Nearly five years after the alleged incident that put it into motion, the lawsuit filed against University at Albany men's basketball coach Dwayne Killings by a former player accusing him of assault in a locker room prior to a November 2021 game finally has a trial date set.
The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York issued a trial notice for the case, which is set to be heard starting April 12 at 9:30 a.m. in Albany before U.S. District Judge Mae A. D'Agostino.
Luke Fizulich, who played for UAlbany during Killings' first season leading the Great Danes in 2021-22, initially sued Killings, the university and athletic director Mark Benson in November 2022 related to the incident itself and UAlbany's handling of its aftermath.
According to an entry in the court docket from a telephone pretrial conference held Wednesday between D'Agostino, Killings' attorney Justin Quinn Davis of Dreyer Boyajian LLP, and Fizulich's attorneys Stuart Bernstein and Tara Davis of Nesenoff & Miltenberg LLP, the trial is expected to last five days and the start date will not be adjourned.
Motions and pretrial submissions are due to the court by March 22, with the final pretrial conference set for April 6.
Neither Killings nor the attorneys for either party immediately responded to requests for comment from the Times Union.
Benson was removed from the lawsuit in February 2023. This past June, Judge David N. Hurd, who was originally assigned to the case before it was reassigned to D'Agostino earlier this month, dismissed Fizulich's claim that the school discriminated against Fizulich, who is white, when the school decided not to fire Killings, who is Black, following its investigation into the incident.
Hurd also dismissed Fizulich's claim that Killings engaged in tortious interference against Fizulich by conspiring to deny the player further basketball opportunities, but Fizulich's claims of assault and battery against Killings were not thrown out.
In his lawsuit, Fizulich alleges that Killings assaulted him in the locker room before UAlbany's Nov. 24, 2021, game against Eastern Illinois at Eastern Kentucky University. The lawsuit also alleged that UAlbany reversed a decision to fire Killings under pressure from Black community leaders. The university has denied that it decided to dismiss Killings at any point during its investigation into the incident.
UAlbany's investigation found there was "inappropriate physical contact" between Killings and Fizulich. As a result, Killings was suspended for five games during the 2022-23 season and fined $25,000, which was donated to local nonprofit organizations.
Fizulich's lawsuit describes that contact as the player being "violently pushed against a locker and slapped across the face" by the coach. Killings in early 2023 was charged with assault in Kentucky, but the case was resolved in March 2023 and charges were dismissed after Killings completed an online "corrective thinking" class.
Killings admitted to physical contact with Fizulich in the November 2021 incident, but said in a deposition that there was no "intent to harm Luke or inflict pain on him." In his ruling, Hurd rejected multiple arguments from Killings over intent and the degree of contact made.
In dismissing the claims against UAlbany, Hurd wrote that "Nothing in the record suggests that any individual's race - let alone Fizulich's race - played any role whatsoever in UAlbany's decision with respect to Coach Killings one way or another," and went on to note that "Aside from public speculation, plaintiff has not offered any basis on which to conclude that race played a role in this series of events."
The trial will begin shortly following the conclusion of Killings' sixth season as UAlbany's head coach. He is coaching the 2026-27 season, which begins Nov. 2, on a one-year extension he received in 2025. Initially hired in 2021, the initial five-year contract signed by Killings - the first Black men's basketball coach in school history - had been set to expire at the end of the 2025-26 season.
UAlbany is 62-97 during Killings' first five seasons. The Great Danes are coming off an 11-21 campaign.
Subscribe
There’s more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Trial date set for former player's lawsuit against UAlbany men's basketball coach Dwayne Killings.