It was always going to be a tough act to follow.

San Jose State University's volleyball team was eliminated from making the Mountain West Tournament with a loss Saturday to University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and finished the season under .500 with a 13-16 overall record and 8-10 in conference play. 

SJSU outperformed expectations, finishing seventh in the Mountain West after being expected to finish 11th in the conference's preseason coaches poll after a controversy involving trans athlete Blaire Fleming in 2024. 

Head coach Todd Kress led last year's team to the conference final but had eight wins, including the conference semifinal, awarded via forfeit. SJSU previously made the conference final with Fleming in 2022, the trans athlete's first year with the Spartans under former head coach Trent Kersten. 

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The controversy involving Fleming resulted in two lawsuits during the 2024 season, a federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Education and a mass exodus of players. At least seven of the team's returning players from 2024 entered the transfer portal in December after the season ended.

The controversial 2024 season included eight forfeited matches, regular police protection, national scrutiny and internal turmoil between players and coaches.

Kress previously said the 2024 season was one of the "most difficult" of his life. Kress is 21st in NCAA women's volleyball history in wins as a head coach.

"This has been one of the most difficult seasons I’ve ever experienced, and I know this is true as well for many of our players and the staff who have been supporting us all along. Maintaining our focus on the court and ensuring the overall safety and well-being of my players amid the external noise have been my priorities," Kress said.

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Kersten was the coach who recruited Fleming to SJSU as a transfer out of Coastal Carolina. Kersten then stepped down after the 2022 season and was replaced by Kress. 

Former SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser transferred to SJSU from Alabama in 2023 

Then, in September 2024, Slusser joined a lawsuit against the NCAA alleging SJSU officials withheld knowledge about Fleming's birth gender from her and other players on the team. Slusser alleged she was made to share changing and sleeping spaces with Fleming without knowing that Fleming was a biological male. 

Slusser, along with several other players in the Mountain West, filed a separate lawsuit against the conference and San Jose State in November 2024 over Fleming's presence. That lawsuit included testimony from former San Jose State volleyball players Alyssa Sugai and Elle Patterson alleging they were passed over for scholarships in favor of Fleming. 

Assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended by the program in early November after she filed a Title IX complaint against the university for showing favoritism toward Fleming over the other players, especially Slusser. Batie-Smoose's complaint also included allegations of Fleming's plot to have Slusser spiked in the face.

Batie-Smoose's contract was not renewed by the school at the end of January. The coach then filed her own lawsuit against the Board of Trustees of the California State University (CSU) system. SJSU is one of 23 California-based schools that are part of the system. 

Batie-Smoose told Fox News Digital that SJSU accommodated Fleming with special exceptions that were not granted to female athletes.

"Not showing up to practice with no excuses, sitting in the stands eating while practice was going on, those kind of things," Batie-Smoose said of the special exceptions reserved exclusively for Fleming. 

Fleming previously responded to Batie-Smoose's claim and addressed Slusser in a social media exchange with Fox News Digital. 

"The only times I showed up to practice with ‘no excuse’ and sat in the stands was when I was injured and couldn’t play. Brooke Slusser and Melissa need to get a life," Fleming said. 

After the 2024 volleyball season, Slusser fled SJSU after frequent alleged harassment and threats by other students in response to her speaking out against Fleming and the program the previous fall. She returned to her parents' home in Texas to finish the school year remotely and is now working as a youth volleyball coach in North Carolina. 

Fleming celebrated graduation from SJSU in a social media post in May. 

The University of Nevada, Reno, which was involved in the 2024 controversy for trying to have its players compete against SJSU and Fleming despite preferring to forfeit, finished the 2025 season in 11th place with an 8-20 record, 4-14 in conference play. 

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Franklin Graham joined Fox News’ annual Christmas tree lighting celebration in New York City on Friday night, delivering a message about faith, generosity and what he called "the first gift" of Christmas — God giving His Son, Jesus Christ.

The president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association also highlighted this season’s goal for Operation Christmas Child, which will send more than 13 million of its gift-filled shoeboxes to children in over 130 countries.

Graham appeared live on Fox Square alongside hosts and hundreds gathered for the network’s holiday kickoff, presenting one of the gift boxes packed by his 3-year-old granddaughter.

The box, filled with a Minnie Mouse stuffie, school supplies and a handwritten note she helped prepare with the help of her family, represented the kind of gift Samaritan’s Purse has distributed worldwide for nearly 30 years.

"This year we’ll have about 13 million of these boxes," Graham said. "Each one has about 30 gifts in it. And what we want to teach children is the importance of giving. God gave His Son, Jesus Christ — and we want the children of the world to understand the importance of receiving a gift, and for the children who pack them, the importance of learning how to give."

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Graham thanked Fox News employees, who packed more than 400 shoeboxes ahead of National Collection Week (Nov. 17–24).

"To have the help of Fox — packing boxes — it’s been wonderful," Graham said. "It’s a great partnership."

Hosts on stage encouraged viewers to participate by scanning the QR code displayed on-screen, which directed them to Samaritan’s Purse packing instructions.

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The segment came during the ceremony’s faith-themed portion, with Graham grounding the moment in the biblical foundation of Christmas.

"Christmas is about giving," he said. "God gave the first gift — His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to take our sins. At Christmas, we honor Jesus Christ and remember what He did for us."

Operation Christmas Child, run by Samaritan’s Purse, is in its National Collection Week through Monday. Nearly 5,000 drop-off locations are open nationwide for families and churches to deliver packed boxes containing toys, hygiene items and school supplies.

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The project involves roughly 300,000 volunteers and reaches deep jungles, city slums, mountainside villages and more than 1,000 remote Pacific islands, according to Samaritan’s Purse. Shoeboxes collected in the U.S. are combined with gifts from around the world to reach children in difficult or isolated regions.

"At Samaritan’s Purse we have the opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas with millions of children around the world through Operation Christmas Child," Graham told Fox News Digital in an exclusive statement. "I am so grateful for each and every person who makes this project possible, and for every shoebox that opens the door for us to tell another child the Good News of Jesus Christ."

Families can also build a shoebox online by selecting items digitally and adding a photo or personal note.

Operation Christmas Child began in 1993, and has since delivered more than 232 million boxes to children in more than 170 countries and territories. Many distributions are coordinated through local churches that pair the gifts with evangelistic programs and community outreach.

"This is an opportunity for children to give to someone else and not want anything in return," Graham said. "We live in a selfish world — but this teaches the next generation the importance of giving."

As the Christmas tree lights reflected off the crowds gathered in midtown Manhattan, Graham’s message tied the ceremony back to the reason millions of families participate in the annual shoebox drive.

"God so loved this world that He gave His only-begotten Son," he said. "That’s what Christmas is all about."

Anyone can pack a shoebox in person or build one online at SamaritansPurse.org/OCC-FoxNews. A QR code provided by Samaritan’s Purse can also be embedded or displayed on-screen.