Georgia Digging Itself Deeper? Athletic Department Fires Seriously Injured Recruiting Staffer Who Sued Over January Car Crash

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."

So wrote Sir Walter Scott in 1808. He was a Scottish poet, but too bad he was not born much later so he could advise the troubled Georgia athletic department.

On Friday, Georgia fired recruiting staff member Victoria Bowles for not cooperating with two internal investigations, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

One investigation focused on the Jan. 15 alcohol- and speeding-related car crash in Athens that killed recruiting staff member and driver Chandler LeCroy, 24, and Georgia offensive lineman Devin Willock, 20. This was after a night of celebrating the football team's 2022-23 national championship.

Bowles, 26, was a passenger in that Georgia football vehicle and suffered serious injuries - multiple broken bones, a spinal injury that could cause paralysis, neurological damage from a head injury and lacerations to her kidney and liver, abdominal bleeding and a punctured and collapsed lung.

Georgia Recruiting Analyst Victoria Bowles 'Became Expendable'

Victoria Bowles also sued the University of Georgia on July 12 for negligence regarding that fatal crash. Her attorneys said Monday that Georgia fired her in retaliation for that lawsuit.

"Tory, like all other perceived liabilities to the football program, became expendable to the University of Georgia," Bowles' attorney Rob Buck of Atlanta said. "And despite her loyalty and meager salary, she has been steamrolled."

Bowles' civil lawsuit filed in Gwinnett County state court names the estate of LeCroy. It says she should never have been allowed to have a Georgia staff car to drive recruits around or for other football related matters because of her history of speeding tickets - four in six years as of last October.

Georgia said it fired Bowles for not doing interviews to assist Georgia's internal investigations into the crash and possible recruiting violations, whether she was healthy enough to do so or not.

"Applicable policies require university employees to cooperate with internal investigations," a Georgia athletic department statement said Monday. "Over the course of several months, Ms. Bowles was asked - on numerous occasions - to speak with our investigators and provide information. And through her attorney, she repeatedly refused to cooperate. As a result, we were ultimately left with no choice but to terminate her employment."

Over the course of several weeks and months after the crash, Bowles remained hospitalized. She was on paid medical leave until March, according to the AJC. Maybe she wasn't able to be interviewed.

Georgia Wants Bowles' Cell Phone

While she was in the hospital, representatives of Georgia tried to get access to Bowles' cellular phone, according to her attorneys.

Buck called Georgia's firing of Bowles the latest in its "campaign of intimidation." Georgia's athletic department took her off paid medical leave in March and demanded she speak to Georgia officials on July 13 - just after her lawsuit went public.

After Bowles at first declined interviews about the crash with the athletic department, whether healthy enough or not, Georgia's athletic department altered its strategy to include possible NCAA recruiting violations. Penalties for much of those are obviously much less serious and expensive than say liability in two deaths and serious injuries to another.

ATHENS, GA - APRIL 15: Georgia Bulldogs Jr. OL Sedrick Van Pran (63), Jr. OL Tate Ratledge (69), and Jr. OL Amarius Mims (65) honor teammate Devin Willock and Recruiting Coordinator Chandler LeCroy, who were killed in a car accident in January, during the G-Day Red and Black Spring Game on April 15, 2023, at Sanford Stadium in Athens, GA. (Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

According to the athletic department's employee policy, employees must cooperate with any internal investigation of potential NCAA rules violations. This is true at most schools. So Georgia saw this as an in to Bowles - perhaps to pay for her silence? In other words, we'll offer up recruiting violations to absolve us from liability justice.

"We have received information that Ms. Tory Bowles may have been involved in or have knowledge of possible NCAA rules violations," Georgia deputy athletic director William Lawler wrote in a letter to Buck - Bowles attorney - on July 13 after the lawsuit hit the news.

Such a "NCAA rules violations" possibility had not previously been revealed.

"While it is unclear whether any NCAA violations occurred, it is imperative that we speak with Ms. Bowles no later than 5 p.m. tomorrow, July 14, 2023, to preserve the integrity of the review," Lawler said.

Georgia Really Wanted To Speak To Bowles

And keep her quiet, right? Sounds like a veiled, well-written threat to me.

The Georgia athletic department's "investigation" clearly wants Bowles cellular phone, even if it has to pay out recruiting violations to the NCAA to get it.

Georgia's "investigation" - or cleaner expedition - on the surface wants the phone to get to text messages she sent to Georgia football coaches about recruiting. But Georgia's alleged plumbers also want a look at her texts that may contradict the athletic department's policy about rental car usage by recruiting staff. That is central to any liability lawsuit.

Georgia On 'Campaign Of Intimidation,' Attorney Says

"The demands to interrogate Tory, and have access to her phone, all relate to Georgia's (and the athletic department's) attempts to avoid liability for the crash and preview or eliminate damaging information," Buck said.

The termination letter sent to Victoria Bowles on Friday by associate athletic director Amy Thomas points out potential NCAA rules violations as if Georgia just found something it could use against her.

"You are also required to cooperate in any investigation of potential NCAA rules violations," Thomas said.

Yeah, maybe that will get her to talk.

Attempts by OutKick to reach Thomas for comment through Georgia's sports information department were ignored Tuesday.

Georgia Coach Kirby Smart Named In Bowles' Lawsuit

The lawsuit of July 12 names Georgia athletic department officials and football coach Kirby Smart for make "false statements" concerning the crash. An athletic department statement said, "Staff members had permission to drive the rented vehicles during 'recruiting activities only.'"

Smart echoed this last March when he said, "It should have been understood that you cannot take a vehicle when you’re not doing your duties, and they were not participating in their duties at that time."

Such statements, if true, could remove liability away from Georgia.

Possible Recruiting Violations By Georgia Assistant Coach

But associate athletic director of recruiting Logen Reed told Bowles in a general text from 2019, "You can take your car home if you need to," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also includes the questionable behavior of Georgia assistant football coach Chidera Uzo-Diribe on the night of Jan. 14 that the NCAA may be interested in pursuing:

At an unofficial recruiting dinner in Athens on that Saturday night after the national championship parade, Uzo-Diribe asked Bowles to use his ATM card to get $1,000. The card was denied, so Uzo-Diribe said for Bowles and LeCroy to drive a Georgia athletic department-rented vehicle to another ATM, which was against Georgia's policy toward the staff cars stated by Smart above. The next ATM also denied Uzo-Direbe's card. Bowles then drove to her home and got $1,000 of her own money to give to Uzo-Diribe, who paid her back via Venmo.

It is unclear why Uzo-Diribe needed that much cash, but Georgia's athletic department said in a statement Monday that it assumes the cash was for his personal use.