ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF special teams coordinator Brian Blackmon is one of three former or current Troy University coaches listed as a defendant in a federal lawsuit stemming from allegations that former Troy punter Jack Dawson verbally harassed and physically abused former Troy long snapper John Haynes at Troy in 2020, according to a report from Alabama’s CBS 42.
The report states that the lawsuit alleges Blackmon, Dayne Brown and Jamaal Smith, who still works at Troy, had “actual knowledge” of the harassment against Haynes but did not intervene.
The lawsuit claims that the coaches “believed John was being sexually harassed because he was homosexual … and chose not to intervene on behalf of John because of [their] perception of John’s sexuality,” according to the report.
Dawson, who transferred to Jacksonville State, reportedly was “arrested and made bond” Monday only after CBS 42 published its article, according to an Alabama News 5 report.
Arrest warrants against Dawson had gone unserved since they were first issued last October, the report said.
As of Monday, none of the coaches responded to a request for comment from CBS 42, according to the report.
A spokesperson for UCF Athletics told the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday in an email the program doesn’t plan to comment on the allegations against Blackmon “since this is currently an ongoing legal matter.”
The spokesperson acknowledged that UCF coach Gus Malzahn and the university are aware of the matter.
A lawyer for Dawson claimed that neither he nor Jacksonville State University knew about the arrest warrants against Dawson until CBS 42 contacted them last week, the report said.
Dawson’s lawyer said the claims outlined in Haynes’ federal lawsuit are “simply allegations,” CBS 42 reported.
In addition to Dawson and the three coaches, Troy University is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit according to the report.
The lawsuit claims the university “created an environment in which such misconduct was tolerated, thus encouraging continued and repeated intimidation, sexual harassment, and gender-based harassment thus proximately causing injury to [Haynes],” CBS 42 reported.
The “deliberate indifference” toward Haynes’ rights, the lawsuit says, violated federal law according to the report.
In a statement to CBS 42, Troy University director of communications Matt Clower said the institution denies all allegations made in the lawsuit “and will vigorously defend itself in court.”
Blackmon was hired at UCF by Malzahn on Feb. 21, 2021.
A longtime high school coach in Alabama, Blackmon landed his first college-level job as an offensive analyst for Malzahn at Auburn in 2017.
The next year, Blackmon left Auburn for Troy to serve as the program’s tight ends coach. In 2019, he added special teams coordinator to his title while also switching to running backs coach.
In his last season at Troy in 2020, Blackmon served solely as special teams coordinator before reuniting with Malzahn at UCF.
UCF offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey served as Troy’s head coach from 2019-21 but is not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“Based on the deliberate indifferent response by Coach Blackmon, Coach Brown, and Coach Smith to the known sexual harassment John had endured, John felt unsafe remaining at Troy University,” the lawsuit said, according to the report.
