Nike director of global marketing John Capriotti is alleged to have physically assaulted and verbally threatened Brooks coach Danny Mackey in June on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, according to a police report .
, at approximately 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. PDT on June 25, Mackey, coach of the Brooks Beasts Track Club, and Capriotti were sitting in a medical tent adjacent to a track at the University of Oregon with Brooks athlete and former Nike Oregon Project athlete Dorian Ulrey after Ulrey had completed his 1,500-meter heat. In the report, Mackey alleges that Capriotti grabbed Mackey’s right arm, almost pulling him up from his chair.
“We gotta talk right now,” Capriotti is quoted as saying.
Mackey appears to have attempted to diffuse the situation, telling Capriotti to “relax.”
“You know what you fuckin’ did,” Capriotti is quoted as saying. “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you.” Capriotti is also quoted in the report as calling Mackey a “pussy,” “liar,” “scumbag,” and “shitty person.”
Over the course of the altercation, Capriotti allegedly made physical contact with Mackey multiple times, in addition to inviting Mackey to “step outside” on several occasions.
In the report, Mackey says the argument was over Capriotti’s name being mentioned in the Nike Oregon Project controversy in which the team, its coach Alberto Salazar, and its athletes were accused of misusing prescription medications.
The Capriotti allegations are the second time in two years that a Nike employee or contractor has become physical at a USATF national championship. At the 2014 USATF Indoor Championships, Salazar was forcibly restrained in an altercation with another coach, .