CHENEY, Wash. — Former Eastern Washington women's basketball coach Wendy Schuller is filing a $5 million tort claim to the State Department of Enterprise Services for being unlawfully fired by the school.
She claims she was terminated for her age, gender and reporting domestic violence allegations involving football players. EWU fired her at the end of March in 2021.
KREM 2 reached out to Eastern Washington for a statement, but they do not have one at this time.
Sculle said Athletic Director Lynn Hickey hindered her from getting promotions because of her age and gender, from making as much money as male coaches, brushed off the domestic violence allegations when she told Hickey and prioritized the men's programs over the women's programs.
She is seeking the money in damages from the state for pay disparities, emotional distress and loss of benefits.
Schuller had been the women's basketball coach since 2001.
"It is extremely disappointing," Shuller told KREM 2. "My 29-year career as a college basketball coach was destroyed by the vindictive and retaliatory way I was treated and fired. I was a devoted and loyal Eagle and the university held a special place in my heart. Leaving EWU after twenty years and being terminated so cruelly has been especially painful. My hope is, that by filing this claim, I will shed light on the current toxic culture under Lynn Hickey's leadership and to spare other coaches and staff the abusive, discriminatory treatment and retaliation I was subjected to; and that female EWU students and athletes will be safer by being taken seriously when they report male athletes' abusive conduct."
