Former Stanford attorney to investigate water polo coach Brian Flacks

Stanford has hired a former member of the university’s general counsel office to investigate allegations that Cardinal water polo coach Brian Flacks has retaliated against players who cooperated with an earlier investigation into allegations that he has routinely verbally and emotionally abused and bullied players throughout his three years at the school, the Southern California News Group has learned.

Sejal H. Patel, who worked as a senior university counsel in Stanford’s general counsel office before going into private practice in 2024, has been retained by the school to “investigate claims of retaliation against Coach Flacks,” according to emails sent by Stanford employees and consultants obtained by SCNG.

Patel’s hiring caught Stanford players and their parents by surprise as some of them had been contacted by university vice provost Patrick H. Dunkley only days earlier about scheduling intake meetings with the school human resources department.

Stanford is not only investigating retaliation allegations against Flacks by at least 10 people but also whether 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, Dunkley confirmed in emails obtained by SCNG.

A four-month investigation conducted by Kate Weaver Patterson, the attorney and consultant, and completed in February did not substantiate the allegations of bullying and abuse against Flacks, according to the university. Stanford has not released the details of its findings or who ultimately decided whether Flacks’ conduct violated university policy and what if any measures or policies needed to be implemented following the investigation.

“The health, safety and welfare of our student-athletes is of the utmost importance to Stanford Athletics,” Stanford said in a statement to SCNG. “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.”

Flacks did not respond to email and phone requests for comment. Shortly after SCNG left messages for Flacks, his public relations representative, David Shane, contacted SCNG on Flacks’ behalf. Shane previously represented actress Amber Heard in her legal battle with Johnny Depp.

Shane provided SCNG the following statement:

“In response to the first such accusations of his career and after an independent investigation, Stanford found absolutely no wrongdoing by Brian Flacks; he has been fully exonerated and this matter is appropriately closed. Any allegations of retaliation against players are as preposterous as they are false. Stanford confirmed that Coach Flacks never received a copy of the report or confidential information.”

Patel and Dunkley did not respond to requests for comment.

Flacks, Shane and Flacks’ attorney Rebecca Kaufman have declined repeated invitations from SCNG to Flacks to comment on the record.

Flacks said in a statement to SCNG earlier this month, “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.”

Rohlen did not respond to a request for comment.

While Patel’s investigation will be conducted with oversight from Stanford’s human resources office and its employment and labor relations unit, any final decisions or actions following the completion of the investigation will be taken by the athletic department, a human resources employee suggested in an email obtained by SCNG.

“As for our normal workplace investigation process, the investigator makes factual findings based on the preponderance of the evidence provided during the investigation,” Mark Wohrle, an employee in the university’s human resources group, wrote in an email. “From there, a confidential report is generated and provided on a limited and very strict need-to-know basis. This usually involves those individuals who have the responsibility to recommend and/or decide on actions to take related to the findings of the completed investigation.  That is usually a very small number of people outside of ELR/HR.

“This typically includes the subject’s direct manager and one or two other leaders in the person’s reporting structure. If the investigator’s report contains substantiated findings, this small group of need-to-know managers/leaders will make decisions for next steps, sometimes in consultation with HR and/or ELR.

“The subject of the investigation does not receive the confidential investigation report. They normally receive what we call an ‘outcome letter’ that provides, in general terms, the findings of the investigation. We recognize that you have concerns regarding the confidentiality of the current investigation and the report that will be produced at its conclusion. We want you to know that we are taking steps to ensure that only those who are entitled to see the report (as I have outlined above) are the only ones who view the report.”

Alden Mitchell is serving as Stanford’s interim athletic director after the previous AD, Bernard Muir, was forced out in February. Mitchell is also the athletic department’s chief operating officer. Flacks reports directly to Angie Jabir, executive associate AD, according to multiple people familiar with the situation. Flacks reported to senior associate AD Brian Favat until late 2024. Jabir and/or Richard Zhu, assistant AD, have been monitoring each Stanford water polo practice in recent weeks as part of an agreement between the university and families concerned about Flacks’ retaliating against players, according to eight people with direct knowledge of the practices.

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.

But since the conclusion of the probe, Flacks has repeatedly targeted players for verbal and emotional abuse, swearing at them and threatening to cut or significantly reduce the playing time of 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.”

Dunkley, who previously also worked as a senior university counsel at Stanford as well as the school’s interim athletic director, informed Cardinal players and their parents the last week of March that Wohrle would conduct “intake” meetings with players to “address the retaliation concerns,” according to multiple emails from Dunkley.

“I further appreciate your courage and your commitment to take this important step to address these concerns,” Dunkley wrote to players. “I want to affirm that Stanford takes seriously the issues you raise. 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.”

Dunkley said in the email that he had also discussed the retaliation allegations with Stanford’s “Office of the General Counsel, the Employee and Labor Relations Unit in University Human Resources, and University Human Resources leadership.”

As recently as April 4, Dunkley was following up with Stanford players about scheduling meetings with Wohrle.

Four days later, Wohrle and Patel were informing players that she had been hired by Stanford to conduct the investigation.

Wohrle wrote in an email to a player that Patel was hired because Stanford wanted “to ensure a prompt investigation, but we also believe that her training and experience are particularly well-suited for this investigation.”

After graduating from Northwestern Law School, Patel worked as a special U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia.

Later her work in 2008 led to the exoneration of a Massachusetts man who spent 10 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. She worked as an adjudicator and evidentiary specialist for Stanford Title IX Office from 2016 to 2020. Patel also has a degree from the Harvard Divinity School.