Memphis , Tennessee ( CNN ) -- The leader of a Memphis-based YMCA group said he felt `` gut-punched '' by a televised report in which two men alleged a former coach with that organization had sexually abused them as boys . Keith Johnson , the president and CEO of the YMCA of Memphis and the Mid-South , said he first heard of the allegations against Robert `` Bobby '' Dodd while watching ESPN 's `` Outside the Lines '' program on Sunday . He said the sports network did n't contact him in advance of the piece . As of Monday , several days after Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong announced his department would investigate the claims against Dodd , Johnson said that law enforcement had not touched base with his YMCA organization . In the ESPN report , Dodd 's accusers said he sexually abused them in hotel rooms during tournaments when they were 12 to 16 years old . CNN has not been able to reach Dodd , 63 , for comment on the allegations . ESPN said it also had been unable to reach him . On Monday afternoon , Memphis police Deputy Chief Dave Martello said the investigators ' options are limited given that no one has filed a formal complaint against Dodd . `` A person is going to have to actually come to the police and report this , '' Martello told reporters . `` The fact they go on TV and make these accusations is not notifying the authorities . '' Martello said police are still trying to determine `` where ( the alleged crimes ) happened , when they happened and who was involved . '' But if a person does n't offer details directly to police , there are only `` going to be a lot of baby steps , '' he said . Dodd , who is not a direct relative of the late former Georgia Tech football coach of the same name , was a basketball coach affiliated with the Memphis YMCA in the 1980s , Johnson confirmed . Two now grown men alleged in the ESPN report that Dodd abused them during that time . The allegations were made amid child sex scandals at Penn State and Syracuse universities and The Citadel . Both men accusing Dodd told ESPN the publicity from the scandals prompted them to act . The YMCA said Dodd left in 1992 `` to pursue AAU sports full-time , '' including founding an organization called the YOMCA , which stands for Youth of Memphis Competitive Association and is unrelated to the YMCA . He eventually became president and CEO of the Amateur Athletic Union , a position he held until his dismissal on November 14 . Johnson came to Memphis as head of the Fogelman Downtown YMCA a year after Dodd left . In his time with the organization , including over the last decade as an executive for the regional YMCA , Johnson said he had never heard complaints regarding the former coach . Martello said that Memphis police began looking into the case after the AAU gave them information last Friday . AAU spokesman Ron Sachs had also said that his organization kick-started the child sex abuse criminal probe -- although the group has varied as to whether it claims to have contacted authorities last Thursday or Friday -- telling CNN that the organization provided the identities of three of Dodd 's accusers , including not brought up in the ESPN report . This disclosure followed a nearly monthlong investigation ordered by the AAU , Sachs said Sunday . The AAU got `` cryptic , brief '' e-mails , signed only as `` shrimp breath , '' on November 7 , 8 and 9 that `` alleged , in a very general way , that Bobby Dodd engaged in child sexual abuse , '' Sachs said . On November 9 , the organization got two brief voice-mails along the same lines . There was no name or contact information left in either case . Those messages were sent to the AAU 's compliance and general counsel office , and AAU officers were notified on November 11 . The board members , several of whom flew into Orlando , convened the next Monday , November 14 , `` to confront then-President Bobby Dodd , '' said Sachs . In that meeting , Dodd said he had gotten similar phone messages and said he was innocent , according to Sachs , who said he had spoken with several AAU officers who were at the meeting . `` Despite those denials , the AAU officers directed that Bobby Dodd leave the premises and leave his position ( as president and CEO ) for an indefinite period , '' said Sachs . The YMCA of Memphis and the Mid-South and the AAU have launched independent investigations into the matter , their respective leaders have said . One of Dodd 's accusers , identified by ESPN as Ralph West of Miami , said he was 14 at the time of the alleged abuse . He said that he was talking publicly , despite the potential embarrassment to him and his family , not to `` gain anything '' but because he felt `` the guy should n't be around kids anymore . '' West said that he was on a YMCA basketball team run by Dodd , who he said would sometimes slip into his then player 's hotel room . Asked how Dodd could have entered the hotel room on that and other occasions , West said , `` He had a key . He always somehow had a key to whatever room I was in . '' West said Dodd abused him or tried to abuse him six times , including at least once in which he tried `` to put his hand in my boxer shorts '' while West was sleeping . During out-of-town basketball tournaments , West said that he tried to find ways to keep Dodd out of his hotel room , , adding he was `` afraid to even fall asleep . '' `` He would push his way in the room and then end up , I 'd see , I would n't see him , I would hear him , he 'd lay at the floor of the bed masturbating , '' West said . `` And you just lay there horrified . But you do n't know what to do . What , are you going to blow the lid off of this at 14 years ? All you want to do is pretend it did n't happen and not address it at all . You want to hide and bury it . '' Another accuser , whom ESPN did not identify , said Dodd gave him alcohol before taking him to a bedroom and touching him inappropriately . `` The last thing that I can really remember was him carrying me into his bedroom and I can remember him , you know , touching me in ways that I , I did n't uh , I did n't want another man touching me , '' the man said . That accuser said he called Dodd on November 11 and confronted him . Dodd , he said , then apologized for the alleged abuse . The network said it examined the man 's phone records and verified an eight-minute phone call to Dodd 's number . Both men said they had never reported the alleged incidents to police and had only recently told their families , ESPN said . Until they or other accusers contact Memphis police , Martello said investigators can only work from the limited information they 've been given by the AAU . `` We 're just going to have to go with the facts , as they come forward , '' he said . The statute of limitations , which mandates that charges can not be filed for a crime if a certain amount of time has elapsed since it allegedly took place , could be a factor in the case . Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich on Monday said such laws are `` very technical '' and `` very confusing , '' declining to go into details as to how it would apply in this case lest that would prevent complainants from talking to police . `` What we do n't want to do is encourage made-up claims or discourage valid claims to be made to the Memphis Police Department , '' Weirich told reporters , encouraging victims of any crime to contact police and not worry about the statute of limitations . Sachs criticized the half-hour ESPN report for not quoting AAU President Louis Stout 's video statement on the matter or others from the AAU . The organization , which has 80,000 adult volunteers involved in coaching and works with hundreds of thousands of young people , is asking outside experts to review its policies for protecting children , which Sachs called the AAU 's `` No . 1 priority . '' The spokesman also clarified that Dodd told his successor , Stout , that he had colon cancer and needed surgery after his dismissal . Dodd allegedly asked that he be able to retire for medical reasons , a request that Stout denied , according to Sachs . `` ( Stout ) told Mr. Dodd to go focus on your health , go through this surgery and we 'll deal with this issue later , '' said Sachs . Dodd has been back at the AAU 's offices one time since his ouster , contrary to the organization 's earlier reports that he had not returned . The occasion was a `` forensic audit '' that Sachs called standard for outgoing leaders of organizations . `` Bobby Dodd is no longer part of the AAU , '' said Sachs . `` He has no continuing role ( or ) involvement in their programs . There 's no contact with him . Whatever compensation he would have been entitled to -- accrued vacation time -- will be paid , and that 's it . ''
Memphis police says no accusers have contacted them , making their probe challenging . Going `` on TV and ( making ) accusations is not notifying '' police , a deputy chief says . Robert `` Bobby '' Dodd , recently AAU 's CEO , is accused of sexually abusing boys in the '80s . He denies it.