AAU Sexual Abuse Scandal: How the Nation's Largest Youth Sports Group Left Athletes at Risk

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is one of the largest youth sports organizations in the country. Roughly 760,000 athletes and coaches compete under their banner every year, in basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and dozens of other sports.

Parents who register their kids trust that AAU coaches are vetted, trained, and monitored. They trust that any allegation of abuse will be taken seriously.

Unfortunately, that trust may have been misplaced. A joint investigation by ProPublica and The Washington Post found that the AAU is failing to protect children from sexual abuse more than a decade after promising sweeping safety reforms never fully carried out.

"What AAU does is protect the institution over children. They have never done the right thing when it comes to child protection."
– Lauren Book, Former Florida State Senator & Child Sex Abuse Survivor

If your child was sexually abused by an AAU coach or volunteer, you may have legal options. At Sokolove Law, our sexual abuse attorneys fight to hold negligent institutions accountable.

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What Is the AAU Sexual Abuse Scandal About?

In 2011, the AAU's longtime president Bobby Dodd resigned after 2 men accused him of molesting them as boys in the 1980s, when he coached their basketball team.

In response, the AAU convened a task force and vowed to implement "historic child protection measures," including background checks, abuse prevention training for adult volunteers, and a rule barring anyone banned by another youth sports organization.

More than a decade later, investigations have found that the AAU never fully delivered on that promise.

According to the AAU sexual abuse investigation:

• The AAU doesn't verify whether coaches complete the training advertised as "mandatory." After reporters asked about this, the AAU allegedly edited their website to describe the training as "encouraged."
• The abuse-reporting hotline the AAU promised to create redirects callers to a general office line, with no option to report sexual abuse.
• Serious misconduct allegations are decided by the AAU's Board of Review. A former member who sat on the board for nearly 25 years reportedly said the group had no written standards and "just decided on our feelings."
• The AAU does not publish a list of banned coaches, unlike many other youth sports organizations.
• At least 8 coaches kept coaching AAU-affiliated teams in the last 5 years after being banned or suspended elsewhere.

In some cases, these gaps contributed to institutional failures that later became the subject of civil lawsuits, with youth sports abuse lawyers securing accountability and settlements for survivors in some cases.

The Cases Behind the AAU Sexual Abuse Allegations

Court records, internal AAU documents, and interviews reviewed by ProPublica and The Washington Post include specific sexual abuse cases that illustrate how the reported gaps played out.

The investigation highlighted several coaches tied to the AAU who faced abuse allegations:

• Matt Williams: A woman claimed the AAU club coach sexually abused her starting when she was 15. Williams later became the organization's second vice president. When the allegations reached AAU's Board of Review, the board allegedly interviewed no witnesses and cleared him within 6 months, reinstating him to his paid position. The survivor later received a sexual abuse settlement.
• Elias Perez: A woman reported to the advocacy group SafeSport that the volleyball coach groomed and touched her inappropriately while she was in high school. SafeSport temporarily suspended him, but he kept coaching AAU-affiliated boys' teams for months.
• Rick Butler: The girls' volleyball coach had allegedly been banned by USA Volleyball since 1995. The sport's governing body found he'd had sexual relationships with teenage players. In 2012, the AAU gave Butler a leadership award, and he kept coaching AAU teams until 2018.
• Greg Stephen: Stephen, co-director of an AAU-affiliated Iowa club, was convicted of sexually exploiting more than 400 young players and sentenced to 180 years in prison. A judge ruled that arbitration clauses in AAU registration forms barred families from suing the organization directly.

These cases span different sports, decades, and regions, but they share a common thread: Warnings went unheeded, and safety rules existed on paper but not in practice.

AAU Institutional Failures: Behind the Sports Abuse Lawsuits

Survivors and advocates say the pattern goes beyond any single coach. Reporting points to structural choices typically seen in institutional abuse cover-ups, which make abuse easier to hide and harder to punish.

Reported AAU institutional failures include:

• Treating abuse training as optional in practice while marketing it to parents as "mandatory"
• Operating a Board of Review with no public members, no written criteria, and no outside oversight
• Declining to check the U.S. Center for SafeSport's public disciplinary list unless a specific complaint is filed
• Requiring registrants to sign arbitration clauses that route sexual abuse claims out of open court and into confidential hearings
• Prioritizing rapid, low-cost registration growth instead of student safety — AAU revenue grew from $24 Million in 2021 to nearly $44 Million in 2024

Because the AAU is not a national governing body under the 2018 Safe Sport Act, they fall outside SafeSport's jurisdiction.

That gap matters: SafeSport can permanently ban a coach from Olympic-affiliated sports, and that same coach can, in some cases, keep working with children on an AAU team.

“The AAU has absolutely developed a reputation that they are the place to go if you are banned from our world.”
– President of a National Governing Body

What Have Other Youth Sports Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Settlements Looked Like?

The AAU isn't the first sports program accused of prioritizing profits and reputation over student-athletes.

Survivors abused by coaches, athletic directors, and team physicians at other organizations have used civil lawsuits to secure accountability, even when the abuse happened years or decades earlier.

Sexual abuse in sports examples and settlements include:

• Michigan State University & USA Gymnastics (Larry Nassar): Survivors of the former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State team doctor secured nearly $1 Billion for the harm suffered.
• University of Michigan (Robert Anderson): About 1,050 former students and athletes who said the university's longtime athletic department doctor abused them during exams reached a $490 Million sex abuse settlement with the university.
• Ohio State University (Richard Strauss): After a former wrestling team physician was found to have abused hundreds of male athletes over two decades, Ohio State reached settlements with the vast majority of survivors totaling roughly $100 Million.
• Tamalpais High School (Normandie Burgos): Burgos, a P.E. teacher and tennis coach, abused students on his team for years despite repeated complaints to the principal. He was convicted of 60 counts of child molestation and sentenced to 255 years in prison. The school district agreed to pay $17.5 Million to 4 survivors.

Sexual abuse in youth sports isn't limited to school-based programs. Young athletes have also reported sexual abuse in sports programs affiliated with Boys & Girls Clubs, religious institutions, and other community groups.

What Can Parents Do to Protect Kids from Sexual Abuse in Youth Sports?

Parents can't rely on the public safety claims alone. Because verification tools are limited and reporting channels are unreliable, protecting a child often means taking extra steps beyond what an organization provides.

Parents can take these steps to reduce the risk of youth sports sex abuse:

• Check the SafeSport list directly. The U.S. Center for SafeSport's public database shows coaches banned or suspended across Olympic-affiliated sports.
• Ask for proof, not just a claim. If a club can't produce a training certificate, vendor confirmation, or background check date, treat that as a warning sign.
• Learn how the club is affiliated. Some clubs hold memberships in both the AAU and a SafeSport-governed body like USA Volleyball or USA Gymnastics. A suspension under one membership may not carry over to the other.
• Talk to your child about boundaries and secrecy. Grooming often begins with special attention, gifts, or private communication. Make sure they know they can tell you if a coach's behavior feels off, without fear of getting in trouble.
• Report concerns to SafeSport, not just the club. A report to SafeSport creates an independent record outside the AAU's internal review process, which reporting shows can be inconsistent and closed-door.
• Document everything. Keep records of who you spoke to, when, and what was said or promised, whenever you raise a concern.

No single step guarantees a child's protection from sexual abuse in youth sports, but combining outside verification with open communication gives parents more protection than relying on the AAU's assurances alone.

Get Help Filing a Youth Sports Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

No lawsuit can undo the harm of childhood sexual abuse. But it can provide survivors with a path toward accountability and the resources needed for medical care, therapy, and recovery.

Statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse claims vary by state, and many states have recently extended or lifted their filing deadlines. It's worth speaking with an attorney even if the abuse happened years ago.

At Sokolove Law, our sexual abuse attorneys have more than 45 years of experience helping survivors and families pursue justice against negligent institutions.

Call (800) 995-1212 right now or contact us online for a free case review. We're available 24/7 and can help families in all 50 states.