HONOLULU — A current coach and a former coach at Hawaii Pacific University are suing the school and its athletic director for alleged discriminatory and retaliatory behavior.

Ex-women’s basketball coach Reid Takatsuka and cross country coach Jackie Sgambati filed separate lawsuits in Oahu First Circuit Court with the Law Offices of Rodney Bridgers, intending to take their cases to a jury trial for damages.


What You Need To Know

  • Hawaii Pacific University and its athletic director, Debbie Snell, were named as defendants in two cases filed in Oahu First Circuit Court within the last month by ex-women's basketball coach Reid Takatsuka and current cross country coach Jackie Sgambati

  • They allege discrimination and retaliatory practices from HPU and seek damages from a jury for their reputations and lost wages

  • Takatsuka was fired in April of 2022 for what HPU called at the time "a pattern of conduct that violated university policy" with student-athletes, though several of his players spoke up on his behalf to Spectrum News; Sgambati has been at the school since 2015 and called the athletic department a "toxic" and "hostile" environment since Snell's arrival in March 2021

  • In a response filing in circuit court, HPU and Snell denied wrongdoing in the Takatsuka case through their attorneys

Bridgers specializes in employment law and personal injury concerns, according to his website.

In both cases, Bridgers alleges, HPU violated Hawaii’s Whistleblower Protection Act.

“They needed representation to fight HPU, and HPU has been tone deaf at all stages regarding their illegal conduct. That’s why lawsuits are being filed,” Bridgers told Spectrum News on Tuesday.

Athletic Director Debbie Snell is named as a defendant in both cases, along with HPU itself.

HPU Vice President and Chief Marketing Communications Officer Jeffrey Rich told Spectrum News, “We don’t comment on active litigation.”

However, in a First Circuit Court response to Takatsuka’s March 6 complaint that was filed Tuesday, HPU and Snell’s attorneys, Anna Elento-Sneed and Jessica M. Sneed, stated that their clients deny wrongdoing. The attorneys call for Takatsuka to receive nothing and for his complaint to be “dismissed with prejudice.”

Sgambati’s complaint was filed Wednesday, and HPU had yet to respond to it as of Thursday morning.

Snell was hired from another PacWest Conference institution, Holy Names University, in May 2021 to succeed Sam Moku, who joined the staff of Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Takatsuka, who was in his 11th season as head coach, was fired from HPU on April 15, 2022, five months after he was first placed on administrative leave. At the time, the school said it dismissed Takatsuka for “a pattern of conduct that violated university policy” regarding his treatment of student-athletes.

Several of his players at the time disputed the notion and spoke up for Takatsuka and against Snell to Spectrum News, though others said they were in favor of a change.

Takatsuka built the Division II Sharks into a perennial PacWest Conference contender over the previous decade, with multiple regular-season and tournament championships and coach of the year honors. He was described as a “legend” in his official HPU bio, but he has not coached since his dismissal from the school.

In his complaint, Takatsuka alleges that he was “subjected to pervasive animus in Defendant HPU’s workplace due to his race and gender” and “has suffered humiliation, angst, damage to his reputation, loss of income, loss of wage earning capacity, and general and special damages in an amount to be proven at trial...”

He claims that “Defendant Snell solicited a Caucasian female basketball player and a Caucasian female Assistant Coach to create false allegations of misconduct by Plaintiff, a minority male,” and that HPU followed up with a “faux investigation” into allegations such as unequal treatment of student-athletes.

Takatsuka declined additional comment to Spectrum News.

Sgambati, meanwhile, is still employed by HPU. She has been the Sharks cross country coach since 2015 and a year later added the role of head strength and conditioning coach. She was a former Division I assistant coach at Coastal Carolina and a head coach at Elon, where she started the track and field program.

In her complaint, Sgambati alleges gender discrimination and describes escalating forms of retaliation from Snell and HPU in the two years since she raised an issue Sgambati had with HPU men’s basketball coaches in March 2021.

Included in the 20-page complaint is, “Plaintiff was singled out and targeted because she had complained about illegal discrimination and retaliation to which she had been subjected in Defendant HPU’s workplace.”

She accuses Snell and HPU of “continuous sabotage” in matters ranging from disapproval of Sgambati holding an annual team Thanksgiving meal at Ala Moana Beach Park, being able to distribute banana bread to her team, or access to her own personnel records.

Sgambati says that she is under investigation by HPU to this day for unauthorized conduct as a continued form of “systemic illegal retaliation.”

According to her complaint, her issues with HPU began when men’s basketball staff members violated the COVID policy in the HPU weight room, which falls under her charge.

She alleges that head coach Darren Vorderbruegge was dismissive of her concerns. She alleges that a few days later, a former men’s basketball assistant coach, Craig Stanger, and a non-member of the team initiated a physical confrontation with her in the weight room.

Vorderbruegge, a former HPU athletic director and still a fixture within the athletic department, announced last week he is stepping down from HPU basketball after 17 total years at the school to take a job at a church in Fresno, Calif.

He told Spectrum News on Wednesday night that Sgambati's original complaint, and her HPU lawsuit, which was not yet filed at the time of his announcement, had no bearing on his decision to leave and that it was baseless.

“Yes, there were allegations. There was a thorough investigation, and the complaint was found to be false and unsubstantiated,” Vorderbruegge said, adding that outside counsel was brought in to adjudicate it.

Snell was not yet at HPU when the weight room incident occurred, but soon after she arrived, Sgambati raised the possibility of a Title IX complaint about the incident in a July meeting because of the school's lack of response to her concerns, according to her filing. From that point, the retaliation from Snell began, it alleges.

Sgambati claims she received no help from HPU’s human resources department and upper administration. “Plaintiff’s request for assistance from Defendant HPU fell on purposefully deaf ears.

“Defendant Snell conspired, aided, abetted, incited, compelled, coerced, or allowed the doing of the previously mentioned retaliatory conduct with the willful participation of Defendant HPU’s senior leadership team,” the complaint reads.

Negative performance reviews over the past two years caused her not to receive a raise in wages, she alleges.

Among her other complaints, she points out that HPU requires women’s coaches to hold two jobs at the school while male coaches are only required to hold one.

Sgambati told Spectrum News on Wednesday, “Myself and others reported discrimination and harassment but were ignored. We have a great staff, but are losing people because of the toxic, hostile work environment. The athletics staff and student-athletes deserve fair and equitable treatment and a positive environment we can all thrive in.”

Bridgers said the cases could drag on for months, possibly years, before they are brought before juries, should HPU dig in. But, he added, “I am hopeful that HPU will take an honest and realistic evaluation of their conduct and try to resolve these.”

A scheduling conference between the parties’ attorneys is set for May 26.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.