Boston University alumni reportedly defend soccer coach whom Alex Cooper accused of harassment

Alex Cooper's claims of sexual harassment against her old coach, Nancy Feldman, have sparked a flurry of controversy nearly ten years after she played on the Boston University (BU) women's soccer team. As a result, around 99 former athletes have defended the longstanding coach.

Cooper, 30, host of the Call Her Daddy podcast, discusses alarming allegations against Feldman, who coached BU's women's soccer team for 27 years until retiring in 2022, in her new Hulu documentary series Call Her Alex, which debuted on June 10.

As reported by People and AOL news, Alex Cooper refers to the harassment as a "slow burn," saying it started in her freshman year and got worse in her second year. Cooper mentioned that Feldman would fixate on her way more than any other teammate of Cooper.

Alex Cooper mentioned that Feldman started requesting to know who she was seeing, making physical remarks, and insisting on spending time with her alone.

“[It] was all based in her wanting to know who I was dating, her making comments about my body and her always wanting to be alone with me. It was this psychotic game of, ‘You want to play? Tell me about your sex life.’”

Cooper described another incident where Feldman insisted on dropping her. She revealed:

“I have to drive you to your night class. Get in the car with me alone."

This shook Alex Cooper so much that she missed one of her night class, and she had made an excuse of being sick.

“I missed one of my night classes. And the reason I missed that night class was because the week before was when she started to insist that she drive me alone to my night class. And I just, I just like, I couldn’t do it. I just was like, I don’t want to get in the car with that woman again."

She continued:

“So I made up an excuse that I was sick and I didn’t go and to see it on that probation, if you showed anyone that, they’d be like, well, you missed a class. And I’m like, but why did I miss specifically my night class? And I just remember feeling so sick to my stomach.”

In one disturbing instance, Cooper remembered being dropped off for practice by a male friend and then asked:

“Did you have sex last night? I couldn’t tell you what I said. I blacked out so hard in that moment. I think a lot of times I tried to divert the conversation.”

Alex Cooper went into additional detail about her discoveries on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, when she broke down in tears as she described the moment she made the decision to leave the team.

“I go in for my one-on-one and she puts me on probation. I have like a three-five GPA at this point. I have done nothing but excel in soccer.”

She added:

“She says, ‘You’re going to live with who I want you to live with.’ ’You’re going to do exactly what I say. And if you don’t hit all of those things I just handed you, then we’re going to have a hard problem here, Alex.’”

Cooper claims she was put on probation for skipping one night class, which she did in order to avoid being in a car with Feldman alone, despite having a stellar academic record and performing well.

“This entire thing is just meant now to control me even more, to have more one-on-ones with me, to get me alone, to isolate me. And I was just like, I can't do this anymore because I knew it's going to get so much worse. This is going to be a living hell.”

This went on to have a terrible fallout and psychological aftermath on Alex Cooper, where she admitted that working out or even using a treadmill reminded her of that time. Alex Cooper went on to criticize the university as well for failing to act when she, along with her parents, raised the issue.

The university had released a statement where they highlighted its “zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment” and pointed to its “robust system of resources, support and staff dedicated to student wellbeing and a thorough reporting process through our Equal Opportunity Office.”

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Alumni letter in defense of Nancy Feldman, whom Alex Cooper accused of harassment

99 BU women's soccer alumni wrote a statement supporting Feldman during the public roar, stating that their combined experiences are completely opposed to Alex Cooper's allegations. They felt compelled to support Feldman, even though they didn't want to "diminish or discredit anyone's individual experience," according to the letter.

The letter, which was first acquired by TMZ and confirmed and published by Fox News, read:

"We were never at risk of or witness to inappropriate behavior or anything that could be characterized as sexual harassment. As a leader, she approached every day with professionalism, making decisions in service of the success of the team."

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Feldman is yet to reply to these allegations as of now.

Stay tuned to Soap Central for more information.