Former Stanford head football coach Troy Taylor filed a lawsuit against ESPN and reporter Xuan Thai on Wednesday for defamation, alleging that multiple articles about how the university investigated the coach's behavior influenced the decision to fire him in March.

Troy Taylor is going after the Worldwide Leader following his Stanford ouster. The former head coach of the Cardinal football team has filed a lawsuit against ESPN and reporter Xuan Thai, alleging that he was defamed in a story that preceded his firing in March by Stanford general manager Andrew Luck.

Taylor was dismissed by Stanford GM Andrew Luck in March, shortly after an ESPN report implied that the coach ‘bullied’ female staffers.