Kentucky judge sets status conference in former coach’s case

COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) – The new presiding judge plans a status conference in the case of a former college women’s basketball coach accused of groping a player in northern Kentucky.

Judge Ann Ruttle in Kenton County took over the Bryce McKey case Tuesday after the initial judge removed himself because of a family connection to the Xavier University (Cincinnati) basketball team the coach’s accuser plays for. She scheduled a conference Friday.

McKey’s attorney earlier entered a not-guilty plea for him on a charge of third-degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor.

A player McKey coached while he was a Xavier assistant says he invited her to his Covington, Kentucky, home and touched her inappropriately. He’s been ordered to stay away from her.

He had become a University of Maryland assistant, but resigned after the allegation surfaced.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.