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Earlier this month, a judge dismissed one of the lawsuits involving 31 former scholarship athletes who allege that a former head trainer in North Carolina State University’s athletic department sexually harassed and abused male students for years.
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The attorney for Robert Murphy, a former N.C. State director of Sports Medicine, described it as justice for someone whose life had been ruined by untrue allegations.
N.C. State officials said they agreed with the judge’s decision but don’t “condone sexual misconduct of any kind.”
“The health and safety of our students and student-athletes is paramount to the university and our athletic programs,” an N.C. State statement said after the dismissal.
For Ben Locke, the first athlete to publicly accuse Murphy of sexual abuse, the ruling was another example of powerful institutions resisting accountability. Since Locke filed the first federal lawsuit in 2022, 30 additional former scholarship athletes have joined the litigation.
“I’m extremely disappointed because they’re doing everything they can to not take responsibility and take accountability,” he said in an interview with The News & Observer.
The contrasting responses underscore how little public agreement exists about what happened inside N.C. State’s athletic department while it employed Murphy as a top trainer from 2012 to 2022.
The central allegations — that Murphy used his job to sexually abuse and harass young scholarship athletes during drug tests and treatments — have yet to be decided. And if he did, whether administrators knew about it.
“It’s discouraging and disappointing, but not defeating,” Locke said about the dismissal. “It only kind of adds fuel to the fire.”
Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins dismissed claims against current and former N.C. State administrators after concluding last month that the allegations belonged not in Wake court but before the North Carolina Industrial Commission. He dismissed claims against Murphy after finding the lawsuit had been filed outside the three-year statute of limitations.
The plaintiffs plan to appeal. A separate lawsuit against N.C. State remains pending before the North Carolina Industrial Commission, which hears negligence claims against state employees and entities. That process has been paused while the Wake civil case moves through the legal system.
Locke, the first person to come forward, started playing at N.C. State in 2015 at age 17. As Locke struggled with groin pain over 14 months, Murphy treated Locke with massage treatments that required him to remove his underwear and involved Murphy touching Locke’s private parts for no medical reason, the most recent lawsuits state.
“The 14-month delay in diagnosing Locke’s sports hernia while Murphy sexually abused and harassed Locke under the guise of ‘treating’ his groin pain with massage therapy needlessly kept Locke from playing in any games for two seasons, extended Locke’s physical pain, exacerbated Locke’s muscle damage, and unnecessarily increased the complexity of his surgery,” the most recent lawsuit states.
Seventeen others allege Murphy touched their genitals during athletic treatments, even when treating unrelated injuries.
Twenty-five of the plaintiffs allege Murphy required them to fully expose themselves while providing urine samples for drug tests, allowing him to closely observe their genitals, according to court filings. About a dozen allege both.
No criminal charges have been filed, but Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman has said a criminal investigation is ongoing.
Murphy has denied all wrongdoing through his attorney, Jared Hammett. Hammett said the judge’s dismissal represents justice for a man whose career and reputation have been destroyed by false allegations and a rush to judgment.
“Imagine being in the position of being accused of something that sounds so heinous and having no way of truly defending yourself because no one wants to listen to the ‘abuser,’” Hammett wrote in response to questions submitted by The N&O.
Locke’s allegations are not credible, Hammett said. Locke and Murphy were friends for years after Locke transferred to another school in 2017. Locke sent Murphy “messages of thanks and friendship,” Hammett said.
The number of men who came forward doesn’t validate the allegations, Hammett argued. He said the lawsuit characterizes standard NCAA testing protocols of watching athletes during drug tests as abusive.
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Attorneys “are essentially telling people, ‘you were abused and there is money available to you if you sign here,’“ Hammett wrote.
Locke said the case goes beyond Murphy and money.
Locke left high school a semester early to join the Wolfpack soccer team. He and the others were teenagers and young adults who depended on the university to keep them safe. The lawsuits allege that coaches and others expressed concern about Murphy’s behavior, while administrators have argued in court that the reports didn’t rise to a high enough level or reach the right people.
Locke transferred to Lipscomb University in 2017, where trainers never asked him to remove his shorts and used tools to avoid touching his genitals during treatments, he said.
“This is about speaking out about things that took place and trying to seek justice, trying to seek change, so that it doesn’t happen to the next guy, it doesn’t happen to the next girl, it doesn’t happen to the generations that are coming behind us,” Locke said.
Locke first came forward in 2022 after discussing his experiences with a therapist, he has previously told The N&O.
Locke reported Murphy to law enforcement in January 2022. The statute of limitations had expired on the criminal offenses Locke alleged. But his complaint prompted an N.C. State Title IX investigation, the university’s federally mandated process for reviewing allegations of sex-based misconduct.
According to the men’s lawsuits, the investigation found Locke credible and concluded that Murphy’s treatment of Locke violated the university’s sexual harassment policy, the lawsuits state. Locke was later informed that Murphy had left the university for reasons unrelated to the complaint.
According to the lawsuits, an N.C. State official told Locke that since Murphy quit before the Title IX process ended, the findings would not be included in his employment record.
At that point, Locke said, his focus shifted beyond Murphy to the university itself.
“I don’t understand it,” Locke told The N&O. “The university formally validated what happened and validated what I said happened when I came forward. At the same time, somehow all of that is invalidated by saying this didn’t happen and there’s no accountability.”
Hammett said Murphy has questions about the final report, including whether there was more than one version.
“It also appears that N.C. State changed its mind because, as I recall, there was a wholly separate report finding nothing could be shown to have happened that was somehow changed right before it went out,” Hammett wrote.
An N.C. State official said the university isn’t aware of another report.
Despite the dismissal, Locke said the lawsuit has already accomplished much. Murphy is no longer working with student athletes. Former athletes who once felt isolated now know they are not alone.
Since filing the lawsuit, Locke said, he has listened as former Wolfpack athletes broke down in tears discussing their experiences with Murphy. Many have grown into husbands and fathers, he said, but continue to carry emotional and physical scars they attribute to Murphy’s conduct.
“We’re talking about dozens of other men now that no longer feel like they are battling this thing in isolation,” Locke said.
The N&O reached out to a university spokesperson, asking N.C. State to respond to Locke’s questions about accountability. The N&O also asked if the university had reached out to former athletes regarding any potential harassment or abuse, whether the department had made any policy changes, and whether it believed it had fulfilled its obligation to alumni in this situation.
An N.C. State official provided the same statement that officials released after the dismissal:
“NC State does not condone sexual misconduct of any kind. The health and safety of our students and student-athletes is paramount to the university and our athletic programs. We agree with the court’s analysis and the decision that the law supports dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims in this case. We recognize the immense courage it takes for someone to come forward, and our hearts go out to any student or student-athlete who has been impacted by distressing experiences.”
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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 7:00 AM.