team’s coaching methods. Players allegedly claimed they didn’t receive enough food and had long, consecutive practices.
SUU says it is currently conducting multiple investigations into statements provided to its athletic department and to Sports Illustrated. These statements include accusations of NCAA violations, overworking athletes in practice, a lack of proper nutritional support and a culture that created a fear of retaliation for whistleblowers.
“Southern Utah University takes all reports concerning the safety and well-being of our students seriously,” SUU’s Director of Public Relations, Brooke Heath, emailed SUU News. “Upon receiving these concerns and the formal complaint, the University promptly initiated its review process and policies.”
The school also said they cannot publicly discuss allegations while the investigation is ongoing.
Danielle Jensen and Camber Dodson, head and assistant coach of the team, respectively, are at the center of the allegations after being named in a complaint email to school leadership. They both started coaching at SUU at the beginning of last season and both transferred from Utah State University Eastern.
The timelines and emails below were obtained and published by Sports Illustrated; SUU News has not independently verified them. Coaches, faculty, students and university administrators did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
First conversations with school leadership
According to the Volleyball on SI article, on September 5, a parent of a volleyball player sent an email to SUU President Mindy Benson. In the message, the parent said Benson and Athletic Director Myndee Kay Larsen were the only people in the athletic department the volleyball players and their parents felt comfortable raising concerns with. The email also called for Jensen and Dodson to be suspended from their roles during the investigation and have Quintin Ward, an assistant coach, take their place in the interim.
The parent continued and said the team had allegedly not been given a day off from playing or practicing over the previous 11 days. NCCA Bylaw 17.1.5.4 states that every team must give a day off every week during the playing season.
Larsen responded the following day after receiving another email from a parent. She stated that the school and athletic department took the claims seriously and that the concerns would be directed to the proper channels. Both parents also asked the NCAA to investigate alleged discrepancies in days off and practice times, as well as alleged violations of Countable Athletically Related Activities rules.
Allegations from parents regarding food
“On August 11, three players met with Todd Brown, the deputy director for internal operations at SUU, to express their concerns about the lack of food support and the amount of time they were being required to participate in team activities,” Parent 1 reportedly said in a later email to the athletic department.
“On the mornings of trips, the athletes are not consistently provided food or per diem money,” Parent 1 wrote. “There are periods during the day when the athletes go several hours without meals. No consistent pre-game nourishment is provided.”
They also raised concerns that the athletes may not have been receiving breakfast on a regular basis.
“Breakfast appears to consist of whatever free meal is available at the hotel, rather than a planned meal appropriate for student-athletes preparing to compete,” Parent 1 wrote.
On Sept. 7, 15 of the team’s 17 players met with Brown again as well as Larsen, according to emails acquired by Sports Illustrated. They allegedly expressed their grievances to Brown, who also serves as chief operating officer of the athletic department.
Statements brought to Sports Illustrated
Volleyball on SI says that six players and two parents recently went to the publication with copies of their emails to Benson, Larsen, Brown and Blake, as well as Title IX and civil rights investigators.
Two players said to Sports Illustrated that the team had sessions involving three hours of practice, one hour of weightlifting and three more hours of practice. The two student-athletes told Volleyball on SI that the team wouldn’t eat during one of these seven-hour training blocks.
“Sometimes we suffer in silence and just document it,” Player 1 said to Volleyball on SI. “But other times, it’s like, ‘Hello, hey, can we get food?’”
“There’s been multiple occasions where it’s been nine hours where [sic] we’re fed,” Player 2 said. “And we don’t get money when we travel. There’s been multiple occasions where we wake up at 3 in the morning and we don’t get fed until 11.”
One athlete spoke to Volleyball on SI about a time when she and two other players were reportedly two minutes late to the airport shuttle after buying food to bring with them.
“They were already within the (area of the) shuttle and then we just walked up behind and we were punished for that the next practice, for being late,” Player 1 reportedly said. The late players allegedly were required to run more laps the next practice.
A third player said that she was afraid of speaking up about her concerns for fear of losing her spot on the court.
“I feel like I’m doing something wrong for having a different opinion,” Player 3 said to Volleyball on SI. “I just feel helpless.”
Another athlete claimed that Jensen and Dodson forced her to play through an injury.
“One major thing being coach Jensen and coach Camber (Dodson) making me play when I had a torn muscle and I was forced to play in excruciating pain in fear of retaliation for my spot,” Player 4 wrote to Volleyball on SI.
SUU’s response and further concerns
The school is conducting multiple investigations across several offices. University investigator Ben Pruitt is looking at allegations as they pertain to University Policy 5.27, which concerns discrimination and retaliation, while Director of Student Rights and Responsibilities Michael Blake is investigating things under University Policy 12.3, which concerns abusive coaching practices.
The Dean of Students Office is also conducting an investigation into coaching abuse allegations according to Pruitt, who told this to Player 2 on Oct. 14 according to Volleyball on SI.
Player 2 expressed a concern that the school was not doing enough to address the athletes’ complaints.
“Based on the initial findings of the investigation, we have zero faith that SUU will do the right thing,” Player 2 said. “SUU has done very little to protect the student athletes throughout this process. The 15 athletes’ independent concerns still haven’t been addressed, although we have been told a separate investigation is ongoing regarding those concerns.”
According to the Volleyball on SI article, on Thursday, Oct. 22, Player 2’s personal information fell into the hands of someone who shouldn’t have had access to it. A text to Volleyball on SI from someone claiming familiarity with the situation said the athlete’s medical and personal information may have been exposed. The player has reportedly since contacted investigators again about this new matter.
“To protect the privacy and dignity of those involved and preserve the integrity of the process, the university cannot publicly discuss specific allegations or personnel matters while the investigation is still ongoing,” a spokesperson for SUU said, according to Volleyball on SI. “The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority.”
Team information
SUU volleyball is 1-19 on the year and have lost 11 matches in a row. According to emails acquired by Volleyball on SI, parents and athletes started raising concerns more than two weeks before the team’s first match in August.
The T-Birds have only had two winning seasons since the volleyball team moved to Division One, with the first coming in 2010, one year after the promotion, and the other coming in the shortened 2020 season. Last season, Jensen’s first as head coach, the Thunderbirds had the program’s lowest-ever win total with a 3-21 record.
Danielle Jensen is in her second year as head coach of the SUU volleyball team. She spent 10 years as the head volleyball coach at Utah State University Eastern, her alma mater, in her hometown of Price, Utah. The school transformed into a perennial powerhouse in the National Junior College Athletic Association during her tenure.
Camber Dodson arrived at SUU at the same time as Jensen and was an assistant coach under Jensen at USU Eastern. Dodson last played for the Utah State Eastern volleyball team in the 2023 season.
Other coaches and players
One of the other coaches was Calvin Jensen, a volunteer assistant coach and recruiting coordinator married to Danielle Jensen. The two have been coaching partners for years and Calvin is currently the recruiting coordinator for the SUU volleyball team.
There are two other coaches on the team. One is Quintin Ward, who’s been a coach at the youth and pro level for eight years. The first-year assistant from Provo, Utah, last worked as the head assistant coach for the University of Charleston’s men’s volleyball team.
The team also has a graduate assistant named Duru Ozkan. The former libero from Ankara, Turkey, last played volleyball for Murray State University in 2024.
The same year Dodson became an assistant coach at Utah State Eastern, Audrey Atwood was playing for the team in her freshman year. Atwood transferred to SUU prior to the 2026 season, reuniting with her former head and assistant coaches.
Emilia Zug, a junior from Kołobrzeg, Poland, also played for USU Eastern for her first two seasons. She and Atwood were teammates as freshmen for the Eagles under Jensen and Dodson.
This is a developing story.
Author: Payson Davis
Photo courtesy of SUU Athletics
Editor: Hannah Clove and Michele Fogg
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