Bruce Barnum may not be a prominent name in the college football world but the head coach at Portland State University is now in the news for less than ideal reasons. The Portland Tribune reports that Barnum has "received significant economic sanctions" from his employer after an alleged inappropriate relationship with a PSU employee named Tara Carrillo.
The school's official statement reads as follows:
"A complaint was made several months ago about the conduct of football coach Bruce Barnum. The university investigated. The investigation did not find sexual harassment, but other policies regarding acceptable workplace conduct were violated. As a result, Coach Barnum has received significant economic sanctions by the university. Coach Barnum has received individual training on appropriate workplace conduct, and university officials also are conducting refresher training for PSU athletics staff."
Carrillo, who was the "external events and administrator coordinator" for the Portland State athletic department, is married with three children and Barnum is also married with two children. As noted in the statement, sexual harassment allegations were found to be without basis but the two adults had what was described as an inappropriate relationship that lasted more than a calendar year.
The relationship between Barnum and Carrillo then reportedly came to light when Carrillo's husband, who played football at Portland State, wrote about the situation in a Facebook post that is no longer publicly available. At this time, there is nothing in the way of specifics to what qualifies as "significant economic sanctions" but Barnum remains in place as the head coach of the football program.
