Women’s volleyball head coach Jason Greive has been placed on leave after several complaints were filed against him for misconduct.

On Jan. 23, the University of Saskatchewan announced that a full investigation would be conducted on the matter and that Grieve would be placed on paid administrative leave until the review has been completed.

Huskies athletic director Basil Hughton didn’t have much to say on the matter and wasn’t keen on sharing details of the nature of the complaints.

“It’s very unclear to us. We don’t know. It’s an investigation that’s ongoing,” the StarPhoenix reported Hughton saying at an impromptu press conference on Friday afternoon.

The details at this point are few with no one really commenting on where the complaints originated. Hughton said at the press conference an e-mail in late December was the first official complaint against Grieve, followed by subsequent e-mails on Jan. 13 and 18 that warranted the decision.

“It’s always a concern when we have situations regarding our coaches,” Hughton said. “We certainly don’t take any of this lightly. At the bottom of this is the well-being of our student athletes. We continue to try and provide the best environment that we can. That’s why we’re investigating.”

Assistant coaches Lindsay Guenther, Jocelyn Waldern, Myron Mehler and Shelley Chalmers will take over while Grieve is on leave pending the on-going investigation.

Hughton said that there is no timeline set for how long the investigation will be underway.

“It’ll conclude when the information has been gathered,” he said at the press conference.

A member of the Huskies Athletics department told the Sheaf that despite the rumours circulating regarding the nature of the complaints against Grieve and the reason for his administrative leave, that the situation is not as severe as many may believe.

“It’s a difficult situation, but I think all the girls in the locker room are a little relieved. They played well against Manitoba so that was a good sign,” the individual said. “There’s a lot of rumours flying around and I think that might be hurting [Grieve’s] reputation.”

Members of the women’s volleyball team and coaching staff have been asked not to comment on the issue.

In their first on-court action with new coaches, the Dogs upset the University of Manitoba Bisons with a hard-fought 3–1 win. It was just their fifth win of the season and they currently sit in 12th position in the Canada West standings.

Grieve began his coaching career at Red Deer College as an assistant coach before eventually taking the head coaching job of the women’s team at MacEwan University . He later made the move to  Canadian Interuniversity Sport with the University of Alberta Pandas. Despite bringing Alberta up to a top 10 team, Grieve took a job at the University of Waterloo in 2003. Turning around their program around 180 degrees, the U of W Warriors improved from winning a sole game in 2002 to going 9–9 in 2006 under Grieve.

He would come to Saskatchewan in 2006 and as the high performance mentor coach for the Saskatchewan Volleyball Association. Before taking the head coaching position at the U of S in 2011, he worked with high schools and the under-17 Team Sask women’s volleyball team at Western Canada Summer Games.