RALEIGH — Randy Woodson, the former NC State chancellor, is no longer a named defendant in a sexual abuse case brought by 31 former Wolfpack male athletes against a former athletics trainer and several university officials.
The plaintiffs in the case voluntarily dismissed claims against Woodson on Monday.
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A Wake County judge is set to hear a request to dismiss the case from other current and former NC State officials Wednesday in the long-running case that accuses Robert M. Murphy Jr. of sexual assault, sexual exploitation and sexual harassment during his decade-long tenure at NC State.
The former players allege that the misconduct included improper touching of genitals during massages and intrusive observation while collecting urine samples during drug testing. The lawsuit claims that administrators and staff within the athletics department “knew or should have known of the pervasive” acts.
Woodson's lawyers didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Woodson was the chancellor from April 2010 to June 2025.
Murphy served as the director of sports medicine from January 2012 to June 2022. He previously was at Mercer.
Former NC State athletics director Debbie Yow, current NC State athletics director Boo Corrigan, current deputy athletics director Stephanie Menio, chief of staff Michelle Lee, former senior associate athletics director for student services and sports administration Sherard Clinkscales, former senior associate athletics director Raymond Harrison and former deputy athletics director for internal operations Michael Lipitz are also named in the suit.
The defendants have asked for the case to be dismissed.
In Murphy’s motion, he says that the claims alleged are outside of both the statutes of limitations and repose.
Other defendants claim in their briefs to the court that the state’s Industrial Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over claims arising from alleged negligence of state officers or employees, that the statute of limitations on the alleged claims has expired and that the negligent supervision and retention can only be asserted against an employer, not individuals who were not the employer.
Former NC State soccer players Benjamin Locke and Parker Cross and 29 other athletes listed as John Doe in court documents brought the suit. Locke originally filed in August 2022. A second player filed in February 2023 and a third in April of that year.
The case has since grown to 31 plaintiffs.
Attorneys for the former players say that none of the defendants’ reasons for dismissal have merit and that the allegations “establish systemic failures and concealment” by the administrators.
