NYU Men's Golf Coach Resigns After Taking Players to Strip Club

New York University's athletic department is saying the resignation of its golf coach, who in March escorted his team to a Florida strip club, was appropriate.

"It's a clear expectation of the athletic department that every coach act in a fashion consistent with his or her responsibilities," a spokesman for NYU's athletic department, Jeffrey Bernstein, said. He would not confirm whether the coach, who was with the team for a year, was asked to resign. Mr. Donovan, 43, told NYU's student newspaper, Washington Square News, that he was asked to resign when the incident came to light. He resigned on October 12.

Mr. Bernstein said he was nearly certain a school rule was violated when Mr. Donovan accompanied the members of his team to a strip club. NYU is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which has guidelines for member schools.

The guidelines dictate: "Individuals employed by or associated with a member institution to … coach intercollegiate athletics shall act with honesty and sportsmanship at all times so that intercollegiate athletics as a whole, their institution, and they, as individuals, represent the honor and dignity of fair play and the generally recognized high standards associated with wholesome collective sports."

Mr. Donovan said the incident occurred while he was in Florida with the team for a tournament. "I made a very spontaneous decision that night," he told the newspaper. "I didn't suggest we go, but I was responsible for my actions and I have no problem being held accountable. I did pull the van into the parking lot of that club and never should have."

Chatter about the incident began after Mr. Donovan and the team captain sparred over the captain's decision to skip a practice. The school's athletic director reprimanded the captain, and several members of the team then quit, fearing that Mr. Donovan or the athletic department would remove him altogether, Mr. Donovan said.

When players' parents got wind of the controversy, several called the athletic department and alerted staff members that Mr. Donovan had taken their children to the Florida strip club, the coach told the newspaper. Mr. Donovan resigned soon thereafter.

"I'm pretty much done with the whole deplorable and despicable act by my former players," Mr. Donovan told The New York Sun via e-mail. "I do not want to hurt the NYU Community, or the Athletic Department in any way."

The athletic department would not confirm or deny the details of the case. "We don't comment on matters of personal employment," Mr. Bernstein said. "But it's for each person to decide whether good judgment was used in this case."