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A North Carolina judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by 31 former NC State male athletes who alleged sexual abuse by the athletics program’s former director of sports medicine.
The lawsuit was filed under the guise of treatment and harassment against Robert M. Murphy Jr., as well as NC State athletic officials bound by oversight rules.
However, Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins dismissed the claims, citing procedural reasons.
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North Carolina State Wolfpack club seats are set up for fans during the college basketball game between the North Carolina Tar Heels and North Carolina State at PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC on January 8, 2019. (Michael Berg/Icon Sportswire)
That lawsuit, filed in February in state court, was one that began in 2022 when a single athlete came forward with their own federal lawsuit. It was alleged that Murphy had years of misconduct which included improper touching of genitalia during massages and intrusive observation during urine sampling for drug testing.
Ultimately, Collins granted a motion by Murphy’s attorneys to seek dismissal of the case, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired on claims dating back as far as 2013.
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Collins also dismissed claims against athletics officials, including former athletics director Debbie Yow and current athletic director Boo Corrigan, on jurisdictional grounds.
Kery Sutton, who represented NC State’s former athletes dating back to the original case, said they plan to appeal the judge’s ruling.
“This dismissal has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Murphy’s sexual abuse of these 31 former student-athletes,” Sutton said in a statement. “It was decided based only on issues of legal procedure. We plan to appeal this outcome and will add new claims against NCSU for men who have recently come forward in the coming days.”
The NC State Wolfpack logo is seen on a pair of shorts during a second round game in the Southwest Maui Invitational against the Boise State Broncos at the Lahaina Center in Lahaina, Hawaii on Nov. 25, 2025. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
“The truth is that nothing has happened but a man’s career has been ruined for money,” Jared Hammett, Murphy’s attorney, said in a statement. “As a lawyer, I’m just glad that we’ve been able to help another person who needed support and found that he needed that defense.”
Hammett’s statement also described Murphy as “someone who dedicated his life to working with athletes.”
Only two of the athletes involved in the lawsuit filed without using “John Doe” as the plaintiff’s name to protect anonymity. One of them was Benjamin Locke, a men’s soccer player with the Wolfpack, who filed the original lawsuit in August 2022.
The North Carolina State Wolfpack logo is displayed during the second half of NC State’s game against the Miami Hurricanes at PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC on January 15, 2020. (Jaylynn Nash/Icon Sportswire)
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“NC State does not tolerate sexual misconduct of any kind,” the school said in a statement. “The health and safety of our students and student-athletes is paramount to the university and our athletic programs.”
