Your legal rights to play on a college sports team are highly attenuated

[Torie]

The captain of a team was bounced over harassment allegations that remained unproven, but his being kept off the team because enough of his teammates believed them, was upheld.

If you are bad for team cohesion, you are gone. The end.

https://reason.com/volokh/2023/02/17/private-college-coaches-flexibility-to-eject-team-members-based-on-condemnation-by-teammates/#more-8223219

[Ferguson97]

Given the culture of a lot of college sports teams, this guy must have had off the charts 'date rapist' vibes if all of the other captains believed the allegations.

From a legal perspective, I don't see why his being kept off the team despite the allegations being unproven would be an issue. Unless it violates his contract or whatever, it would be no different than the environmental club or French club kicking him out. Coach has a right to kick him off if he wants, unless he's explicitly kicking him off because he was a member of a protected group (race, religion, etc.)

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

When those who know you best have such significant questions over your character, that is reason enough. Whether or not the sexual assault occurred is a red herring. Not wanting to be associated with someone who has a repeated pattern of even minor antisocial infractions is not good for team chemistry, so I trust those who know him best to give their verdict. There are hundreds of other schools that would have been welcome to have him if he wanted to continue playing. There wasn't a lack of alternative options even in the immediate vicinity or any blackballing over an isolated incident.