The emails allege that Yale used an illegal recording to fire a strength coach
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INTERMEDIATE: Emails obtained by Fox News Digital show a former Yale University administrator telling a lawyer for former Yale strength and conditioning coach Thomas Newman that he was taped in a meeting.
Other emails show Newman’s attorney arguing that Connecticut law requires both parties to consent to the recording of phone calls, which is the current state law, and that the recordings were allegedly used against him by high-level officials.
“A former employee recorded part of a meeting with your client, without the knowledge of the university,” reads part of an email sent to Newman’s lawyer, Alan Granovsky, from Yale’s deputy general counsel, who no longer works at the university.
Counsel’s email was sent in response to a letter dated August 13, 2025, with the subject line “Sustained Defamation and Misrepresentations Regarding Thomas Newman.”
Counsel’s email also contained the lines, “The University has not made any defamatory statements to anyone about your client,” and “The University has not improperly disclosed any medical information, the university has not stated that your client has left the university involuntarily or is under investigation.”
The consultant retired last January, as seen on the person’s LinkedIn page. Newman is stepping down in early 2021.
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More than 54,000 filled the Yale Bowl for the second half of the 141-game “The Game” between the Yale Bulldogs and the Harvard Crimson on November 22, 2025 in New Haven, Connecticut. (Sean D. Elliot/Getty Images)
Newman’s attorneys at Granovsky & Sundaresh Employment Law have sent multiple emails to Yale regarding the matter and Newman’s departure from the university in 2021, a source told Fox News Digital.
Newman confirmed to Fox News Digital that the emails were exchanged by the university and his lawyers, but declined to comment further.
An October 10 email from Granovsky to the attorney includes the following allegations:
“He now admits that a former employee recorded part of a meeting with Mr. Newman,” the email in part wrote, later saying, “Despite knowing the recording was unauthorized, the parties— specifically. [Executive Deputy Director/Chief Operating Officer of Athletics] Ann-Marie Guglieri and [Athletic Director] Vicky Chun—tried to use the recording for disciplinary purposes.
“Despite my client’s legitimate requests for a copy or transcript of this recording, both Ms. Guglieri and Chun have refused to provide it, thereby preventing any opportunity to verify the alleged content or context. Yet they still use the ‘recording’ as an excuse to undermine Mr. Newman’s leadership and credibility and ultimately oust him.”
The email of Nov. 17 from Granovsky to the lawyer includes the following allegations:
“Legal violations involved in Yale’s conduct. Confidential recording / consent of the entire group. The audio you provided appears to be a cross-section of staff members’ Zoom calls consisting of multiple staff members and interns (some not Yale students).
“Connecticut law requires the consent of all parties to record private telephone/telephone communications and creates a cause of action for warrantless recording (CGS § 52-570d) and criminalizes wiretapping and wiretapping (CGS § 53a-189).
“If any part is audiotaped/Zoom in without consent from all participants, both public exposure and criminality are at play. Yale’s use and retention of such recordings constitutes a serious violation of the law.”
“Yale’s conduct and recording policies (Policy 9001) prohibit the confidential recording of meetings/classes by members of the public and guests. Keeping and using such recordings to affect employment outcomes is, on its face, a violation of policy, regardless of who pressed the ‘record.’
No current or former administrator at Yale University has been officially implicated in any illegal activity.
Under Connecticut General Statutes § 52-570d, it is unlawful for any person to record a private conversation without informing and obtaining the consent of all parties involved.
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Newman voluntarily left the university in March 2021, after five years at the helm of Yale’s athletic powerhouse.
The former Yale football player, who spoke to Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity, says that under the staff that took over after Newman’s departure, he suffered multiple injuries during route changes.
The former player said that, unlike Newman’s plan, the new plan had him go to practice shortly after doing the conditioning test, and there was no Gatorade available that day, and that he later suffered from cramps that ended up in the hospital for three days.
This player says that he continued to suffer many injuries during the season, which is related to this dispute.
On Monday, Fox News Digital published a letter signed by the longtime veteran Yale hockey coach Keith Allain, addressed to Yale President Maurine McInnis. In the letter, Allain said other Yale coaches urged him to speak out against Chun and McInnis after they retired.
“I am writing to you at the request of several coaches in our athletic department. They told me that you have been asking for answers from several coaches about extending the contract of our athletic director, and they are concerned, that since the culture of fear pervades the athletic department, you will not get a clear answer,” the letter began.
Allain went on to call Chun the “worst leader” ever and says he prioritized “silencing any opposition.”
“As a Yale alum and someone who has a deep passion for our University and the role of athletics in the greater Yale community I felt compelled to write to you as my former colleagues asked. Vicky Chun is the worst leader I have ever encountered in my life,” he wrote.
“She is dishonest, self-centered and impenetrable. Vicky’s singular gift is self-promotion and has created a toxic environment in the department where she is being thwarted by a management team whose important work seems to shut down any dissent.”
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Head coach Keith Allain of the USA during practice before the 2011 IIHF World U20 Championship Group A match between the USA and Finland on December 26, 2010 at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York. (Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
A source provided the letter to Fox News Digital. Allain later confirmed to Fox News Digital that he wrote the letter and sent it to McInnis in October, shortly after he retired after 19 years at the helm of Yale hockey. Allain declined to comment further.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Yale president’s office and the athletic department for comment.
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