Former NC State men’s athletes recount purported sexual misconduct by trainer.

Former male athletes from North Carolina State have reported to ESPN instances of sexual abuse and harassment by ex-trainer Robert Murphy, stating they endured misconduct disguised as medical treatment.

While the athletes departed, Murphy remained employed, despite numerous warning signs raised by the individuals.

Eleven men, who participated in various NC State teams from 2013 to 2024, including nine involved in an ongoing civil lawsuit against the institution, shared their experiences with ESPN, most preferring to remain anonymous.

The alleged misconduct involved inappropriate touching and non-standard drug testing practices, where Murphy insisted on near nudity while he observed.

One former athlete recounted to ESPN that he approached Murphy for back pain relief and was subjected to an unwelcome treatment that involved the trainer’s hands in his shorts, stating, “one is on my penis and the other is basically on my anus.”

“I kind of just froze and didn’t really know what to do,” said the individual identified in the lawsuit as John Doe 1. “I don’t even know how I got out of it. I think I just kind of made a sound or something and I just grabbed my stuff.”

The individual remembered opting to shower at home instead of at the training facility, questioning, “Did this really just happen?”

The athletes conveyed to ESPN that they refrained from discussing their experiences until former soccer player Ben Locke’s report to campus police initiated a Title IX investigation in 2022, leading to a civil lawsuit that has since included 30 additional former players.

A state criminal investigation into Murphy is also ongoing; he left the university in 2022.

NC State’s response to ESPN mirrored a statement made in February regarding the allegations against Murphy: “The health and safety of students and student-athletes is paramount to NC State Athletics and the university. Sexual misconduct of any kind is unacceptable. … As this is a pending legal matter, responses to this legal action will be made through the appropriate legal channels and the university cannot comment further at this time.”

On April 2, ESPN reported that the Title IX investigation concluded Murphy had engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with Locke, and sources indicated that university officials had been aware of allegations against Murphy since 2014 but did not take decisive action on the concerns raised by staff.

Locke noted that “layers of complexity” contribute to men’s hesitance to report their abuse, particularly when the abuser is male. He mentioned that many believe that as a man, “[I] should be able to defend myself,” and that societal norms do not easily recognize men as victims of abuse.

The sentiment, he expressed, is that “I should be able to punch that guy in the face and stand up for myself.”

“Then you add in, ‘You’re a Division 1 college athlete, you’re strong, you’re fit, you’re all the things,'” Locke added.

NC State did not respond to requests for comment but previously stated to ESPN that “the health and safety of students and student-athletes is paramount to NC State Athletics and the university.”

Murphy’s attorney also did not respond to requests for comment but asserted in a court filing on March 12 that the defendant was acting “within the scope of his profession” and that the civil claims against him exceed the state’s statute of limitations.

When recounting abuse they allege occurred over a decade ago, the men interviewed by ESPN became emotional, with some shedding tears while discussing their experiences.

JOHN DOE 1, who transferred to NC State in 2013, is identified in the lawsuit as one of Murphy’s first alleged victims. He stated that years of training as an elite athlete conditioned him to compartmentalize pain and continue moving forward. Thus, he claims, he did after Murphy allegedly began sexually abusing him during his initial weeks on the team.

Nearly ten years later, the memories resurfaced when he learned that Locke had come forward with accusations against Murphy.

“I’m kind of sitting there in shock thinking, ‘Oh, my God, pretty much everything that I thought happened did happen,'” he remarked. “I’m a victim of this.”

According to redacted documents obtained by ESPN, a 2022 Title IX investigation that focused solely on Locke’s allegations found that Murphy made unwanted contact with the former soccer player that was “sexual in nature.” Furthermore, officials concluded that Murphy’s actions were “sufficiently severe” and “pervasive” enough to breach school policy.

John Doe 1 noted that he was aware of standard athletic training room protocols from his previous institution. At his first university, trainers routinely wrapped him with soft bandages—known as hip spica wraps—around his hip and upper thigh while he wore compression shorts underneath.

However, at NC State, John Doe 1 stated that Murphy insisted he needed to be “completely bare” for the wrap. He recounted that Murphy would move his penis “from side to side” while applying the wrap. On one occasion, he noted that Murphy commented on the size of John Doe 1’s genitalia.

“I just remember feeling uncomfortable; I felt like it wasn’t right,” John Doe 1 expressed.

Several other John Does who spoke with ESPN confirmed that Murphy wrapped them in a similar manner.

Murphy informed Title IX investigators in 2022 that the wrap “‘doesn’t work as well in underwear’ and his ‘preference’ is to wrap on bare skin,” according to documents obtained by ESPN. John Doe 1 stated he refused to allow Murphy to wrap him after the initial visit and avoided the athletic trainers for several weeks following that incident. However, after a coach reprimanded the team for not seeing the trainers, John Doe 1 felt compelled to return.

Another former athlete, referred to in the civil complaint as John Doe 29, who played for NC State from 2017 to 2018, alleged that Murphy began abusing him shortly after he enrolled at the university.

Doctors diagnosed John Doe 29 with a sports hernia during his freshman year. Initially, he stated, Murphy treated the injury with massages, during which the sports medicine director repeatedly touched the athlete’s genitals. After approximately 40 therapeutic massages from Murphy, the individual underwent surgery. During his recovery, he reported that Murphy conducted so-called ultrasound treatments on his scrotum.

The individual recalled Murphy explaining that “an ultrasound would help move blood out of my scrotum” and mentioned receiving as many as 10 of these so-called ultrasound treatments.

John Doe 29 acknowledged that ultrasounds are primarily used as imaging tools but thought to himself, “What do I know?” when presented with the ultrasound wand. He stated he does not recall any further explanation from Murphy.

The individual mentioned he had to lower his pants to his ankles while Murphy had “one hand holding my penis, and [the other] was ultrasounding my scrotum.”

Medical professionals informed ESPN that ultrasounds are mainly utilized for imaging and diagnostic purposes or to assist in specific procedures such as guiding needles. One expert noted that any reported therapeutic benefits are not “evidence-based.”

John Doe 29 later transferred to another Division 1 institution. After receiving treatments from the new school’s training staff, he realized that the treatment he received from Murphy was inappropriate.

Another accuser of Murphy, Keiran Shanahan, was part of NC State’s wrestling team from 2019 to 2020 and stated he immediately sought help from the sports medicine staff, including Murphy, due to a high school ACL injury.

Shanahan, who intends to join the lawsuit as a third named plaintiff, described using a leg press machine under Murphy’s supervision. He recalls Murphy repeatedly instructing him to engage the gluteal and quadriceps muscles while using the weight machine.

“I’m in a birthing position [on the machine] at this point, so I’m pretty exposed,” said Shanahan, who added he was wearing loose-fitting shorts at the time. “He reaches his hand underneath [me] and with like one finger he goes and he flicks my anus and I immediately I’m like: What the heck just happened?”

Shanahan stated Murphy did this twice and remembers feeling “shocked” and “100% violated.”

Parker Cross, another named plaintiff, told ESPN he transferred to NC State and played for the men’s soccer team during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He is among Murphy’s most recent alleged victims. Cross recalled Murphy touching his genitals during his first therapeutic massage treatment. After the second incident, Cross stated he avoided returning to Murphy.

“I’m a Christian; I saved myself for marriage. So Rob is the only person outside of my wife who has touched me,” said Cross. “I gotta feel that for the rest of my life, that this [expletive] has touched me.”

THE FORMER ATHLETES who spoke to ESPN expressed particular frustration regarding what they perceive as NC State’s failure—despite numerous warnings—to halt a decade of abuse by the former sports medicine director.

“They knew. They knew everything,” asserted John Doe 1 about officials in the athletic department. He likened the situation to the experiences of Ohio State wrestlers and other athletes with school physician Richard Strauss and at Michigan State with former school doctor Larry Nassar.

Shanahan mentioned that a former teammate sent him a screenshot of the 2020 annual student-athlete survey, highlighting the answer ‘yes’ to the question: “Has a medical professional (athletic trainer or team doctor) inappropriately touched one of your teammates?”

The image, shared with ESPN, displays the words “Silly Rob,” an apparent reference to Murphy, written over the response. It remains unclear if the teammate marked “yes” when submitting the survey.

In addition to the alleged sexual abuse, the men stated that Murphy frequently blurred professional boundaries by commenting on their sex lives or making remarks about the size of their genitals.

John Doe 31 reported that Murphy sent him a text saying, “Miss You,” as the former student-athlete returned from Covid-19 isolation protocols. The two did not share that level of familiarity to justify such a message, the former player noted.

John Doe 29 remarked that Murphy “had a way of making you feel like you were his best friend.”

“I got the sense that he wanted to feel like he was a part of the team. And I thought that was inappropriate and kind of odd because none of the other trainers were doing that,” stated another individual, John Doe 14.

Locke, the first student-athlete to come forward, characterized the training room as a social space for Murphy.

“There were times where you would walk into the training room and there would be seven or eight soccer players and Rob. And nobody was really getting treatment,” Locke explained.

“There was never an urgency to leave. There was never, ‘Okay, guys, you get to be here for 30 minutes, and then I’m going home.’ It was, ‘I’ll put on the TV. I’ll put on the music. I’ll get the hot tub going, and I’ll put on a soccer game. We’ll get snacks and we’ll eat and we’ll hang out.’

Multiple athletes also described Murphy frequently entering areas typically reserved for athletes. John Doe 27 stated that Murphy would often enter the locker rooms and showers where players were in various states of undress.

Murphy informed Title IX investigators that, due to his role, he would often enter the locker room and showers to instruct athletes to come see him for treatment, according to documents obtained by ESPN. However, the former athletes who spoke to ESPN noted that other trainers and coaches rarely, if ever, entered the locker room or showers.

“Rob would maybe strike up conversations or would do a little more lingering than anyone else really would while people were showering,” remarked John Doe 27. “[It] was definitely known across teams and stuff” that Murphy would spend time in the showers.

REGARDING THEIR RELUCTANCE to speak out, several men indicated they were so focused on succeeding as athletes that they attempted to disregard Murphy’s behavior. John Doe 27 mentioned he was in a “performance-over-everything mindset” and was willing to do whatever necessary to recover and compete.

John Doe 1 joined others in attributing their silence to youthful naivety, stating he was just a “naive 19-year-old.”

A.J. Duffy, president of the National Athletic Trainers Association, asserts that it is the institution’s responsibility to establish clear boundaries and empower student-athletes to report issues without fear.

“If a person feels violated, they need to know who to contact. It could be the supervisor, it could be the director of athletics, it could be the Title IX person on campus,” Duffy stated.

Locke expressed that accepting he was abused was challenging, “because it felt wrong.”

Shanahan added that “being a young guy like that on a team and being thrust into a situation like that, where you’re going from being at the top of your game in high school to being at the bottom of the pole, it’s not a space that you feel comfortable to speak out.”

Laura McGuire, who has worked on Title IX issues in higher education and authored “The Sexual Misconduct Prevention Guidebook,” noted that such thoughts are common among male abuse victims.

“[There is] this mythology that, because you are physically strong, you can stop someone from abusing you, and that is simply not the way that our neurology works,” McGuire explained. “What our brain does, no matter how big our muscles, no matter how strong our bravado, is it recognizes threat, and it’s going to try to first self-preserve. And one of the last things it’s going to do is physically get aggressive in any way.”

She mentioned that many men will doubt the occurrence of the abuse or attempt to rationalize it.

Several former student-athletes indicated that when they finally shared their stories, they received mixed reactions from family, friends, and former teammates. Locke noted that some former teammates were supportive when he initially came forward, while others accused him of lying.

“I got kind of chewed out by some of my old teammates and friends,” Locke stated. “I was told that I was lying and that Rob had protected me and taken care of me, and he’s the only reason I had a career afterwards, after I left NC State.”

Shanahan recounted that after he described the leg press incident to a former teammate, the teammate referred to Murphy as a “good guy.”

“This is the mindset that we’re dealing with right now,” Shanahan remarked. “And this is partly why I want to speak up, because it’s absurd … this whole idea that we have is: ‘It’s OK. He’s just joshing around. [Sweep] it under the rug.’

He added, “How can we as a society be so outraged by what’s going on with the whole Epstein Files thing …, and then you come and turn around and say, ‘Oh well, we’re not so outraged about this.’

Currently, the 11 men who spoke to ESPN report being at various stages of processing their experiences. A few have sought therapy, while others, like John Doe 29, state they “don’t talk about it out loud” enough. Some simply desire to be believed.

“My desire is for men to be healed, for people to be healed,” Locke expressed. “For them to know they’re not alone, for them to know that isolation is the worst thing possible and that there are other men that will stand with them.”