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The prominent athletics director of George Washington University, who left unexpectedly last December, likely did so after his lewd and sexually inappropriate behavior was reported to the university, a Deadspin investigation found.
Patrick Nero, who resigned quietly last year with no job lined up, reportedly had also been in a long-running feud with the now former basketball coach Mike Lonergan, Deadspin reported.
Nero allegedly orchestrated Lonergan’s exit, casting the coach as a homophobe. The men clashed when Lonergan expressed concerns to other administrators about what he considered to be Nero’s inappropriate relationships with students.
But Nero kept his job until an anonymous tipster sent a video to officials of Nero apparently at a bar making obscene gestures and then straddling a 2017 male graduate.
The institution provided a statement from athletics spokesman Brian Sereno.
“The university takes seriously the safety and well-being of its students, including student-athletes, and it carefully and thoughtfully reviewed concerns raised in the past regarding its athletics program. The focus should properly be on the here and now. The athletics program, under new AD Tanya Vogel, is thriving and its leadership is deeply committed to the student-athlete experience.”
