Allegations against W Gymnastics coaches
- Thread starter Lion8286
- Start date
Thanks...helpful. I recall similar stories during UConn's Nat Championship game but don't recall Geno getting called out on it. In fact, just the opposite. I guess winning does cure everything.
Ohio State has 43, Rutgers has 30, Pitt has 29. It a common title to give out. It like the banks handy out vice president titles. It a trend in athletics. Just like now it seems like every coach is some kind of coordinator.
http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/staffdir/pitt-staffdir.html
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/staffdir/osu-staffdir.html
http://www.scarletknights.com/school-bio/staff.html
A
anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
I saw ESPN had a feature on this afternoon about three different investigations into women's basketball coaches at different schools - including Sheryl Swoopes at Loyola. Excerpt below from ESPN article...
Ten of the team's 12 returning players have transferred or put in requests to be released from their scholarships, according to the Chicago Tribune. The mass departures came a year after five players transferred following the 2014-15 season.
Ten of the team's 12 returning players have transferred or put in requests to be released from their scholarships, according to the Chicago Tribune. The mass departures came a year after five players transferred following the 2014-15 season.
Certainly there needs to be some investigation into the allegations. However, this sort one sided account is not uncommon. I know of three of the better coaches in our area who became victims of the " coach hurt my self esteem" rant, just this year. In high school the parent goes to a board member and the coach is toast.
This is division one. When you are on scholarship, it is like a job. Perhaps athletics does not build character as much as it eliminates the weak ones. Sorry, I've seen too much character assassination in my 40+ years in high school athletics. Trust me, it is getting worse each year. I assume the gymnastics team has a medical staff. Trainers and team physicians. If the coaches made the athletes practice who were restricted by the medical staff, they would have been summarily dismissed.
I would be very concerned if my child seriously contemplated suicide over participation in a sport. In my opinion, this needs follow up, which cannot be remedied by dismissing a coach.
This is division one. When you are on scholarship, it is like a job. Perhaps athletics does not build character as much as it eliminates the weak ones. Sorry, I've seen too much character assassination in my 40+ years in high school athletics. Trust me, it is getting worse each year. I assume the gymnastics team has a medical staff. Trainers and team physicians. If the coaches made the athletes practice who were restricted by the medical staff, they would have been summarily dismissed.
I would be very concerned if my child seriously contemplated suicide over participation in a sport. In my opinion, this needs follow up, which cannot be remedied by dismissing a coach.
You gotta spend money to lose money
And, the plan works best if the folks you spend money on do absolutely nothing to lend value to the enterprise!!
BRILLIANT!!!!!!
This is not uncommon in these situations. There always favored athletes on any team. They typically don't have problems with the coaching style because the coaches never target them.I know nothing of these people and the article paints a most unflattering portrait. Still. I'd like to hear a fuller account from the other side. For example, there are some former gymnasts who have a more positive remembrance of the Thompsons - as expressed in the comments to the article.
Alex Witt ·
Medical Assistant at Suncoast Skin Solutions
Honestly this is absurd.. Collegiate athletics is not meant for everyone and is not an easy thing to accomplish and be successful with. With that being said, I just graduated in May and was a member of the gymnastics team for four years and would kill to go back a redo my entire experience with the Thompsons. I learned so much about myself and how to be successful in the real world and am grateful for every moment with them. -Alex Witt
Like · Reply ·3 · 1 hr
Krystal Welsh ·
Clarkson University
I absolutely agree, Alex! These were the best memories of our life! Penn State Proud! -Krystal Welsh
Like · Reply ·3 · 1 hr
I am sure you analyzed the job function of every AD in all three schools and determined they lend no value to the enterprise? So Tim Bream adds no value? How about Gwalt? Do you think Penn State football doesn't need a head strength coach? I guess Jeff Nelson and sports information has no value?
Its a Vicky Trippony catch 22/sophie's choice. If you publish a handbook on campus behaviors (trying to capture accepted and unaccepted behaviors) you run into a big problem inside and outside sports. Things that are acceptable between the lines are unacceptable off of it. For example, you can't "hip check" the older student ruining the grade curve. You can't double team that hot gal that is full of herself. But you can inside the lines.
To extrapolate, can a prof call a student "fat" if he/she feels that student isn't performing up to speed because they lack of discipline? Can a prof hurt a kid's grade because that kid didn't do their homework hard enough? Can a prof make a kid cry?
So do you publish behaviors acceptable for coaches and athletes that are different than standard students?
rhetorical question . . . would you wreck that?
6 WAYS FROM SUNDAY
Of course, there are some cases where an obvious bright line has been crossed, but more often the problem is defining the difference between a tough, demanding coach and an emotionally abusive one. That line can be very fuzzy depending on the emotional nature of the student-athlete. Any good coach is going to push the student-athlete well beyond his/her comfort zone. The were many days that I hated my high school football coach, but I also knew if we could get through it, we would win. I lived for the few times he told me, "Good job." There are many ways to challenge and motivate people, some of them loud and filled with invective, without belittling them personally.
We don't need no classes to spell no TAAAtwos !!! OSU had spoken. WE can play sports, color are books and twittteeerrrr !!!!!
I hear ya. Tough coaching is one thing, but that seemed to be over the line judging by that article.
Was just about to post this too. At Loyola the complaint is that Swoops pushed them too hard, a coach laughed at how 1 player ran and at how another shoots. I'm wondering how much of a generational difference on pushing to the limit is at play here....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...istreatment-against-coach-Sherly-Swoopes.html
Here's something I don't get: presumably Penn State has an Athletics Integrity Director independent of the AD to avoid the appearance, if not reality, of athletic administrators colluding with coaches to cover things up? So why then is Charmelle Green on point and not the Spawn of Thomforde?
Definitely one sided article but some of the allegations are very troubling. Advising a girl to take adder all and telling her to take birth control. Just insane. Asking girls about their sex life, way out of bounds. Forcing girls to come back early from injuries, that has to be a trainer/Doctor decision.
Just think what would happen if PSU football staff advised guys to take adder all or other drugs. Their would be chaos around the program. The Olympic sport program coaches can sometimes get away with a lot since no one is really paying attention.
Whole deal needs in depth investigation.
Just think what would happen if PSU football staff advised guys to take adder all or other drugs. Their would be chaos around the program. The Olympic sport program coaches can sometimes get away with a lot since no one is really paying attention.
Whole deal needs in depth investigation.
1/3+ is likely true and I expect the couple to be eventually move on. I've heard about their craziness since they got there, just not personal stories like what was reported. It was just a general consensus that they were tyrants.
rhetorical question . . . would you wreck that?
Sounds like it's already wrecked.....!
here's the thing. If the girls don't speak up when asked by the AAD about certain complaints then you're in a situation where it's one against the rest with no real evidence to go on. If the gymnast continues to train against the trainer's instruction and doesn't go back to complain to the trainer about the coach forcing her to train what do you expect to happen? The trainers are not in the gym with them.
I agree with you on some points here, however, I can confirm, as told to me, that this coaching staff was extreme. There's the smiles you get at meets and then there's the practices everyday.
All, now go back and read the article again. Another former gymnast, Kassidy (Stauder) Weierbach defends the coaches...pretty vocally...and takes NO crap from the mom or the sister accusors. Certainly lends some balance to a one sided Collegian article.
The bottom line here is no one really knows the full truth and Barbour needs to look into it fully- on all sides. Is this true.....or sour grapes..... or somewhere in between?
What's scary to me now (while waiting for Barbour to investigate and report the findings) is reading through the comments. We have a 1 sided article written by 2 college students. When someone pointed out the other side hasn't been heard yet- a PSU journalism student (of all people) basically said it doesn't matter because that's how they do things in journalism now.
Others, who have no idea what's true or not, have completely made up their minds and will not even listen to an opposing point of view (even from a former PSU gymnast who apparently roomed with 1 of the girls complaining and was at these practices in question). They attack her opposing view as "victim shaming" and try to silence her with intimidation. They are ready to string up the coaches no matter what.
Even a Maryland poster is invoking Sandusky to try and equate the situations in some manner and claim PSU hasn't learned anything.
It is frightening anymore how people hear a charge and its "guilty until proven innocent".........and even then say it doesn't matter 'hang 'em anyway'.
I have no idea who is correct here but I fear we are nearing a point where some coaches may be fired simply for PR concerns more than anything.
This is my concern as well. Maybe there is substantive abuse by the WHKY and WGYM coaches, but you can't tell from such one-sided articles. Posters here should know better than to jump to such quick conclusions.
I'm sure you can find dissidents among the ranks of the most successful programs. I'd bet you can find Bama alums who will tell you that Nick Saban crushed their dreams and made them hate football by relegating them to the third string and that he berated them and never gave them a fair chance. There were a number of Penn State Football alums who left State College thinking that Joe Paterno was a jerk (most since changed their minds). Do you think that Geno Auriemma and Russ Rose are gentle and diplomatic in their criticisms of their players in practice? Is that emotional abuse? Do you know of any team or workplace where there are no personality or agenda conflicts and everybody thinks the boss is terrific?
Barbour and company must investigate these allegations. Barbour has an obligation to be more fair and balanced in her evaluations than the Collegian writers. And if any personnel action short of termination is taken against these coaches, we won't hear about it.
If coaches around the country get wind that Penn State jettisons coaches because of criticisms from student journalists, it will become very hard to recruit quality coaches to Happy Valley. And it will put a few dissident players in charge of every team. On the other hand, if the allegations are substantiated as a result of administrative "due process," these coaches must be shown the door, discreetly or otherwise.
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He didn't claim that the link he posted went back to the article. He simply said that people should "go back and read the article again." A link to the article is in the first post of this thread. Hence, go back to the first post.
Seriously? You're waiting on Barbour's "investigation and findings"?
Really?
"Nearing that point"? That is just........"ironical"
Nearing that point? Ask a former fencing coach about that.
Yes it does...so you know who she is. If you want the link to the Collegian article, that's at the top of this thread. To see Kassidy's comments, access the Collegian article and scroll down to the comments.
Yes. Put your anti Barbour agenda aside for a moment. I'll wait for 'people' (better???) to actually look into this completely rather than melt down now and demand blood because 2 students (again) wrote a 1 sided article about coaches. And yes, I remember the fencing coach and was against his firing. My comments were referring to the current situation with the women's hockey and women's gymnastics articles and the fate of those coaches (along with the future of women's sports at PSU with the witch hunt type comments/ behavior seen in that article- similar to what Evan Ceg posted).
- These situations were going on for at least a couple of years (and yes, that means the genesis even pre-dates Sandy Baby)
- Plenty of folks were aware of the situations
- We now have well-paid full time folks on staff who's purported mission is NOTHING other than "enhancing student-athlete welfare"....and a $1,000,000 a year AD (with a history of comprehensive, unmitigated failure) who claims that "student-athlete welfare" is one of Her touchstone missions)
The "issue" isn't what Brandwene or the Gymnastics coaches did/didn't do (not the BIG issue anyway).....the issue - if you will put your "dense" agenda aside for a moment - is WTF do we have layers of Administration paid to "enhance student-athlete welfare" for?
Apparently....nothing.
If we are to fairly evaluate them on their actions/comments - - - these dildos claim to not even be aware of the problems - - - until some writer for the Collegian puts them into print.
Kapish?
Or, feel free to continue "missing the forest for the trees"....if it makes you feel better.
PSU has 500 asst AD's running around. Why not just assign one to attend all the practices to monitor the coaching behavior at WGYM. If the coaches continues to do this stuff that has been alleged, then they must go immediately. The mere presence of an admin in the practice may alter their coaching behavior, which would be a positive. If the coaches balk at having the admin there, then they are hiding something and should be held accountable.
And they would even have a couple hundred left to:
Park cars
Man the entry gates
and
Clean up the trash
The might be a little overpaid for the positions, but at least they might accomplish something of value
But, most of them haven't worked a full day since being given their new business cards.
Charmelle Green was just honorary captain at the men's volleyball game senior night last week.
