USA Today fired reporter Crissy Froyd after she celebrated Dianna Russini’s ouster from the Atlantic this week.
Russini reportedly resigned from the Atlantic on Tuesday, after a private investigator leaked photos that showed her hugging and holding hands with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an adults-only retreat in Arizona.
Froyd, who covered the NFL and college football for USA Today, celebrated Russini’s resignation in a tweet. She said Russini was told to submit her resignation or she would “get fired instead.”
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. We know who you really are and what you’ve been up to for years,” Froyd wrote on X.com. “It does so much detriment to women in sports who have done things the right way.”
On Wednesday, Froyd tweeted that was let go by USA Today.
“I regret zero of what I said and stand beside it,” she wrote.
I would like to acknowledge the statements put out about me recently and that I am also no longer with USA TODAY SMG.
I regret zero of what I said and stand beside it. If you want to talk, my messages are open. My email is operative, too.
I feel I've been very transparent and…
— Crissy Froyd (@crissy_froyd) April 16, 2026
USA Today confirmed Froyd was dismissed, “effective immediately.”
“USA TODAY Sports has ended its contractor relationship with Crissy Froyd effective immediately,” Lark-Marie Antón, a USA Today spokesperson, said in a statement.
Photos of Vrabel and Russini, taken by a private investigator, were published by the New York Post’s Page Six on April 7.
New England Patriots’ Mike Vrabel and top NY Times NFL reporter Dianna Russini hold hands and hug at luxury hotel https://t.co/kgk6uoumOU pic.twitter.com/J2dtb6HuyA
— New York Post (@nypost) April 7, 2026
Both Russini and Vrabel are married to other people. Russini’s husband, Shake Shack executive Kevin Goldschmidt allegedly hired the private investigator to trail his wife.
Anonymous sources say Vrabel, 50, and Russini, 43, have been hooking up for years.
Russini also faced allegations of a relationship with an unnamed NFL quarterback.