On Jan. 10, 2024, Mercer Island Girls Basketball assistant coach Matt Mann was placed on investigative leave midseason after players spoke up, saying he made them uncomfortable. Ultimately, the Mercer Island School District determined that he was not meeting the expectations of its professional staff. According to Assistant Superintendent Erin Battersby, the reported misconduct included unnecessary physical contact and keeping players for extended periods after practice ended to train individually.
While not listed as official reasons for Mann’s departure from the staff, players also note they felt uncomfortable because of other inappropriate actions, such as comments that disturbed them, expensive gifts he bought for them, and excessive filming of the team shooting. For two years, the girls’ story went unspoken about; many MIHS students, staff, community members and other MI athletes have been left in the dark. Battersby believes this was mainly because of sensitivity around the topic and a goal of not letting the situation tarnish their entire season.
Upon first meeting their new coach, players felt put off by Mann. “Some of his behaviors were weird, but just excused because we just thought he was a nice guy,” an anonymous player said. Mann did not respond when contacted regarding this situation.
Over time, the players began to realize his behavior wasn’t “normal.” These were mostly players’ thoughts until a practice in which Mann played hands-on defense with them, and the players felt it was more touching than necessary. Then, they decided to address it among themselves.
“After practice that day, we all got together and started talking about how Matt was actually making us uncomfortable,” the player said. “One by one, girls started sharing stories of things he had done, and that’s when we realized this was a concern.”
The players decided to express their concerns with their head coach at the time, Martin Anderson, by preparing a list of his actions that made them feel uncomfortable or unsafe. The player recalls the list, including many boundary-crossing behaviors, such as buying every player expensive skincare gifts for Christmas, filming the girls at practice from various angles in a secretive manner, and asking players to stay late after practice to work one-on-one. It also included physical moments when the players felt uncomfortable, such as Mann emphasizing that they had to learn to face high-pressure defense to reach a high level of play. She also recalls being pushed all over her body, including her chest. This wasn’t a single-instance occurrence.
“One day, I was shooting before a game, and he noticed my feet were too close together. Instead of just verbally telling me to widen my stance, he came up to me from behind and grabbed my thigh right next to my vagina and pulled my leg out. I felt extremely uncomfortable by this,” she said. She also felt she had to avoid participating in specific drills that required contact with Mann. “One practice, we were doing drills that were supposed to be us driving into contact. Instead of using a foam mat to hit us, like all coaches usually do, he would look us in the eye and say, ‘Come into me, make contact with me,’” the player said.
When the players shared this with Anderson, he contacted athletic director Lindsay Blaine, who declined to comment on this incident. According to Battersby, Blaine removed him from practice on Jan. 5 and asked him to refrain from working until receiving further instruction from HR. In the following days, Battersby held interviews with parents and players. The girls repeatedly told her that Mann was “too rough” and “touchy-feely”, and that they did not trust nor want to interact with Mann.” According to Battersby, the district considered it might have been sexual harassment. However, with the information they had at the time, it was determined that he did not violate the sexual code of misconduct, but that his actions were inappropriate. Battersby commends the athletes for coming forward and looking out for both their friends and their personal boundaries.
Mann did not deny the allegations of his violations, but differed in opinion about the instances. Batterby noted that he was extremely hard to contact after being confronted about the situation. Ultimately, it was decided he was unfit and ineligible to return to work at MIHS that season or in the future, and Mann was unwilling to return mutually.
After his departure, the players just had to move on with their season, and the anonymous player expressed a lack of proper closure from the incident. Mann currently runs a business privately coaching youth players. This incident was kept relatively quiet, seemingly unintentionally, at the time and for years to follow. “It was pretty underwhelming, and the whole situation with our coach sort of just got blown under the rug,” she said.
Correction: In the article published in print on Jan. 8, 2026, Erin Battersby’s title was incorrect. Her correct title is Assistant Superintendent.
