A former Stanford men's gymnast is suing the school and its longtime head coach, alleging years of degrading treatment that he says triggered a mental-health crisis and ultimately pushed him to transfer to UC Berkeley. Kaien J-Spencer's lawsuit accuses coach Thom Glielmi of publicly humiliating him throughout his three years on the team, and claims Stanford breached its own student-athlete handbook in the process.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, according to the Palo Alto Daily Post, which reported that J-Spencer is seeking damages for emotional distress tied to his time under Glielmi, who has held the head coaching job for 25 years. J-Spencer enrolled at Stanford in fall 2022 and says he had a successful junior season before things allegedly took a turn.
Allegations of Public Humiliation and Isolation
Per the lawsuit, Glielmi questioned whether J-Spencer had friends at all, and whether those friends actually liked or even knew him. The suit also alleges Glielmi told J-Spencer he was a waste of medical and athlete-dining resources, and that the coach said J-Spencer simply annoyed him. According to the same filing, Glielmi discouraged assistant coaches from helping or spotting J-Spencer during practice sessions.
J-Spencer alleges he was told there was an 80 percent chance he would be cut from the team and would not be recruited by another top program. He says he nonetheless performed well at a team competition and requested consideration for an upcoming lineup. Stanford removed him from the team in August 2024, the lawsuit states, though he was reinstated after his mother intervened on his behalf, per the same account.
HR Complaint and Eventual Transfer
J-Spencer complained to Stanford's human resources department about Glielmi in May 2025. The lawsuit further alleges that Glielmi banned him from team competitions during what would have been his senior year. J-Spencer says the cumulative treatment caused a mental-health crisis and ultimately led him to transfer from Stanford to UC Berkeley.
Glielmi did not return a request for comment on a Friday in October, per the Daily Post's report. The outlet's account does not include a response from Stanford or from UC Berkeley regarding the allegations.
A Standout Season Before the Lawsuit
J-Spencer's on-paper record at Stanford tells a different story than the one laid out in his lawsuit. He says he won an NCAA event against Penn State, and Stanford's athletics roster confirms he captured his first career event title with a 13.800 floor routine against Penn State on March 1, 2025, appearing in nine events that season, according to gostanford.com. He also competed on floor at the NCAA Championships that April, and the program's records show he was part of Stanford teams that won MPSF and national championships in both 2023 and 2024.
Those results came under a coach with a formidable résumé. Stanford's athletics program credits Glielmi with leading the men's gymnastics team to eight NCAA titles, and the university's news office reported that the program won its sixth NCAA championship in seven years this past April, extending Stanford's overall NCAA team-championship streak to 50 consecutive years, according to news.stanford.edu.
The lawsuit's specific claims against Glielmi and Stanford have not been independently verified beyond the court filing described in reporting on the case. How the university and its coaching staff will respond to the allegations remains to be seen.
