The U.S. Center for SafeSport is taking steps to stop coaches banned over allegations of sexual abuse from working with children, part of an initiative that the organization said it is launching because of reporting by ProPublica and The Washington Post about gaps in the child protection system in youth sports.
Charged by Congress with investigating allegations of sexual abuse in sports, SafeSport has the power to suspend or permanently bar coaches from contact with athletes and place their names on a public disciplinary list. But the center has authority only over the country’s national sports governing bodies, which are overseen by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Elementary and high schools, colleges and many independent youth sports leagues are not required to follow SafeSport’s bans, though some opt to do so. Parents and other caregivers only know if a coach has been sanctioned if they check the list.
SafeSport’s new initiative encourages people to find and report banned coaches who are continuing to work with children, SafeSport said, with a publicity initiative that includes a video with its CEO.
It is also launching a new “internal process” to notify schools and other organizations that coaches are on the SafeSport list. Hilary Nemchik, SafeSport’s vice president of external affairs, said the organization would send a form letter when it learned coaches were still working with kids, either as a result of its own investigation or in response to a report.
“When SafeSport imposes a sanction for abuse or misconduct, the community should be aware,” Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, SafeSport’s CEO, said in a statement. “Someone could be on the SafeSport Database for abuse but go on to work at a school or coach for a league outside of our jurisdiction.”
ProPublica and The Post discovered several coaches who had been banned by SafeSport but continued to work with children. One story highlighted the case of a volleyball coach, Ryan Richardson, who SafeSport found to have committed sexual misconduct with a minor but who has continued coaching teenage girls in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. An independent volleyball league allowed Richardson to coach at several of its tournaments even after his name appeared on SafeSport’s database. Videos posted online showed Richardson on the sidelines.
The reporting showed that Richardson continued coaching in part by allowing a former assistant, Gavin Rudder, to take over the volleyball club after Richardson was banned by USA Volleyball, the sport’s governing body, in 2024. ProPublica and The Post found that Rudder allowed Richardson to coach the teams for years after the ban, a violation of the SafeSport code.
After the story was published, SafeSport added Rudder’s name to its public database, listing him as temporarily restricted from unsupervised coaching or training.
Rudder is currently listed as the coach at Weslaco High School, near McAllen. Abel Aguilar, the Weslaco district’s deputy superintendent, said in an email that the district “does not comment on personnel matters.”
In a text message, Rudder said the SafeSport ban “has nothing to do with high school volleyball” and that he had not “done anything wrong.” He said he was no longer associated with Richardson’s club volleyball team following the end of the 2026 season.
Richardson has not responded to requests for comment on ProPublica and The Post’s reporting. When he was first suspended in 2024 by Lone Star Region Volleyball, the organization overseeing volleyball in South Texas, Richardson told the local news website MyRGV that complaints about him were an effort to “retaliate and defame someone’s character,” and said he “would never do anything to risk the physical or mental wellbeing of these strong young ladies.”
In announcing the changes, SafeSport also nodded to a bipartisan inquiry into a major youth sports organization launched last month by the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, which also oversees SafeSport.
The lawmakers said they were launching a probe of the Amateur Athletic Union after ProPublica and The Post reported that the nonprofit does not follow SafeSport bans and has become a haven for coaches who are banned for abuse. The committee asked AAU President Jo Mirza for details on its child safety policies and training, setting a deadline of Oct. 21.
Committee representatives this week didn’t respond to questions about the status of the investigation. The AAU, which has said in a statement that it is “committed to protecting its athletes through comprehensive protection policies overseen by our Compliance Department,” said it would “cooperate fully” with any inquiry.
