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Image of Bobby Knight, courtesy of Wikipedia.
A growing number of former Indiana University men’s basketball players are coming forward with allegations of sexual misconduct involving the team’s longtime physician. ESPN reported yesterday that at least 15 former players now allege that the late Dr. Bradford Bomba engaged in inappropriate medical exams, and that university officials, including the late coaching legend Bobby Knight, were aware but did nothing to stop it.
The original lawsuit filed last fall included two plaintiffs. Since then, three more former players have joined, and an additional 10 men are preparing to file similar legal claims. The new plaintiffs say they are motivated to speak publicly despite the legal challenges, especially after Bomba’s recent death and the release of an external investigation that cleared him of wrongdoing.
One of the original plaintiffs, Haris Mujezinovic, who played for the Hoosiers in the late 1990s, explained in a written statement that becoming a father changed his perspective. “I have two sons who are the same age that I was when that happened to me… At the time I viewed myself as an adult, but now I realize, looking at my own kids, how young and powerless me and my teammates actually were,” he said. “The adults within the basketball program who were entrusted with our care knew what was happening to us. They joked about it and let it continue.”
According to the lawsuit and supporting interviews, Bomba, who served as team doctor for nearly three decades, regularly performed rectal exams on players during physicals, despite there being no medical guidance supporting their use in healthy, college-age men. The plaintiffs assert this conduct was sexually inappropriate and that team staff, including Knight and head athletic trainer Tim Garl, not only knew about it but compelled athletes to continue seeing Bomba despite complaints.
Some players claim they requested different doctors but were denied. Butch Carter, a former player who is not a plaintiff, submitted a sworn statement saying he complained to Knight “multiple times” about Bomba’s “abusive behavior.” Garl, a named defendant in the lawsuit, recently ended a 44-year tenure as head athletic trainer after the university declined to renew his contract. His legal team argues the plaintiffs filed their claims too late and that Garl didn’t oversee Bomba’s work.
In a statement referencing an outside report, one of Garl’s attorneys said the exams were medically normal: “The Jones Day report makes clear that DREs [digital rectal exams] are a normal and, at the time, required portion of a complete physical examination.”
The university declined to comment on the pending litigation.
The lawsuit places Indiana among several universities accused of enabling physician abuse, echoing high-profile cases at Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State. In those cases, institutions eventually acknowledged wrongdoing and settled with survivors. By contrast, Indiana’s investigation, led by law firm Jones Day, concluded that while Bomba did perform digital rectal exams, they were done in a “clinically appropriate manner” and without evidence of sexual intent.
The report, released in April, stated that investigators interviewed 100 people, reviewed tens of thousands of emails, and examined over 100,000 pages of documents. It concluded that there was “no evidence to suggest that Dr. Bomba achieved sexual gratification,” and characterized any player complaints as “locker room banter.” Garl reportedly told investigators that no athlete had ever indicated the exams were inappropriate.
However, a plaintiff’s attorney said two of her clients dispute those findings. One man claimed Bomba fondled him during a physical, while another alleged he was subjected to a rectal exam while still a minor high school student.
Medical professionals cited in the Jones Day report acknowledged that such exams were “uncommon” in young men with no relevant symptoms but debated whether the practice was entirely inappropriate. Prostate exams are typically recommended for men over 50 or those with family history, not for healthy student-athletes in their teens or twenties.
The plaintiffs face several legal hurdles, including Indiana’s two-year statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims. However, their legal team cites similar cases — notably the Ohio State case involving Dr. Richard Strauss — where courts have ruled that the statute of limitations may be tolled if survivors could not have reasonably known institutional actors failed to intervene.
There are also limitations on federal Title IX claims, following a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that barred plaintiffs from recovering emotional distress damages under Title IX. Attorneys initially sought $5 million in damages for Mujezinovic’s individual claim and have since amended the complaint to include negligence and to name Garl as a defendant.
A federal magistrate judge recently granted the plaintiffs permission to begin discovery, including depositions of university staff, while the district court considers whether to dismiss the case.
For many of the players, the decision to come forward is tied to their responsibilities as parents. Charlie Miller, another original plaintiff, said his four children are “watching, listening, and learning from how I live this out.”
Another former player, speaking anonymously, said he found validation through the process: “Maybe I lived with that intuition for a long time. … I guess I’ve always known it,” he said. “I knew that guy was wrong, and I knew that something wasn’t right about it.”
