The end of Rick Butler in youth volleyball has seen its day as the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and the Junior Volleyball Association (JVA) has officially banned Butler following his lifetime ban from USA Volleyball.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, an AAU spokeswoman confirmed the ban on Friday. In the months leading up to the ban, the AAU has kept quiet on the allegations against Butler. In a statement to their members, the AAU and JVA announced:
“On February 9, 2018, the AAU announced that the Chairman of the AAU Board of Review has revoked the membership of Rick Butler, disqualifying him from participation in all AAU events and activities. The JVA Board of Directors has determined that JVA will act in accordance with the decision of the AAU and is indefinitely suspending Rick Butler from participation in all JVA-hosted and JVA-insured events. This action is effective immediately.”
The ban against Butler in the JVA is notable as his club, Sports Performance is named as one of the founding clubs.
This is not the first time that Butler has been under fire for allegations of sexual misconduct as three former players spoke up about their abuse in 1995, resulting in Butler’s first ban from USA Volleyball. This, however, was overturned in 2000 with the exception that Butler was not allowed to coach youth volleyball players at any of their events. This did not stop Butler from coaching in the AAU, despite the organization’s handbook stating:
“It is the policy of the AAU to deny participation in the AAU to any individual for whom there is reasonable cause to believe that they have engaged in sexual misconduct.”
Since USA Volleyball confirmed their lifetime ban on Butler, a number of top collegiate programs, Wisconsin and Marquette, have pulled matches from his Butler’s Great Lakes Volleyball Center. Other organization’s outside of volleyball have also pulled the plug on using the facility following his ban.
VolleyMob reached out to the AAU to ask what new information or change of policy precipitated this decision decades after the allegations first emerged, but as of posting have not heard back.
Leave a Reply