Stanford is investigating whether men’s water polo head coach Brian Flacks and members of his staff are retaliating against Cardinal players for participating in a recent confidential university-commissioned investigation into allegations of abusive conduct by Flacks, the Southern California News Group (SCNG) has learned.

While the original investigation did not substantiate the allegations of bullying and abuse, the university’s provost and general counsel offices are looking into allegations from at least 10 people that Flacks has threatened and harassed players for comments they made to a consultant hired by the university to conduct the original probe, according to university administrator emails obtained by the SCNG as well as interviews.

“So the last three months or two months have just put the (expletive) nail in the coffin for me,” Flacks yelled at a Stanford player in a late February meeting after the initial investigation was completed, according to an account of the meeting.

“You talk (expletive) about me behind my back,” Flacks also said during the meeting in which he raised the possibility of dismissing the player from the team.

Stanford is also investigating allegations that Flacks and Duke Rohlen, a Bay Area entrepreneur, Stanford graduate and father of a current Cardinal water polo player, also received a copy of the report or information from it, according to emails from university officials as well as interviews.

Neither Flacks nor Rohlen were authorized recipients of the report, Patrick Dunkley, Stanford vice provost, confirmed in emails obtained by SCNG. The school’s initial four-month investigation of the men’s water polo program was completed in February with Flacks retaining his job. Stanford has not released the results of the probe.

“As has been reported, a four-month long, third-party investigation exonerated me from claims that I mistreated members of Stanford’s water polo team, whose wellbeing I put above everything else,” Flacks said in a statement to SCNG.

SCNG provided Flacks with a detailed list of allegations against him including that he has retaliated against players since the completion of the four-month investigation. Flacks declined to comment on the allegations on the record.

“I don’t know about anything related to what came out of that,” Rohlen said in an interview, referring to the initial Stanford investigation.

A Feb. 13 “outcome” letter Stanford sent to Flacks found that his conduct had not objectively risen to a level of bullying and that he had not intentionally bullied players, according to a person familiar with the document.

The investigator also found that there was insufficient evidence that any athlete’s treatment was outside of Stanford’s athletics and sports medicine procedures, according to the person. Issues about overtraining were addressed by changes Flacks made prior to the investigation, the person said.

Dunkley did not respond to a request for comment. Instead, Stanford provided SCNG with the following statement:

“The health, safety and welfare of our student-athletes is of the utmost importance to Stanford Athletics. Upon receiving concerns regarding the men’s water polo program, the University initiated an independent third-party investigation. The investigation did not substantiate the claims that were raised, and the university will continue to follow established processes to review any new claims.”

But since the conclusion of the probe, Flacks has repeatedly targeted players for verbal and emotional abuse, and threatened to cut or bench players allegedly suspected of cooperating with the investigation if they returned for the 2025 season, 10 people allege in emails and letters to top Stanford officials including university president Jonathan Levin that have been obtained by SCNG.

At least one player said he feels “unsafe on campus.”

“One would think after being the target of a months-long wide-ranging investigation, that Flacks might have gained a bit of humility or might have understood that it is prudent to dial down his most egregious impulses,” a whistleblower recently wrote in a letter to Dunkley. “But, NO. Flacks dialed UP his anger, retribution, and vindictiveness. It is no exaggeration to say that he couldn’t WAIT to retaliate. When that pitiful little meeting ended on February 18, after Flacks said, I am ‘still the coach,’ he concluded with, ‘One-on-one meetings start tomorrow.’

“And during these meetings, these players were threatened, bullied, insulted, and retaliated against.”

Dunkley has had a series of meetings and conversations with Stanford players and their parents in recent weeks addressing the retaliation allegations against Flacks.

“I want to affirm that Stanford takes seriously the issues you raise,” Dunkley wrote in an email last week. “The non-retaliation policy is important to the university, and if there is sufficient evidence to support a violation of the policy Stanford will take appropriate action.”

In an email Wednesday to participants in the initial investigation, Dunkley also wrote, “for Coach Flacks to be terminated, however, university process requires that a finding of wrongdoing (such as retaliation), supported by appropriate evidence, is necessary to take such action.”

But players and parents allege that Stanford failed to live up to assurances to players that their comments to the outside investigator would remain confidential and that the university has not done enough to protect players from retaliation.

“We represent multiple families whose sons play on the Stanford Men’s Water Polo Team,” said Paula Bliss, co-founder/partner of Justice Law Collaborative. “These families are extremely concerned about the mental health of their sons and their teammates as a result of the psychological and emotional trauma they’ve experienced under Coach Brian Flacks. Their sons have faced targeted retaliation by Coach Flacks following the close of the investigation. The University has shown a complete lack of regard towards its student athletes by failing to protect them. The fact that Stanford continues to allow this coach to be poolside amidst the serious and specific allegations is appalling, but unfortunately, not surprising given the university’s recent history.”

The university hired Kate Weaver Patterson, an attorney and consultant, in October to investigate what multiple players and their parents have described in emails to Stanford administrators and in interviews with the SCNG as a “culture of complete fear” under Flacks, the former Harvard-Westlake high school coach hired by the university prior to the 2022 season.

Cardinal players were guaranteed by both Patterson and Phung Truong, Stanford’s assistant vice president for employee & labor relations, that the contents of their interviews with Patterson would remain confidential, only shared with authorized recipients, and that they would not be retaliated against for comments made in those interviews, according to multiple emails sent by Patterson and Truong to Stanford players and parents.

Dunkley has told players and parents that he has discussed allegations against Flacks with “the Office of the General Counsel, the Employee and Labor Relations Unit in University Human Resources, and University Human Resources leadership.”

Stanford’s next step, Dunkley wrote to players and parents, is for Mark Wohrle from the university’s Employee and Labor Relations staff to conduct intake meetings with Cardinal players.

“After all necessary intake meetings take place, a determination will be made regarding next steps,” Dunkley wrote.

In the meantime, Dunkley wrote players and parents, “Stanford representatives will have a conversation with the coach to affirm the non-retaliation policy, and to advise the coach that any retaliation or other improper action will be promptly addressed.

“To ensure that there are ongoing channels of communication between” players “and Stanford representatives outside of the water polo coaching staff, the Athletics Department will schedule regular check-in meetings with (players) and Assistant Athletics Director, Richard Zhu, to provide an opportunity for him to share any feedback he thinks might be helpful regarding his interactions with the coaching staff.”

Last week Dunkley wrote in an email to a Stanford player, “I appreciate how difficult it was for you to come forward to address these issues and I further appreciate your courage and your commitment to take this important step to address these concerns.”

Dunkley previously worked as senior university counsel and interim athletic director.

Patterson launched what Truong described as a “confidential” investigation on Oct. 8 into “concerns” raised about Flacks by whistleblowers, according to multiple emails to and from Stanford officials. The investigation took place with then-athletic director Bernard Muir’s knowledge, according to Stanford emails. Muir on Feb. 25 resigned after 13 years heading the Stanford athletic department. His resignation came a week after the Flacks investigation was complete and in the midst of Stanford administrators receiving multiple complaints from players and parents alleging Flacks was retaliating against players because of their participation in the Patterson investigation, according to 10 people familiar with the investigation and emails to Stanford emails.

Muir did not respond to a request for comment.

Among the allegations against Flacks to Stanford officials were that Flacks on almost a daily basis verbally abused players, publicly “shaming them and belittling them,” swearing at them, calling them “bottom feeders,” “losers,” “cheaters,” “lazy,” or telling them to “get the (expletive)” out of practice or off the team, according to multiple emails to Stanford officials and 11 people familiar with the investigation, including five current or former players.

Athletes and their parents also alleged that Flacks routinely pressured or bullied athletes to play or train despite suffering from injuries or concussions and, at times, attempted to “circumvent” instructions of the Stanford sports medicine staff, according to emails and interviews. Flacks on multiple occasions has accused injured or concussed players of “faking” injuries, playing the “victim” and letting the team down, according to emails to Stanford officials and 11 people familiar with the situation.

A Stanford player provided SCNG a statement that read in part, “we stand behind our coaches, our teammates and the winning culture that has been built by Stanford Water (sic) for decades with the hopes that any outside distraction can be resolved quickly so we may get back to working towards the ultimate goal of winning at NCAA Championship.”

The statement was signed by 23 current and former Cardinal players, but according to five people familiar with the situation, some players felt pressured and intimidated by teammates to sign the document.

“Our firm knows all too well, the tragedy that can result from Stanford‘s utter disregard for the safety and well-being of its students,” said Kim Dougherty, co-founder of Justice Law Collaborative. “We are committed to ensuring that these young men are protected from being subjected to any continued harm. Stanford has a tremendous opportunity here to do what is right by its student athletes and we hope they will.”

The firm is also representing the family of Stanford soccer player Katie Meyer in a wrongful death suit against the university. Meyer died by suicide in 2022 after “facing disciplinary action for allegedly spilling coffee on a Stanford football player who was accused of sexually assaulting a female soccer player,” according to the suit.

The water polo players said they have no plans to sue Stanford.