A football coach whose work at a North Carolina school 15 years ago spurred a state investigation into alleged deceptive practices is now facing similar allegations of using false promises to lure athletes and coaches to a historically Black private university in Virginia.
Tim Newman has worked since 2021 as the head football coach and athletic director at Virginia University of Lynchburg, which is now the defendant along with Newman in a lawsuit by a former coach who alleges breach of contract and fraud, among other complaints.
Some of the lawsuit allegations are denied by the university's attorney in a court filing. However, similar complaints of fraudulent or deceptive practices were voiced among 25 former players, coaches and school staffers interviewed by ESPN. They described an athletic program that, they say:
Attracted coaches with salary promises that the school failed to honor after several had uprooted themselves to Lynchburg.
Failed to deliver on promised athletic scholarships and paid housing.
Made players pay for their own basic trainer-related services and supplies, including ice for ice baths. Some players say they resorted to taping each other's ankles.
Pressured one player to suit up despite suffering a concussion and dismissed the seriousness of other players' injuries.
Promised housing conditions that fell far short of standards athletes were led to expect. Multiple players and coaches cited cases of mold and insects in rooms, and video from one room showed a caved-in ceiling in a bathroom.
Newman declined to comment on the allegations. However, in an email, Newman touted the playing and coaching opportunities his school makes available, its strong football schedule, community involvement and "nine students with a 4.0 GPA or better."
Newman said the complaints about him come from players and coaches who "don't get their way."
"God is doing some amazing things here," Newman wrote to ESPN. "The devil does not like the wonderful things going on here at VUL." Multiple sources, including some supporters, described Newman as a charismatic man who professes a strong Christian faith.
His emailed remarks resemble his response in 2011, when ESPN reports outlined allegations by coaches and players of deceptive recruiting tactics by Newman when he was athletic director, head football coach and headmaster of North Carolina Tech Preparatory Christian Academy.
Those interviewed about Newman's time in Lynchburg said he repeatedly made and then broke promises -- about school conditions, compensation and other matters -- to players and coaches, many of whom were struggling to salvage careers and keep fading NCAA dreams alive.
"Tim Newman is a good salesman," former assistant football coach Richard Bonds told ESPN. "He can sell you on anything. Now will he come through with it? That's a different story."
Former women's basketball coach Darius Jennings said Newman will "sell a dream or false narrative" to attract struggling athletes from across the country, "and all you're really doing is taking their money" with tuition and other charges.
One former player, Brison Huey, said of the university: "It was super discouraging. I don't wish that place on nobody."
Kathy Franklin, president of the 139-year-old institution, also declined to comment. Tripp Isenhour, an attorney for the school, said an in-progress lawsuit by former women's basketball coach Marquis Lewis precludes Newman and Franklin from speaking. Isenhour also declined to comment.
Lewis is seeking $25,000 for alleged breach of contract and fraud, citing a failure by Newman and VUL to honor oral salary promises and failing to reimburse his coaching-related expenses. His lawsuit asserts that Newman promised arrangements to match the $30,000 salary of the job he had at the time, but once Lewis had quit and relocated, Newman presented him with a much lower, take-it-or-leave-it contract for $7,000.
The case was heard in Lynchburg General District Court on Aug. 22, but a judge has yet to rule.
In September, Isenhour laid out an 18-point response to Lewis' lawsuit that doesn't specifically deny that Newman broke any promises. Rather, Isenhour argues that, under Virginia law, promises must be spelled out in writing to be enforceable.
"Settled Virginia law on point is clear -- contracts are enforced as written," Isenhour wrote in his response. "The parties agreed to a formal written head coach contract, with the clear compensation amount of $7,000 stated on the first page."
Neither the allegations laid out in court by Lewis nor the rebuttal by attorney Isenhour mentioned the similar complaints by multiple former Newman staffers in Virginia and North Carolina.
NEWMAN WAS WORKING in 2011 as the football coach, athletic director and headmaster at North Carolina Tech when an ESPN investigation revealed that Newman and his wife held almost every leadership title at the prep school and controlled the school's appeals board, which adjudicated complaints against him.
Former players, parents and coaches told ESPN that Newman lured them to NC Tech with promises of Division I scholarships and exaggerated the number of players who went on from NC Tech to NCAA schools. The NC Tech program targeted players who struggled to meet NCAA academic qualifications or lacked scholarship offers, bringing in over 100 players a season. He also charged players $250 to try out for the team, ESPN reported.
North Carolina prosecutors launched an investigation into Newman's program, but it's not clear if there were any findings. The state attorney general's office said it did not have investigation records dating that far back. Based on news media reports, Newman's association with NC Tech appears to have ended in 2012.
His biography on the VUL website omits any mention of NC Tech, but it does emphasize what he calls his "NFL career" with the New York Jets. Although Newman's bio says he signed in 1986, the Jets' official roster did not list him that year, and North Carolina newspapers listed him as playing for Johnson C. Smith University through the fall season of 1986. Newspapers did, however, list Newman as an undrafted free agent in 1987 who played in only one Jets game during the players' strike that year.
Before NC Tech, Newman worked at North Carolina's Louisburg College. He was fired around 2005 -- before he had coached a game -- because he recruited 200-plus players, more than the school could handle, a former school official told ESPN in 2011. Newman disputed those allegations at the time, ESPN reported. He said the administration found his recruiting to be "racially unbalanced."
In Lynchburg, many of the complaints about Newman echo the past, not just in his management style but also in the quality of schools he associates with.
In his email to ESPN, Newman made several references to student grade-point averages and graduation numbers. "We have grown in leaps and bounds in the classroom," he wrote.
Several former athletes complained of poor academic rigor at VUL. One player compared a class assignment to working in a child's coloring book and noted other schools' rejection of credits earned at VUL.
Several players and coaches raised concerns about housing conditions, saying they had been led by Newman to expect better accommodations than what they found when they got to Lynchburg. An ESPN reporter visited campus this summer to find two housing units that resemble 1970s-era motels and two others that appear to be converted houses.
Multiple players and coaches told ESPN they found mold and bugs in dorm rooms as recently as 2023. Video posted online shows a caved-in ceiling in one dorm bathroom, with insulation hanging down.
Lynchburg city inspection records reviewed by ESPN indicate that those issues were remedied after the city received complaints. The school allowed an ESPN reporter to take a restricted tour but kept some areas off-limits.
Former assistant coach Michael Morris said that in 2023 Newman made coaches responsible for cleaning up moldy, insect-infested dorms before the season.
Multiple players also told ESPN that school officials, including Newman, made oral promises to cover housing costs, but those officials ultimately reneged after the players had agreed to attend the school.
Jacob Walker, a running back who transferred from Mercer to Virginia University of Lynchburg in 2023, told ESPN that when he arrived on campus there was no place for him to stay. He initially stayed in hotels and rental homes until the school could offer on-campus housing or a stipend for an off-campus place. Walker said Newman promised to get a check issued to cover his expenses, but he never received one.
Michael Harris, the father of former receiver Elijah Harris, said Newman promised orally that his son wouldn't have to pay for on-campus housing. The school wound up billing him anyway and threatened to withhold Elijah's academic transcripts until he paid.
John Scirigione, whose son Jason played receiver at the school, also said Newman told him he wouldn't have to pay for housing and that he would be reimbursed. He said he tried to get Newman to put the promise in writing, but the coach refused.
"He would tell you to your face kind of what you wanted to hear," said Lauri Scirigione, Jason's mother. "But he would never follow through, and then he would make himself so difficult, you could never get ahold of him."
VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY OF Lynchburg sits on roughly 7 acres south of downtown Lynchburg. The nonprofit school, rooted in Baptist theology, was founded in 1886. Virtually all students receive federal loans or grants, according to Department of Education statistics from 2022-23. Of nearly 600 students in that year, only 170 were undergraduates and apparently most of those played sports. The school's website for this year lists 103 athletes.
The federal data also indicates that just 26% of the school's undergraduate students obtain a degree within six years. Isenhour provided a link to a school website on student achievement, which lists a total student retention rate of 53.9%, meaning nearly half of students withdraw from one year to the next.
There are "a number of reasons why retention rates are low -- over-recruitment, lack of majors offered, substandard facilities and equipment in some cases, and just not enough for the students to do," the school's official website says, adding that "much of the recruitment and enrollment continue to revolve around sports."
Last year, the school's accreditation agency, the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), said it put VUL on probation. Isenhour said it involved an accounting issue that has been resolved. TRACS removed VUL from probation in January. The agency declined comment. Publicly available documents do not provide details on what prompted the probationary status.
The National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), of which VUL is a member, said in a statement to ESPN that it investigated VUL earlier this year and had recently completed a "comprehensive review." The association did not explain what prompted the review. The association says it stopped sanctioning football as of this academic year but continues to sanction all other athletic competitions for its members.
"We have determined and acknowledged with Virginia University of Lynchburg leadership any potential deficiencies or areas of improvement," the NCCAA stated. "The next step after any review is for the NCCAA to work with the institution to mentor, correct and improve areas of concern so as to better serve their student-athletes and athletic staff."
The organization did not provide specifics about its review or indicate whether it involved Newman.
The university's tight budget has pushed Newman to generate football revenue by scheduling guarantee games against bigger-name opponents. Since Newman's arrival, the Dragons' football record is 9-41, including this season's 3-5 start.
The school has no gymnasium and rents the Lynchburg City Stadium and area schools for football practices and rare home games. Basketball practices are held at gyms around Lynchburg and the City Armory gym, run by the local Parks and Recreation Department.
The school's off-campus fitness center and football offices are in a strip mall between a hair salon and a community center about 2 miles from campus.
Multiple players and coaches told ESPN there were no athletic trainers on staff in 2023. The school has since hired one. The lack of a full-time trainer sometimes forced the school into temporary fixes, such as paying their opposing school to provide a trainer at away games, representatives of those schools told ESPN.
The school hired Jay Roberts as a temporary trainer for its football game against Lane College in 2023. Roberts said he charged $300 for his services, but VUL never paid him.
Elijah Harris, who played receiver for the Dragons in 2023, said he occasionally would tape teammates' ankles before practice. He said there was one woman at the school who tried taping ankles, but it was clear "she wasn't an actual athletic trainer."
Several former football players described having to keep their football equipment in their cars or rooms because they didn't have a locker room.
"There was no athletic training room. There was no athletic training staff. There was no athletic training equipment," Harris said. "Like, no [resistance] bands, no recovery, no physical therapy. There was nothing of the sort if you got injured."
In 2024, the university stated on social media that "a former assistant football coach has begun making slanderous and untrue statements about the University and its football team." The former coach and his or her allegations were not identified.
However, the statement said the university had retained a team doctor accessible to players twice a week during the football season and has "retained athletic trainers for every game, home and away, all in accordance with NCCAA rules."
Regarding revenue from guaranteed-revenue games, the statement said that "every team combined" generated $206,000 in income, which is "used for the payment of the football team's expenses."
WHILE SOME NEWMAN critics credit him for his charisma and ability to inspire, they question the way he has recruited staff and players to the school.
Marquis Lewis, the former coach suing the school, is among several who allege Newman broke promises over pay.
Morris, the former football assistant, said Newman promised to pay him $8,000 to $10,000 for the 2023 season. He said he wound up receiving $6,000.
Sam Karn, the Dragons' offensive coordinator that year, said Newman promised him $12,000 to $15,000, along with free housing and meals. The salary he was eventually offered was $6,000, he said. Coaches in other sports reported similar accounts of being shorted promised pay. One former football assistant interviewed by ESPN, Terrell Pinson, said he was paid the entire $10,000 Newman promised him.
At VUL, as at NC Tech years ago, coaches interviewed by ESPN said they were promised bonuses to sign new players but were not paid for the players they did recruit.
They also said Newman would berate them -- sometimes in front of players -- or disregard them if they complained about being shorted on pay, going unreimbursed or having to perform jobs such as cleaning dorm rooms or serving food to players in the cafeteria.
Newman's former players also complained to ESPN in interviews about his demeanor toward them, saying they were labeled "soft" if they sat out because of injury. One player, a former quarterback who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Newman made him dress for a game despite a concussion. The player said the concussion was so severe he suffered nosebleeds as he suited up and stood on the sideline.
Players also accuse Newman of exaggerating the exposure they got as Dragons; many hope for a chance to catch on with a bigger program. They say Newman led them to believe a scout from nearby Liberty University was coming to watch a practice. The supposed scout even dressed in Liberty colors.
A Liberty spokesperson told ESPN that the university did not send a scout, and one player said he later confronted the man, who told the player that he was not a scout, and that Newman wanted to see whether the idea of a scout watching might inspire better performance on the field.
In 2011, when an ESPN reporter sat in his office and confronted Newman about false claims that NC Tech had won three national championships, he replied, "When you go all around the country beating everybody from Florida to Ohio to Kentucky ... you can declare yourself as national champion."
During that video interview, ESPN pressed Newman repeatedly about far-fetched claims that NC Tech had sent 325 players to college since he had taken charge. When presented with his own questionable statistics from previous years, he replied: "Whether it's 200, 300 players, these are second-chance kids that got scholarships. ... Why are you sitting here being picky on that? We're sending kids to school."