ATHENS, Ga. — New court documents filed by the attorneys of a now-former University of Georgia recruiting analyst, Victoria S. "Tory" Bowles, injured during the crash that killed a football player and fellow staffer nearly one year ago, allege that coaches and staff members routinely drove university-issued vehicles after drinking.
Additionally, the court filing alleges a specific time in which a UGA coach asked Bowles to deliver cash to him while he was hosting a dinner during an unofficial recruiting visit, which may have been a violation of NCAA rules if the coach had spent the cash on the recruits.
These new allegations were compiled in an amended complaint stemming from a lawsuit filed against UGA's Athletic Association, and others, by Bowles.
In a statement, the UGA Athletic Association said: "We are reviewing the amended complaint, but we dispute its claims and will vigorously defend the Athletic Association's interests in court.”
In the initial filing back in July, the lawsuit threw blame at former UGA star and current Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter and staff member Chandler LeCroy, who was driving and killed in the Jan. 15, 2023, crash that also claimed the life of UGA football player Devin Willock.
It alleged LeCroy had a high blood alcohol concentration of .197 and that both LeCroy and Carter were driving at "extreme speeds" of "at least 104.2 mph, while engaged in street racing for 45 seconds before the crash."
See the full suit below. Story continues below document.
Allegations of coaches, staff regularly driving recruits after drinking
The amended complaint filed by Bowles' attorneys shows 11 text messages that were pulled from Bowles' cell phone--the phone had been retrieved intact from the wreckage--that "show on occasion supervisors and coaches, in effect, encouraged recruiting staff to drink alcohol with football prospects' families - well aware that staffers would leave the events after consuming alcohol."
The filing also alleges that coaches and staff members regularly drank alcohol in the basement of UGA head coach Kirby Smart's home during recruiting events and later drove recruits and their families back home in athletic association-issued vehicles.
In one of the text messages published in the filing, from Dec. 14, 2019, the director of player personnel for the football program at the time and one level below Smart on the organizational structure, sent a text to 13 people on the night of a recruiting event at Smart's house on how to act while there, allegedly saying:
- "Hey guys... if you are driving you can have fun at Coach Smarts but if you are driving a recruit make sure you don't get drunk. It will be a bad look if we have people who are supposed to be driving recruits getting lit."
The filing also shows that same night, a UGA recruiting staffer sent a photo of an empty Corona beer bottle in Smart's basement with the message "One down the hatch" to "numerous Association staff" in a text chain "confirming numerous Association SUVs were involved," for which a fellow staffer responded:
- "(Name redacted), the guy who says not 'too have too good a time at Kirby's house.' slamming beers in the group threat. 'Cruitin"
In another text exchange published in the filing, from June 8, 2021, the same UGA recruiting staffer appears to say he was instructed by a UGA assistant coach to go out drinking with a football recruit who, at the time, played for Butler University.
- "[The coach] told me I gotta get (name redacted) f****d up tonight so gonna head downtown for a celebratory beer if anyone would like to join."
The new documents also claim that some of the text messages provide evidence that "staffers drove recruits' families to local Athens restaurants and bars (almost always in Association SUVs) and drank alcohol with families (and obviously left in the SUVs.)"
- "Well (name redacted) told (name redacted) that we turn five bar into a bar with recruits families and don't leave 🙃"
Use of cash on unofficial recruiting visits
UGA fired Bowles back in August, citing that she wouldn't comply with an NCAA rules investigation into a potential violation, which was mentioned in the initial lawsuit. Her lawyers have argued that they believe Bowles was fired in retaliation for filing suit against the UGA Athletic Association.
Despite it being unsure what potential rules violation the NCAA was looking into that needed Bowles' assistance, the amended complaint brings up an unofficial recruiting dinner in Athens after the championship celebration on the night of Jan. 14, 2023, hours before the deadly crash.
The lawsuit alleges that during the dinner, a UGA assistant coach asked Bowles to withdraw $1,000 out of his account using his personal ATM card. Bowles then left the unofficial recruiting dinner with LeCroy, where they walked to a nearby ATM, but the card they were given was denied when trying to withdraw the cash, according to the filing.
Bowles and LeCroy then allegedly drove the UGA-issued SUV to another ATM, where the card was denied again. The lawsuit states that Bowles then withdrew the $1,000 in cash from her personal account, where she "discreetly" provided the coach with the money back inside the restaurant.
Bowles' attorneys stated she was unaware of what the cash was being used for, but her attorneys detailed in the lawsuit she later recalled other events in which UGA coaches spent cash on prospects at unofficial recruiting meetings -- which would be a violation of NCAA rules that prohibit college staff to pay for the meals and lodging of recruits. Her attorneys said that Bowles was aware that paying for the dinner of unofficial recruits was not allowed.
Lastly, her attorneys argued that the use of the Athletic Association's rented SUV in the cash transaction--an SUV which was supposed to only be used for "recruiting activities"--was "for personal use - a personal favor to Coach (name redacted)." And the attorneys said that the texts prove that the Athletic Association gave LeCroy permission to keep the rented SUV the entire weekend of UGA's national championship celebrations.
After the crash, Bowles' attorneys said they received an email from William Lawler, UGA's deputy athletic director for legal and regulatory affairs, requesting Bowles' assistance in an investigation. "His emails demonstrate that UGA and the Association have concerns that the cash requested and obtained by Coach (name redacted) was to be used for an impermissible purpose under NCAA rules," her attorneys stated.
The email to Bowles' attorneys on July 15 allegedly stated: "The Complaint sets out factual assertions that could give rise to a NCAA inquiry about matters of which she might have personal knowledge..."
Two days before, the day Bowles' lawsuit became public, Lawler had sent another email, saying: "We have received information that Ms. Tory Bowles may have been involved in or have knowledge of possible NCAA rules violations . . . While it is unclear whether any NCAA violations occurred, it is imperative that we speak with Ms. Bowles no later than 5 p.m. tomorrow, July 14, 2023."
Bowles was fired less than a month later.