Sage Hopkins on Enduring the 10+ Year Investigation of Scott Shaw for Molesting Athletes

Sage Hopkins just finished his 18th season as the Head Coach at San Jose State University. It was supposed to be the first season with some closure after a 13-year scandal that exposed student-athletes to an athletic trainer who molested athletes and the coverup that surrounded it. Sage goes through the entire story, starting in 2009 when an athlete responded to his suggestion to go see the trainer, Scott Shaw, with, “No thanks. I don’t want to be molested.” From there 17 swimmers gave statements that were ignored and later destroyed, echoing the sentiment about Shaw’s “treatment.” That 2010 investigation was the start of an embarrassing response from the SJSU Athletic Administration, despite multiple athletes from multiple sports complaining about Shaw. Coach Hopkins didn’t let that stop him from continuing to fight for the protection of the athletes but it Shaw remained at San Jose State until the pandemic in 2020. This interview details the layers of corruption that allowed Shaw to stay, and even get promoted, over a decade after the first reports. Hopkins tells us about how he was treated within the athletic department and University because he refused to drop his complaints.