SafeSport’s authority covers national governing bodies, not schools and leagues
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is taking steps to stop coaches banned over allegations of sexual abuse from working with children, announcing a publicity campaign and a new process for alerting schools and other organizations about listed coaches. SafeSport said the initiative responds to reporting by ProPublica and The Washington Post about gaps in the child protection system in youth sports.
The center’s reach, however, stops at the organizations it regulates. Congress charged SafeSport with investigating allegations of sexual abuse in sports, giving it the power to suspend or permanently bar coaches from contact with athletes and to place their names on a public disciplinary list. Its authority extends only to the country’s national sports governing bodies, which are overseen by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Elementary and high schools, colleges and many independent youth sports leagues are not required to follow SafeSport’s bans, though some opt to do so, and parents and other caregivers learn that a coach has been sanctioned only by checking the list.
The new steps include a publicity initiative with a video featuring the center’s chief executive that asks people to find and report banned coaches who are continuing to work with children. SafeSport is also launching what it calls a new “internal process” to notify schools and other organizations when a coach appears on its list, Hilary Nemchik, SafeSport’s vice president of external affairs, said. Under that process, the center will send a form letter when it learns that a coach is still working with kids, either through its own investigation or in response to a report.
“When SafeSport imposes a sanction for abuse or misconduct, the community should be aware,” Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, SafeSport’s CEO, said in a statement. “Someone could be on the SafeSport Database for abuse but go on to work at a school or coach for a league outside of our jurisdiction.”
The reporting that prompted the changes found several coaches who had been banned by SafeSport but continued to work with children. One case involved Ryan Richardson, a volleyball coach whom SafeSport found had committed sexual misconduct with a minor. According to ProPublica and The Washington Post, Richardson went on to coach teenage girls in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and an independent volleyball league allowed him to coach at several of its tournaments even after his name appeared on SafeSport’s database. Videos posted online showed Richardson on the sidelines.
Richardson’s continued coaching came in part through Gavin Rudder, a former assistant who took over the club after Richardson was banned by USA Volleyball, the sport’s governing body, in 2024. ProPublica and The Post found that Rudder allowed Richardson to coach the teams for years after the ban, a violation of the SafeSport code. After the story was published, SafeSport added Rudder’s name to its public database, listing him as temporarily restricted from unsupervised coaching or training.
Rudder is currently listed as the coach at Weslaco High School, near McAllen. Abel Aguilar, the Weslaco district’s deputy superintendent, said in an email that the district “does not comment on personnel matters.” In a text message, Rudder said the SafeSport ban “has nothing to do with high school volleyball” and that he had not “done anything wrong.” He said he was no longer associated with Richardson’s club volleyball team following the end of the 2026 season.
Richardson has not responded to requests for comment on the reporting. When he was first suspended in 2024 by Lone Star Region Volleyball, the organization overseeing volleyball in South Texas, Richardson told the local news website MyRGV that complaints about him were an effort to “retaliate and defame someone’s character,” and said he “would never do anything to risk the physical or mental wellbeing of these strong young ladies.”
In announcing the changes, SafeSport also pointed to a bipartisan inquiry into the Amateur Athletic Union, a major youth sports organization, launched last month by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which also oversees SafeSport. Lawmakers said they were opening the probe after ProPublica and The Post reported that the nonprofit does not follow SafeSport bans and has become a haven for coaches who are banned for abuse. The committee asked AAU President Jo Mirza for details on the group’s child safety policies and training, setting a deadline of Oct. 21.
Committee representatives this week did not respond to questions about the status of the investigation. The AAU, which has said in a statement that it is “committed to protecting its athletes through comprehensive protection policies overseen by our Compliance Department,” said it would “cooperate fully” with any inquiry.
The announcement leaves the underlying gap in place. Under the plan described by Nemchik, SafeSport will send a form letter when the center’s own investigation or a report shows a listed coach is still working with children, and the publicity campaign asks members of the public to report the same. Schools, colleges and independent youth leagues remain outside SafeSport’s authority and are not required to comply with its bans.