Listenbee is seeking "monetary relief over $1,000,000," and alleged that Patterson, former offensive coordinator Doug Meacham, former defensive coordinator Rusty Burns and other coaches "continuously pressured, humiliated, and harassed Listenbee shortly after his injury diagnosis." Listenbee was drafted in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills but was released in June 2017 and never played a game in the NFL.
“As a practice, Texas Christian University does not comment on the specifics of pending litigation,” TCU said in a release. “However, TCU takes tremendous pride in its long-standing tradition of excellence in providing a positive experience for its student-athletes, especially in the areas of care, prevention and rehabilitation of athletic injuries.”
The full, 46-page lawsuit filing can be read here.
Listenbee alleges that he injured the cartilage in his pelvic bones during a game against SMU in 2015 and that trainers injected him with steroids and pain medication to make it possible to endure the pain and play.
"Without his knowledge, the injections, specifically the corticosteroids, were deteriorating Kolby’s cartilage, muscles, and the entire infrastructure of his pelvis," the lawsuit reads.
Listenbee, a 6-1, 183-pound receiver caught 41 passes for 753 yards that season, but alleged that Patterson told him before the Horned Frogs' win over Texas in 2015, "if TCU was to lose to Texas then Kolby would not only be dismissed from the TCU football team, but also from TCU itself."
"Most importantly to Kolby, Defendants Patterson, Meacham, and Burns informed Kolby that if he did not return to play soon then they would begin to tell NFL scouts that he was not tough enough for the professional level and/or he was faking his injury," the lawsuit reads.
Listenbee said the pressure pushed him to retake the field before his injury was fully healed, worsening the damage and later requiring a metal plate to be installed. Listenbee says he was diagnosed with pelvic instability, which “requires a minimum of six months of rest and rehabilitation,” according to the lawsuit.
For TCU, especially a week before signing day, it's an unwelcome headline that will produce questions about player treatment within the program. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram re-visited a 2010 incident in which TV cameras showed Patterson confronting then-team physician Samuel Haraldson on the sidelines after he refused to allow running back Ed Wesley to return to the game after Wesley suffered a concussion.
For TCU, the longer a story like this is in the public eye, the more harm it can cause the university and program, far beyond the monetary damages Listenbee is pursuing. That would seem to make a trial unlikely and a settlement very possible. Listenbee's legal team dutifully documented the case in a thorough narrative from Listenbee's initial injury up until today, when his professional football future appears negligible.
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