Four months before the University of Maryland football program hired Josh Gattis as its offensive coordinator, a woman said he exposed himself to her in Florida, prompting a police investigation that has since been closed.
Gattis was on the University of Miami football staff in November 2022 when the woman, a custodian at the university, said he entered a bathroom on the school’s campus and called out to her. Worrying something might be amiss, she entered the bathroom where she said she saw him facing her and masturbating, according to police records.
Gattis, 39, later took a polygraph test denying that he intentionally exposed himself to the woman. The polygraph examiner did not detect any deception from Gattis, according to a transcript provided to police, which The Baltimore Sun obtained through Florida’s Sunshine Laws.
The custodian, an immigrant in her 50s who does not speak English, indicated in a statement in Spanish to police on the day of the incident that she wanted charges pressed. Prosecutors did not pursue charges, however, and she did not press the issue.
Reached last month by The Baltimore Sun, the woman said she regretted not pursuing the case and said the alleged incident triggered a visit to the emergency room for a panic attack as well as a need for regular visits with a therapist.
Within minutes of when she said the incident occurred last year, she reported it to her supervisor, Juan Vasquez, who notified the University of Miami Police Department.
“I can still hear the shivering in her voice,” Vasquez told The Sun earlier this month.
Gattis declined to comment. And Miami did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Gattis was fired from his Miami position Jan. 27, two months after the conclusion of the Hurricanes’ disappointing 2022 season and amid the police investigation. During that time, Gattis was in text communication with a police chief who has served for decades as a volunteer security advisor for the Miami football team.
Maryland, which went 7-5 this football season and will play Auburn in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee, on Dec. 30, hired Gattis in March, agreeing to a contract through Dec. 31, 2024. He is contracted to earn $950,000 in 2024.
“Maryland Athletics is aware of the reported incident and understands that no charges were filed,” Maryland football spokesperson Dustin Semonavick wrote in a statement. “As we do with all coaching hires, we conducted due diligence including a standard background check. We have every confidence in Coach Gattis’ ability to help lead our program and uphold the values of our athletic department and university.”
The incident is alleged to have occurred on Nov. 2, 2022, a Wednesday afternoon during the Miami Hurricanes football season. The woman told police and The Sun that a man later identified as Gattis nodded to her as he walked into a men’s bathroom on campus and then called out to her while he was inside. She briefly entered the bathroom, she said, staying near the doorway, and told police that the man faced her with his pants “down to his ankles” and that he “mentioned something” while “shaking and holding his penis.”
The woman called Vasquez, her supervisor, who said the woman was “upset and nervous,” and police were on the scene 30 minutes later, according to police reports obtained by The Sun through a public records request. Police reviewed surveillance footage to identify Gattis as a suspect.
“The man was later identified as Joshua Gattis,” a police report stated. “Gattis is a member of the University of Miami Athletics Department. Offensive Coordinator of the football team.”
The woman said she was nervous about discussing the incident recently with The Sun but confirmed what she told police.
The custodian’s name is redacted in police reports. The Sun is withholding her name because it does not identify alleged victims of sexual harassment without their permission.
Gattis’ account of the incident differs. His attorney, David Rothman, paid for a polygraph test on Jan. 16 and provided the polygraph examiner with a narrative of the incident.
“After using the urinal, but before he saw the woman in the bathroom, [Gattis] turned away from the urinal with his penis momentarily still exposed and was in the process of zipping his pants when he noticed the woman in the bathroom,” according to the narrative Rothman provided to Jurney and Associates, the polygraph examiner.
“He does not know if she saw his penis,” the narrative continued. “He heard her utter something he did not understand, in what sounded like Spanish, and thereafter he washed and dried his hands and exited the bathroom.”
The polygraph examiner asked Gattis: “Did you call out for that [redacted] to enter the bathroom?”, “Did you ever intentionally expose your penis to any female bathroom [redacted]?” and “Did you intentionally expose your genitals to that female custodian?”
“No,” Gattis answered to each question and the examiner did not detect deception, according to the transcript.
In Florida, polygraph testing is generally not admissible in court because of its questioned reliability.
The woman said she did not know Gattis by name, nor that he was a football coach, but had often seen him driving a golf cart and believed he was a university employee. They had in the past greeted each other in passing with a nod or by saying hi, she said.
A week after the alleged incident, investigators showed the woman a photo lineup of several Miami football coaches, but she did not identify Gattis.
“Victim appeared to be emotional while viewing the line-up, and stated several times, ‘I don’t see the man,’” a police report stated.
Another week later, on Nov. 15, 2022, the university’s police chief, David Rivero, turned the case over to the Coral Gables Police Department.
Coral Gables police asked the woman two days later about the previous photo lineup. That time, she identified Gattis. Asked why she did not do so earlier, she said: “I was too scared to identify him at the time,” according to police notes.
She told The Sun that, although she still was scared, she later identified Gattis because in the days following the incident, Gattis greeted her as if nothing had happened and that made her angry.
The woman wanted charges filed, she told The Sun. But, after speaking with police, she believed police could not move forward with the case because she had not initially identified Gattis. Coral Gables police said that the woman stated she did not want charges filed. The police department said it generally does not proceed with such investigations if the person does not want to proceed.
Vasquez said he understands why the woman did not pursue charges but wishes she would have. The incident could be “the first step to something worse,” he said.
Police reports indicate that the Coral Gables Police Department reached out Jan. 10 to Gattis, who referred police to his attorney.
By that point, though, Gattis already had been in contact for a month with Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak, according to text messages The Sun obtained through a public records request.
Hudak and Gattis exchanged 19 texts in December and January, primarily setting up meetings and phone calls. Gattis and Hudak did not comment when asked by The Sun what the messages referred to.
Hudak, who played football at Miami, is associated with the program in multiple roles. He has traveled with the team on road trips and served as a security advisor, a player mentor and volunteer coach.
On Dec. 11, 2022, as the investigation into Gattis remained open, the police chief texted Gattis: “Coach, it’s Ed Hudak, let me know when you are in town. Wanna catch up with you on something. This is my cell so you can hit me up here.” They exchanged texts coordinating an in-person meeting.
They set up a call on Dec. 28 and on Jan. 4, the chief messaged, “Hey, man, how’s it going. Give me a holler when you get a chance. We got to catch up. Take care. Happy new year.” On Jan. 6, Gattis messaged: “Ive secured representation now.” And Jan. 12, four days before his polygraph test and two weeks before his dismissal from the university, Gattis texted Hudak: “Do you have a moment for a question.”
The Sun requested an interview with Hudak, but Coral Gables Police declined.
On Feb. 22, a few weeks after Gattis was fired by Miami and a few weeks before he was hired by Maryland, Coral Gables Police closed the case.
