Former New Prairie wrestling assistant coach Chris Fleeger is appealing a 100-year suspension from the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
Fleeger filed a verified complaint in Marion County court Monday, June 15, against the IHSAA and Commissioner Paul Neidig for a “Temporary Restraining Order, Preliminary and Permanent Injunctive Relief, State and Federal Due Process Violations, and for Declaratory Judgment.”
The temporary restraining order was denied Tuesday, which means Fleeger and the IHSAA will be in court today (Wednesday, June 17) for Fleeger’s appeal hearing.
WSBT-TV first reported Fleeger’s complaint on Tuesday.
Fleeger made national headlines in early January following a confrontation with Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman at the Al Smith wrestling invitational. The South Bend Tribune exclusively broke the news that Fleeger filed a police report with the Mishawaka Police Department, alleging Freeman assaulted him.
One day after the Tribune’s report, the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office released the findings of their investigation, declining to file any charges against Freeman.
Fleeger filed the complaint stating the IHSAA has not given him a fair process. He argues they relied too much on the report from the prosecutor, who seemed to place more blame on Fleeger than Freeman.
“The IHSAA has refused to allow Fleeger an opportunity for a fair proceeding and has, at every turn, intentionally acted to give itself every advantage at the expense of Fleeger,” the complaint alleges.
Fleeger and his legal team are pointing to rule 17 in the IHSAA bylaws, which addresses “investigations, hearings, decisions, appeals, penalties and waivers” within the Association. They argue the rule has no legal standing and his suspension should not be enforceable because of that.
“An actual, justiciable controversy exists between the parties regarding the procedural fairness of the IHSAA review system and whether that system itself complies with applicable state and federal law,” Fleeger’s complaint reads. “The Parties’ dispute is real and immediate, and a judicial declaration is necessary to determine whether the IHSAA’s review process violates state and federal law.
“Fleeger is entitled to a declaration that the IHSAA review system is fundamentally unfair and in violation of state and federal law. The Court should enter declaratory judgment finding that Rule 17 of the IHSAA Bylaws violates applicable law and is therefore unenforceable.”
How we got here
Fleeger’s verified complaint provides several background details after the police case was handled. Everything below comes from the complaint, portraying his perspective of the events.
On Jan. 19, Neidig emailed Fleeger, alerting him of his suspension, pending an ongoing investigation. In the email, Neidig noted two main reasons for the suspension: “multiple parent reports of your encouraging student-athletes to harm other student athletes” and “admitting to the Mishawaka Police Department your attempts to recruit a student-athlete to transfer to another high school.”
That same day, Neidig and the IHSAA sent New Prairie High School a list of five reasons why Fleeger was being suspended. New Prairie began its own investigation into Fleeger at that point.
According to Fleeger, Neidig did not speak to him or request any information from him before suspending him.
Under IHSAA rules, you have 30 days to appeal a suspension. On Feb. 12, Fleeger requested an extension for his deadline to appeal “to allow New Prairie additional time to complete its own investigation.”
Neidig denied Fleeger’s request the next day. The complaint states that Neidig’s provided reasoning for this was “the rules already provide mechanisms to submit relevant evidence and witness summary in an orderly fashion and, where appropriate, to address newly discovered evidence by good-cause showing.”
On Feb. 17, two days before the 30-day window to appeal ended, the IHSAA notified Fleeger he had been suspended and his coaching accreditation revoked for 100 years, through Jan. 19, 2126. Fleeger almost immediately appealed the IHSAA’s decision to suspend his coaching accreditation.
On March 8, New Prairie completed its own investigation, determining Fleeger should have his coaching accreditation reinstated.
On April 21, one week before evidence was due for his May 6 appeal hearing, Fleeger sent an email to Neidig and IHSAA General Counsel Katie Williams-Briles asking to provide the evidence that was being used to lead to his suspension. Neidig did not respond, while Willims-Briles called Fleeger’s legal team the morning of April 28, saying they could request an extension.
Per the complaint, Williams-Briles also verbally confirmed the hearing was only to decide the two reasons why the IHSAA suspended Fleeger. The complaint then states that Fleeger requested an extension, but Neidig did not reply before the deadline.
“It was only after the expiration of Fleeger’s deadline to provide his Appeal Materials that Neidig informed Fleeger that the IHSAA would allow an extension until May 1, 2026. Neidig also offered to reschedule Fleeger’s appeal hearing to June 17, 2026, at 3:00 pm,” the document reads.
It was on April 29 when the IHSAA, on behalf of Neidig, provided Fleeger with the evidence gathered to support their decision to suspend him for 100 years. With little time to prepare, the appeal hearing was rescheduled to June 17.
Both parties were required to submit materials for the new appeal hearing by noon Wednesday, June 10. Per the complaint, Fleeger provided his evidence at 10:18 a.m., while the IHSAA provided its appeal documents at 4:10 p.m.
The complaint then says that the IHSAA was using evidence not related to the reasons why he was suspended, calling them “inflammatory and defamatory in nature” and “devoid of any probative value.”
Fleeger’s team alleges that the IHSAA materials include information from roughly 12 anonymous or redacted sources. Given the number of redactions, Fleeger argues that he cannot defend himself “as he has not been given sufficient information to understand the nature of the allegations against him, the context of those allegations, or the actions (whether real or falsified) for which he must now provide a defense.”
Fleeger argues that most of the complaints against him came after his incident with Freeman. He believes that Freeman’s celebrity status raises concerns and questions of the legitimacy of the “accusers.”
The complaint also states that Fleeger does not believe the IHSAA did a thorough investigation and were just relying on a press release sent out by the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office related to the incident with Freeman.
“The IHSAA may have discovered that the police recordings do not support certain statements in the press release regarding Fleeger allegedly admitting to recruiting,” the complaint reads.
The complaint also alleges that, during one of the Mishawaka Police Department detective’s interviews into the Freeman altercation, the detective states that Freeman has “nothing to worry about on our end,” mentioning Fleeger’s “stupidity” and that they would “see if I can maybe get [Fleeger] into a lie to see to where if he wants to admit that he filed a false report for some sake, then it would turned into [Fleeger] getting prosecuted on that end.”
“In fact, the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office relied on a statement where the detective, as he told the Freemans he would, prompted Fleeger with specific language and then misquoted Fleeger in the police report,” the complaint states.
This story will be updated.
Austin Hough is a sports editor within the Center for Community Journalism at USA Today Co., overseeing high school sports and Notre Dame athletics coverage for five Indiana newspapers. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @AustinRHough. Hough can be emailed at ahough@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Wrestling coach involved in Marcus Freeman incident appealing suspension
Reporting by Austin Hough, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Austin Hough, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
