Former San Jose State volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose claims her home in California was shot at this week – three months after she was suspended in the wake of her complaint about transgender player Blaire Fleming.

Batie-Smoose, who served as an assistant for the Spartans’ women’s volleyball team before receiving her suspension, previously filed a Title IX complaint against the program over Fleming, whose inclusion on the team sparked outrage last year.

She is also a plaintiff in a lawsuit against SJSU and the Mountain West Conference along with 11 players, which includes some of Fleming’s ex-teammates.

Following her suspension in November, Batie-Smoose was released by San Jose State upon the expiry of her contract at the end of January, having accused the school of trying to ‘silence’ her in the debate surrounding Fleming and transgender athletes.

And just a few weeks on from her release, the volleyball coach’s Scotts Valley home was shot at by a pellet gun on Monday night, police have confirmed.

Nobody was harmed and no suspect or motive has yet been determined, with an investigation said to be ongoing.

Ex-San Jose State volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who publicly spoke out against trans player Blaire Fleming (pictured) last year, claims her home was shot at on Monday

Batie-Smoose (left) was suspended by SJSU in Nov. after her complaint involving Fleming

Police believe there is no link between the incident and Batie-Smoose’s stance against trans athletes, meaning it has been downgraded to a ‘vandalism’ investigation.

However, the ex-Spartans assistant disagrees with that verdict.

When asked on Fox News if she thinks the shooting was linked to her lawsuits involving SJSU and Fleming, Batie-Smoose said: ‘I do.’ 

She then continued: ‘It can’t be a coincidence. I have never had this happen and in our neighborhood I talked to neighbors that have lived there over 10 years and not even a robber in the area, let alone someone shooting at someone in their house.’

Batie-Smoose revealed that the shooting took place while she was discussing the legal battle and the NCAA’s new policy on gender eligibility in a virtual meeting with members of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports.

‘I hear this big sound and it sounds like breaking glass and at first I was just like, “What just happened? Where did that sound come from?” And then, once it registered, I look over to the window and I see the bullet hole,’ she recalled.

The former Spartans assistant believes the shooting at her home was a targeted attack

Batie-Smoose is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against SJSU involving Fleming, who is a biological male

‘Police said the shot had to come from the street behind me,’ Batie-Smoose said while revealing most of her neighbors were not home at the time the shooting occurred.

The veteran coach claims to have received hostile emails about her stance on Fleming and trans athletes in recent months, while also having face-to-face altercations with individuals in Santa Cruz and Scotts Valey.

As a result, she is convinced Monday’s shooting was a targeted attack. 

‘People recognize me in the community and I’m in an area that’s speaking out and speaking to fight for women’s sports,’ Batie-Smoose stressed. ‘I’m in an area with some crazies and I definitely believe it was a target on me for speaking out.’

Last week the NCAA officially adapted a policy preventing trans women from competing in women’s sports after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning them.

The top collegiate athletics governing body has now implemented new rules that will only allow people to compete in women’s sports if they were assigned female at birth.

Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning trans athletes from women’s sports

The body’s president, Charlie Baker, said there are more than 530,000 NCAA athletes. Baker said in December 2024 that he was aware of ‘less than 10’ are transgender – meaning this policy goes to the lengths of banning 0.0018 percent of athletes.

Just a day earlier, President Trump’s order banned trans athletes from competing in girl’s and women’s sports and would allow federal agencies to withhold federal funding from institutions which don’t abide by his administration’s view of Title IX.

The Trump Administration’s view of the statute interprets ‘sex’ as the gender someone was assigned at birth, rather than their gender expression.

‘We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions,’ Baker said in the press release. ‘To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard.’