Former Cal State Bakersfield athletic director Kyle Conder filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the university and its Board of Trustees. He claims severe mistreatment, which ultimately led to his ouster, during an ongoing scandal that involves both the college softball and college basketball programs.
The entire situation is a mess.
As of right now, all of the allegations made against the university involve a former college softball player who currently plays for a different school. She allegedly intended to blow it all up on her way out.
Kyle Conder was fired.
Conder served in his role as the athletic director at Cal State Bakersfield for nearly three years. The university announced its decision to part ways in September, just a few days after assistant men’s basketball coach Kevin Mays was arrested on charges of drug possession and human trafficking.
Head men’s basketball coach Rod Barnes resigned not too long thereafter.
Conder is not happy with how things went down. He filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County, which alleges retaliation in violation of California Labor Code § 1102.5 for whistleblower protection and retaliation under Labor Code § 6310 for reporting safety violations, as well as defamation, denial of due process and breach of contract.
This comes less than one full month after two former softball players filed a lawsuit against the university with claims of sexual harassment, abuse and assault. Although it is not entirely clear whether they are directly related, these two legal cases are likely connected at their core.
Maren Angus-Coombs of Softball on SI has been all over the drama in Bakersfield from the beginning. Her latest update details some of the most insane allegations in college sports history. No hyperbole.
Cal State Bakersfield is in serious trouble.
According to Kyle Conder’s lawsuit, the athletic department started to unravel in February when members of Cal State Bakersfield softball player Violet Salazar’s family came to him with concerns of unfair treatment. They allegedly told him she was not getting as much time on the field as she deserved because head coach Leticia Olivarez and other members of the team were jealous of her beauty. They also threatened to bring negative attention to the program, athletics department and university if he did not address her lack of playing time.
The legal filing claims that Salazar’s family referenced “physical battery,” “terrorist threats,” “school shootings” and “criminal mentality” in email communication. Conder was also made aware that Violet’s father had recently been released from prison after serving more than a decade for a violent crime.
At this point, the entire university was on notice.
Threats of violence reached the college softball program.
Cal State Bakersfield played on the road at Fresno State in late February. While there, Roadrunners assistant coach James Davenport was approached by two unidentified individuals in the bullpen.
According to the lawsuit, they threatened to kill him.
The filing claims several violent threats were made against the CSUB coaching staff. This was captured by a parent at Fresno State when two individuals accessed the bullpen area and threatened to kill (assistant coach) James Davenport. pic.twitter.com/jVGaoOYcjZ
— Maren Angus-Coombs (@Maren_Angus) October 31, 2025
Conder’s filing claims the university later confirmed the two men had ties to Violet Salazar. The incident was reported to Fresno State Police.
Davenport also submitted a workplace violence report to the Title IX office at Cal State Bakersfield. He said in his report that he “had reason to believe that Salazar was allegedly in a relationship with Kevin Mays, a staff member of the CSUB Men’s Basketball program, and that Salazar and Mays may be involved in allegedly illegal activities involving firearms and narcotics” and stood by his understanding of their relationship during an exclusive interview with Softball on SI.
Mays was fired by the university in September. The former assistant basketball coach later pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including pimping and pandering.
What happened next?
As detailed in the latest report by Angus-Coombs, Kyle Conder brought his concerns to the university police department and campus law enforcement as soon as the threat of violence hit his inbox. That was in February.
Olivarez, the head softball coach, and Davenport, the assistant who spoke up after the alleged threat on his life, were placed on administrative leave by Cal State Bakersfield’s ‘Behavioral Assessment Intervention and Response Team’ on March 7. They were publicly accused of wrongdoing by Salazar in TikTok videos that have since been deleted.
Conder suggested the accusations might have been a smokescreen to distract from Mays’ behavior but he was effectively squeezed out of the conversation. The investigation continued for a few months.
“During this time, multiple student-athletes and parents came forward supporting the coaches and pointing to a deeper issue: they reported concerns that Mays was engaging in illegal activities, and that Salazar (the accuser) was closely involved with Mays,” the new lawsuit claims. “For example, one parent reported their daughter had been in a car with Salazar and Mays during drug deals and possible human trafficking attempts.”
And then Kyle Conder was suddenly fired on Aug. 18. Now he wants to clear his name.