In Hulu documentary, Alex Cooper details alleged sexual harassment by BU soccer coach: ‘I didn't realize how much I had suppressed'
In the documentary, Cooper alleged that Feldman, who was BU's coach from 1995-2022, made inappropriate comments of a personal and sexual nature about Cooper; threatened Cooper with retaliation and did so by benching her; and attempted to touch Cooper and be alone with her outside of team settings, during her time as a player.
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Feldman, through a lawyer, has not responded to the allegations. Boston University also has not responded to multiple inquiries from the Globe.
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'It was this psychotic game of, 'Do you want to play? Tell me about your sex life,' ' Cooper said in the documentary. ' 'I have to drive you to your night class. Get in the car with me, alone.' '
During Feldman's practice film sessions, Cooper said, 'We're going to rewind my tape every five seconds and talk about my hair and my body. Look at those legs. Everybody look at Alex in her uniform.
'We would be in preseason, my assistant coach would come over, 'Coach needs to talk to you,' ' Cooper said. 'She would pull me in, just be staring at me, sit next to me on the couch, put her hand on my thigh. I felt so deeply uncomfortable. After practice, 'All right, great work everyone. Alex, I want to see you in my office.' '
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Cooper's mother, Laurie, said in the documentary that a lawyer in 2015 identified Feldman's behavior as sexual harassment, and that the family could sue. The lawyer, Alex Cooper said, advised that suing would 'drag [on] for years' and that BU 'will do everything they can to protect' Feldman.
Cooper also alleged that in 2015 she and her parents brought comprehensive documentation of Feldman's behavior to Boston University athletic director Drew Marrochello and his staff. Cooper alleges they did not look at the evidence, and they told her she could stay on scholarship but that they would not be firing Feldman.
Marrochello, who in March was named the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics' AD of the Year — has not responded to Globe inquiries.
The end of Part 1 of the documentary shows Cooper returning to Nickerson Field for the first time since graduating. In a
'I wasn't sure I wanted to get into what happened to me in college in this documentary,' she said. 'I figured let's keep it light, let's keep it fun, let's just approach it with a more positive energy.'
But the filmmakers, she said, encouraged her to visit BU and see how she felt.
'The minute I stepped on that field, I felt so small,' she said. 'Money, power, status, followers, years of therapy — none of it mattered. I felt like I was 18 years old again, completely powerless, no voice. And the minute I saw Nickerson Field, I broke down and I started sobbing. I didn't realize how much I had suppressed, and how much I was still carrying with me.'
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Cooper buried her story because it was painful, she said. She was embarrassed. She was afraid of retaliation. She feared people would downplay her trauma because the abuse was not physical. She felt shame that she — who has created a media empire centered around female empowerment — was abused by a woman. Coming forward, she worried, could undermine her message.
What compelled Cooper to speak up, she said, was 'that other women had stepped onto that field and experienced the same harassment I did. I discovered that the abuse and trauma I had been subjected to at Boston University was still actively happening on that campus in 2025, a decade after I left.'
Matt Porter can be reached at
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‘Call Her Daddy' host says Boston University coach sexually harassed her
In a new docuseries on Hulu, the host of the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast, Alex Cooper, said her soccer coach at Boston University sexually harassed her during her days as a student. The two-part docuseries, 'Call Her Alex,' shows Cooper's rise as a podcaster and how she garnered brand recognition. During the show, she talks about her enrollment at Boston University 10 years ago. 'I got a full tuition scholarship to Boston University,' Cooper said. 'Growing up, all of my close friends wanted to play Division 1 soccer. I felt this enormous privilege that I was able to carry on and do this. By the time I got to college, I really felt like I was getting to reinvent myself. It was exciting to get away, to not know anyone, to start a new chapter of my life.' Cooper said she and her coach, Nancy Feldman, had a 'normal relationship' during her freshman year. 'Like any coach, you're trying to suss out who's gonna be my golden star,' Cooper said. 'I came in ready to work. I was determined to make a name for myself on that field, so when my coach started to pay extra attention to me, I figured it was probably because I was playing well.' This relationship changed during her sophomore year, when Cooper said, 'everything really shifted.' Feldman and Boston University did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Cooper's allegations. 'I started to notice her really starting to fixate on me way more than any other teammate of mine,' Cooper said about Feldman. 'It was confusing because the focus wasn't like, 'You're doing so well. Let's get you on the field. You're gonna be a starter.' It was all based in her wanting to know who I was dating, her making comments about my body and her always wanting to be alone with me.' Cooper received calls from Feldman, calls signaling that 'something was off,' the podcaster's mother, Laurie Cooper, said in the Hulu series. Teammate Alex Schlobohm said she noticed that Feldman praised Cooper's appearance while comments to other soccer players were about their performance, according to the docuseries. Ahead of one practice session during her junior year, Cooper was dropped off by a man she was dating. 'She asks me, 'Did you have sex last night?'' Cooper said. 'I'm like, 'I'm sorry, what?' She's like, 'I don't know if you should be sleeping off campus.' And I'm like, 'All of the other girls on my team sleep off campus.' I didn't know what to do. And every time I tried to resist her, she would say, 'There could be consequences.' And there were.' During one National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, Cooper said Feldman 'was trying to punish' her by not letting her play. 'My teammates were so confused why I wasn't playing,' Cooper continued. After she was allowed to play in the final stretch of the game, she led her team to victory, with commentators praising her for saving the game for BU, Cooper said. In postgame interviews, Feldman did not refer to Cooper by name. 'It was this psychotic game of, 'You want to play? Tell me about your sex life,' she continued. ''I have to drive you to your night class. Get in the car with me alone.' I started trying to spend as little time as possible with her, taking different routes to practice where I knew I wouldn't run into her during meetings. I would try to sit as far away from her as possible, literally anything to not be alone with this woman.' Laurie Cooper said in 'Call Her Alex' interviews that she did not pick up on what was happening to her daughter right away. Before long, she and her husband, Bryan Cooper, realized they needed to step in. 'We reached out to lawyers, and when we had a conversation with them, they explained that this is clearly a case of sexual harassment,' Laurie Cooper said in the documentary. The lawyer warned that while they could sue her, a lawsuit could drag on for years, Alex Cooper said. After this, Cooper's parents spoke with the dean of the athletics department to talk about Feldman. 'And my mom and dad say, 'Our daughter has been getting sexually harassed by Nancy Feldman by the last three years on this campus,'' Alex Cooper said. ''From freshman year to this day, I have chronologically written every single thing down that my daughter has called me about and cried about, that this woman has said and done to her.'' After handing a book with Alex Cooper's observations to the dean of athletics, the Coopers were asked, 'What do you want?' 'I still get emotional about it,' Bryan Cooper said. 'I said, 'You have no right to do this to my daughter. This program is out of control.'' Alex Cooper told her father to stop and asked the athletic director what the 'bottom line deal' was, Laurie Cooper said. 'I want to play my senior year,' Alex Cooper said. 'I want to finish out what I worked my entire life for, but I can't play for this woman. They said, Well, we're not going to fire her, but you can keep your entire scholarship. And that's up, no investigation. Within five minutes, they had entirely dismissed everything I had been through. I got into the car with my parents, and when the door shut, I immediately broke down, and I just started sobbing.' Alex Cooper turned to her parents and told them she was done with soccer while at BU, ultimately not playing during her senior year. At the tail end of episode one of the docuseries, Alex Cooper said she was determined 'to find a way where no one could ever silence me again' after she graduated. On Tuesday, Alex Cooper addressed the story in an almost eight-minute video on YouTube. She told viewers that she was not sure about, in telling her life story, revisiting her days at BU. But she felt compelled to speak up, and that 'other women had stepped onto that field and experienced the same harassment I did,' Alex Cooper said. 'I discovered that the abuse and trauma I had been subjected to at Boston University was still actively happening on that campus in 2025, a decade after I left.' Feldman served as BU's coach from 1995 to 2022, before she retired. Alex Cooper co-founded 'Call Her Daddy' with Sofia Franklyn in 2018. Barstool Sports owned and distributed the podcast until a public dispute with Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy led to Franklin's exit from the show in 2020. The following year, the show left Barstool when Cooper signed a distribution deal with Spotify worth $60 million. In 2024, she signed a similar deal with SiriusXM for $124 million. 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New York Times
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Alex Cooper says sexual harassment at BU ‘still happening on that campus today'
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