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California has fired a key assistant coach as it prepares to open the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament against Hawaii.
In a statement released by the Cal athletic department on Monday, the school said, “Effective immediately, Yann Hufnagel has been relieved of his duties pending the outcome of the termination process and will not be traveling with the team during its NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament run.”
The Rainbow Warriors and Golden Bears meet Friday in an NCAA South Region tournament game in Spokane, Wash.
Monday’s statement said, “The actions follow a finding, issued today by UC Berkeley’s Office of the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination that Hufnagel violated the University’s sexual harassment policy.”
Hufnagel, who has spent two years at Cal, had been an assistant at Vanderbilt and Harvard, where he coached Jeremy Lin.
On a conference call with reporters Monday morning, Cal coach Cuonzo Martin said, “You’re talking about a guy who’s part of your staff and a family member. We take a tremendous amount of pride in that. We’ll push forward. There’s always bumps in the road. We talk about these things, life things. It’s not an easy thing, but we’ll find our way.”