Yale athletics saga takes new turn as emails show legal confrontation with former coach’s lawyer

EXCLUSIVE: Emails obtained by News Digital show a former Yale University administrator telling a lawyer for former Yale strength and conditioning coach Thomas Newman that he was recorded during a meeting.

Other emails show Newman’s attorney arguing that Connecticut law requires both parties to consent to being recorded during telecommunications, which is current state law, and that the recordings were allegedly used against him by higher-level administrators.

“A former employee recorded a portion of a meeting with his client, without the university’s knowledge,” reads part of an email sent to Newman’s attorney, Alan Granovsky, by a Yale deputy general counsel, who now no longer works at the university.

The attorney’s email was sent in response to an Aug. 13, 2025, letter with the subject line “Ongoing reputational damage and misstatements about Thomas Newman.”

The attorney’s email also included the lines: “The university has not made any defamatory statements to anyone regarding your client” and “The university did not inappropriately disclose any medical information, the university has not said that your client involuntarily left the university or is the subject of an investigation.”

The lawyer retired last January, as seen on the person’s LinkedIn page. Newman resigned from his position in early 2021.

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Newman’s attorneys at Granovsky & Sundaresh Labor Law sent several emails to Yale regarding the issue and Newman’s eventual departure from the university in 2021, which were provided by a source to News Digital.

Newman confirmed to News Digital that the emails were exchanged between the university and its attorneys, but declined to comment further.

An October 10 email from Granovsky to the attorney includes the following allegations:

“You now admit that a former employee recorded a portion of a meeting with Mr. Newman,” part of the email read, and then said, “Despite knowing the recording was unauthorized, the parties involved, specifically [Executive Deputy Director/Chief Operating Officer of Athletics] Ann-Marie Guglieri and [Athletic Director] Vicky Chun attempted to use the recording for disciplinary purposes.

“Despite my client’s repeated formal requests for a copy or transcript of this recording, both Ms. Guglieri and Chun refused to provide it, thus preventing any opportunity to verify the alleged content or context. And yet they used the ‘recordings’ as a pretext to undermine Mr. Newman’s leadership and credibility and ultimately force him to resign.”

A Nov. 17 email from Granovsky to the attorney includes the following allegations:

“Legal violations implicated by Yale’s conduct. Surreptitious recording/consent of all parties. The audio you provided appears to be an amalgamated compilation of staff Zoom call segments that included various employees and interns (some are not Yale students).

“Connecticut law requires the consent of all parties to record private telephone communications and creates a civil cause of action for nonconsensual recording (CGS § 52-570d) and criminalizes eavesdropping and wiretapping (CGS § 53a-189).

“If any portion was captured via Zoom telephony/audio without the consent of all participants, both civil and criminal exposure is at stake. Yale’s use and retention of such recording compounds the violation.

“Yale’s recording and professional conduct policies (Policy 9001) prohibit surreptitious recording of meetings/classes by community members and guests. Withholding and weaponizing such recording to affect work outcomes is, on its face, a violation of policy, regardless of who pressed ‘record.'”

No current or former Yale University administrator has been officially implicated in any illegal activity.

Under Connecticut General Statutes § 52-570d, it is illegal for any individual to record a private conversation without informing and obtaining consent of all parties involved.

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Newman voluntarily left the university in March 2021, after five years of leading the Yale athletics strength and conditioning team.

A former Yale football player, who spoke to News Digital on condition of anonymity, claims that under the staff he took over after Newman’s departure, he suffered multiple injuries amid changes in routine.

The former player said that, unlike Newman’s program, the new program had him go to practice shortly after taking a conditioning test, and there was no Gatorade available that day, and that he then suffered cramps so severe that he ended up in the hospital for three days.

The player stated that he suffered multiple injuries during the season, related to those cramps.

On Monday, News Digital published a letter signed by the former Yale ice hockey coach Keith Allain, addressed to Yale President Maurine McInnis. In the letter, Allain claimed that other Yale coaches urged him to speak out against Chun to McInnis after his retirement.

“I am writing to you at the request of several head coaches in our Athletics Department. I was told that you were seeking feedback from some coaches regarding the extension of our athletic director’s contract, and they are concerned that with the culture of fear that permeates the athletics department, they will not receive candid feedback,” the letter began.

Allain went on to call Chun the “worst leader” he has ever met and alleges that she has made it a priority to “silence any dissent.”

“As a Yale alumnus and someone who has great affection for our University and the role of athletics within the greater Yale community, I felt compelled to write to you as requested by my former colleagues. Vicky Chun is the absolute worst leader I have ever met in my life,” he wrote.

“She is dishonest, self-centered and unapproachable. Vicky’s singular talent is self-promotion and she has created a toxic environment within the department where she is isolated by a group of administrators whose primary task appears to be to silence any dissent.”

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A source provided the letter to News Digital. Allain later confirmed to News Digital that he wrote the letter and sent it to McInnis in October, shortly after retiring after 19 years coaching Yale hockey. Allain declined to comment further.

News Digital reached out to the Yale president’s office and the athletic department for a response.

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