One of the fastest-growing issues on college campuses across the country is sexual assault, and Kansas is the latest university to find itself in the legal crosshairs.

Both the Lawrence Journal-World and Dallas Morning News are reporting that the parents of a former KU student-athlete have filed a lawsuit against the university in which it’s claimed the school “is misleading the public by representing campus housing as safe.” The suit alleges that their daughter, Daisy Tackett, a former KU rower, was raped by a Jayhawk football player in the fall of 2014. The player was not named, and it’s unclear if it’s a current or former player, although he remains a student at the university.

Suffice to say, the details of the alleged attack are disturbing.

On the night she was attacked — barely three months into her freshman year — she attended an off-campus party, where, she said, the raucous behavior and use of drugs made her uncomfortable. She decided to leave. That was when a football player suggested that they go to his apartment at Jayhawker Towers and watch a video.

Inside the apartment, he raped her and forced her to perform oral sex, she said.

“I’m strong. I tried my best to get the kid off me,” said Tackett, who is 5-10 and 190 pounds.

Tackett, who requested that her name be used by media outlets, did not initially report the alleged rape, coming forward a year later only after learning that another female rower was allegedly attacked by the same football player this past fall.

“At first I was reluctant,” Tackett told the Morning News. “Then I realized if he’s assaulted two people, he has assaulted more or will assault more if we don’t do anything about it.”

The alleged victim claims that she ended up paying a price for taking her claims to the proper school authorities.

After coming forward, she said, she felt ostracized. She was left behind when the rowing team made a training trip to Florida.

The IOA seemed slow to provide promised escorts to class or campus parking passes, she said.

“They made it so difficult to access the resources they had,” she said. “For the last three weeks of semester, I locked myself in my room. I would leave just to practice and go to class.”

By January, she’d had enough. She left KU and returned to Florida.

“She worked so hard for the academic and athletic scholarships, it’s devastating to see how much she lost,” her mother said.

The lawsuit filed by Tackett’s parents seeks class-action status.

After a couple of stints down south, David Duggan is headed north to continue his coaching career as the long-time assistant was announced as Western Michigan’s new linebackers coach.

The past three seasons, Duggan was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Southern Miss.  His first go ’round at Southern Miss, from 2008-11, the 52-year-old Duggan was linebackers coach while also adding the co-coordinator title in 2011.

In between, Duggan was the special teams coordinator at North Carolina in 2012.  He also handled the Tar Heels’ outside linebackers in his lone season with the ACC school.

“Coach David Duggan was an absolute no-brainer hire,” head coach P.J. Fleck, who’ll open his fourth spring practice in Kalamazoo later Tuesday, said. “To be honest I think it was a little bit of a surprise he was available. A former NFL head coach in NFL Europe, defensive coordinator at multiple stops, he has an incredible resume and incredible energy and a passion to teach and coach along with a willingness to come take our program to a completely different level. I hope our players truly understand the resource they now have at the linebacker position. We want to welcome him, his wife Lynn and his two daughters Olivia and Grace.”

Prior to his first stint at Southern Miss, Duggan was the head coach of the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe (2006-07). He spent the first 15 or so years of his coaching career at the collegiate level in the Northeast, including stops at New Hampshire, Holy Cross, Colgate and Brown.

With a week’s worth of spring practices already in the books, Mark Whipple was finally able to complete his UMass coaching staff yet again.

Mike Foley and Jason Palermo, the school announced Monday, have been hired as offensive line and tight ends coaches, respectively.  With the twin hirings, Mark Whipple, who said he’s known each new assistant “a long time,” has put the finishing touches on the restructuring of his Minuteman staff.

“Coach Foley brings many years of experience, especially with the offensive line,” the head coach said. “He’s a Massachusetts guy with an impeccable record as a coach and a recruiter.

“I’ve known Jason Palermo since we were recruiting him to the University of Massachusetts in 2002. I’ve followed his career – he was a great player at Wisconsin and an academic honoree. He’s a good, solid, young coach who’ll bring a lot of energy.”

Foley spent nine seasons (2006-14) as the offensive line and tight ends coach at UConn. Palermo, who played his college football at Wisconsin, was the line coach at FCS Austin Peay the past four seasons. This will be his first on-field job at the FBS level.

Health issues will keep a once-promising prospect from ever seeing the football field again, at least as a player.

USF head coach Willie Taggart confirmed Monday that Reilly Gibbons will e forced to retire from the sport because of lingering issues in his right knee.  According to Taggart, the offensive lineman will have an undetermined role within the football program.

“He just keeps re-injuring it,” Taggart said. “He wants to be able to walk around and play with his kids one day.”

Gibbons originally signed with Stanford as a four-star member of the Cardinal’s 2014 recruiting class, and was rated as the No. 19 tackle in the country by Rivals.com and the No. 34 player at any position in the state of Florida. The lineman was a part of the team at summer camp that year, although he didn’t participate because of an undisclosed lower-body injury.

In October of 2014, it was announced that Gibbons had moved on from Stanford and transferred to USF. While he was eligible to play for the Bulls in 2015, the knee issue prevented him from seeing the field.

The construction of Lovie Smith’s first collegiate coaching staff continues in earnest, with another coaching piece added to the offensive side of the ball.

In a press release, the Illini confirmed that Andrew Hayes-Stoker has been tapped by Smith as the football program’s wide receivers coach. Like Smith’s new defensive coordinator, Hayes-Stoker worked under Smith at his NFL stops with the Chicago Bears (2006-2012) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2014-15).

“Andrew Hayes-Stoker is one of the brightest young coaches in the game,” a statement from Smith began. “Since joining our staff with the Bears, I’ve seen him continue to learn the game and develop as a teacher. I know he’ll be outstanding in coaching our receivers and as a recruiter.”

Hayes-Stoker was hired by the Indianapolis Colts in February as the “assistant to the head coach.” His last experience at the collegiate level came at Texas A&M in 2005 as an offensive quality control graduate assistant. The year before that, he began his career as a recruiting assistant at TCU.

His first, and prior to this Illini gig his only, on-field job in college came as the running backs coach at FAU in 2013.