Dallas Morning News: Ex-players describe debilitating culture in SMU WBB | The Boneyard

Dallas Morning News: Ex-players describe debilitating culture in SMU WBB

Plebe

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A little background: Former player Klara Bradshaw recently posted a blog about her negative experience at SMU. (This was the subject of a separate thread: My College Experience - Klara Bradshaw)

The Dallas paper picked up on the story and has put out the following article, based on the accounts of eight former players:


A disturbing picture, to say the least.
 
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EricLA

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Frightening article. The athletic director is well aware of the problems and has reports from 8 players who went ON RECORD about what happened...

Those who spoke to The News about the incident have different recollections of the exact wording from Mays. But all agree he suggested taking their lives was the best recourse for players who didn't want to compete.SMU athletic director Rick Hart acknowledged Mays made the comment, saying “it’s absolutely a term that shouldn’t be used in any capacity or any form.”

Really, Rick? So telling players if they aren't going to compete, they should just commit suicide isn't grounds to investigate and censure/fire the head coach? No idea what is going on there but it's not like it's just one isolated incident coming from one disgruntled player.

The lack of action by those in power is shocking and disgusting.
 

Plebe

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Well, ESPN just picked up the story from the DMN.

If the AD didn't want to take action before, he's gonna have no choice now. No way they can survive this publicity.
 

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I wonder what all the comments on the Dallas Morning Star News site are like, that will give us insight into what will happen...
Image result for mob meme
 
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nwhoopfan

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UC Riverside had a similar (probably even worse) situation and culture with a former HC. Took several years of complaints and pressure before the coach was ousted.
 

CocoHusky

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Just a reminder that Swin Cash cousin (?) is arguably the best player on that SMU team. 6'2" Junior. I'll stop writing now before everyone can figure out what I'm thinking. :eek:
 
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It seems like these kinds of stories are becoming all too frequent. I’m not saying that coaches can’t be tough or that playing at the college level should be easy, but schools have an obligation to protect students from abuse. That obligation starts with the administration and goes down through the entire athletic department, including assistant coaches. In this case, it seems like the assistants failed, too. I understand that it can’t be easy when you inherit a team and they are not players you recruited. It seems like that should be every athletic directors first question when interviewing. How exactly are you going to handle what you have until you can turn it into what you want it to be?

For me, it is particularly disturbing when it is a male coach and female players. I can’t help but wonder how that coach treats every other female in his life.
 

CocoHusky

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It seems like these kinds of stories are becoming all too frequent. I’m not saying that coaches can’t be tough or that playing at the college level should be easy, but schools have an obligation to protect students from abuse. That obligation starts with the administration and goes down through the entire athletic department, including assistant coaches. In this case, it seems like the assistants failed, too. I understand that it can’t be easy when you inherit a team and they are not players you recruited. It seems like that should be every athletic directors first question when interviewing. How exactly are you going to handle what you have until you can turn it into what you want it to be?

For me, it is particularly disturbing when it is a male coach and female players. I can’t help but wonder how that coach treats every other female in his life.
Yea we definitely have a growing problem. This is I'm sure an incomplete list of schools where abuse was alleged & investigated.

Illinois
Boise State University
Nebraska
North Carolina
Georgia Tech
Boston University
SMU
Northern Kentucky University
Duke
Iowa State
Loyola University Chicago
Holy Cross
University of Memphis
UC Riverside
East Carolina University
 

CocoHusky

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It is fine to be tough, but telling people to kill themselves even jokingly is wrong on so many levels. If my daughter told me her coach said that, I would probably spend a night in jail.
This Doug Feinberg article from last year siad coaches are changes, evidently not fast enough.
 

Plebe

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After SMU's last home game (Jan. 29), Mays addressed in very general terms some of the allegations in Bradshaw's blog. He did apologize, sort of, but he also said a lot of things that could be interpreted as minimizing.

This, of course, was before the Dallas Morning News ran this latest article today.

The relevant comments begin after the 1:00 mark.

 
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NCAA transfer rules make situations like this worse by making it more difficult for kids to leave.
 

CocoHusky

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NCAA transfer rules make situations like this worse by making it more difficult for kids to leave.
Not really. In the cases where the allegations are investigated, substantiated & documented it makes it easier for the kids to transfer and be immediate eligible. Georgia Tech had documented abuse which allowed both Elizabeth Balogun and Liz Dixon to transfer to Louisville and be immediate eligible.
 
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Not really. In the cases where the allegations are investigated, substantiated & documented it makes it easier for the kids to transfer and be immediate eligible. Georgia Tech had documented abuse which allowed both Elizabeth Balogun and Liz Dixon to transfer to Louisville and be immediate eligible.
Agree, but also disagree. If kids knew that they could play immediately, they might feel empowered to leave when the situation started to go bad with their coach. It would help to spotlight programs the kids would want to avoid and force bad coaches out sooner. Just like human resources protects the company in the business world, the athletics department exists mostly to protect the school, not the athletes. I think if things are bad enough, most kids will leave whatever the cost, but I don’t think they should have to sit a year to get out of a bad situation while they wait for an investigation.
 

CocoHusky

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Agree, but also disagree. If kids knew that they could play immediately, they might feel empowered to leave when the situation started to go bad with their coach. It would help to spotlight programs the kids would want to avoid and force bad coaches out sooner. Just like human resources protects the company in the business world, the athletics department exists mostly to protect the school, not the athletes. I think if things are bad enough, most kids will leave whatever the cost, but I don’t think they should have to sit a year to get out of a bad situation while they wait for an investigation.
Most (perhaps all) of these school initiated investigations were done outside of the athletics department. Duke was done by HR professionals hired by the school. GT, Illinois, UNC investigations were done by independent law firms with the results being communicated to university presidents. I agree that it would be unfortunate for kids to sit while an investigation is going on but I also firmly believe that allowing time for an investigation is mandatory. A few of the coaches have actually been exonerated by the investigation. The mere accusations should not be enough to remove a coach IMO.
 

Plebe

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Update: On Thursday the SMU AD Rick Hart sent out a memo in which he backed coach Mays, who he said had "accepted ownership of his missteps, apologized and grown through his experience."


 

Plebe

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The latest memo from the AD elicited this response from Alicia Froling, who finished her SMU career last year as the program's all-time leader in rebounds, blocks and double-doubles, and the 3rd all-time scorer.

 
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Not only will Mays have to clean out his desk but Hart will have to buy some moving boxes if they intend to ever recruit again.
 

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This was a big hire by Hart at the time, even Geno called him to endorse Tracis. The school did not disclose the term or amount of the contract only stating it was a long term deal. That never is said-Long term deal? Ouch. If Hart didn’t do a thorough investigation at the time to validate or refute these allegations, the school doesn’t have the precedent to fire him with cause and will have to buy him out. They might not have the money to buy it out. This is bad and getting worse. Why do ADs always double down on mistakes?
 

CocoHusky

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This was a big hire by Hart at the time, even Geno called him to endorse Tracis. The school did not disclose the term or amount of the contract only stating it was a long term deal. That never is said-Long term deal? Ouch. If Hart didn’t do a thorough investigation at the time to validate or refute these allegations, the school doesn’t have the precedent to fire him with cause and will have to buy him out. They might not have the money to buy it out. This is bad and getting worse. Why do ADs always double down on mistakes?
There has been no investigation because there has been no formal complaint made to the university.
The University learned of the allegations the same way we did here on the BY. A former player wrote a story which did not name specific names but enough evidence for us @Plebe mainly to piece things together and figure she was talking about SMU and the coach. The Dallas morning news picked up on the story and repeated the allegations so the allegations gained legs.
The AD responding to the allegations in the paper is far different than the AD responding to a formal complaint.
In fact the AD would not be allowed to comment if a formal complaint were lodged. Ditto for the University president, I would not be surprised if this is never addressed by the SMU president. The former players must file a formal complaint or lawsuit if they want this to go anywhere.
 
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There has been no investigation because there has been no formal complaint made to the university.
The University learned of the allegations the same way we did here on the BY. A former player wrote a story which did not name specific names but enough evidence for us @Plebe mainly to piece things together and figure she was talking about SMU and the coach. The Dallas morning news picked up on the story and repeated the allegations so the allegations gained legs.
The AD responding to the allegations in the paper is far different than the AD responding to a formal complaint.
In fact the AD would not be allowed to comment if a formal complaint were lodged. Ditto for the University president, I would not be surprised if this is never addressed by the SMU president. The former players must file a formal complaint or lawsuit if they want this to go anywhere.
Dallas Morning News says multiple players made individual complaints and nothing happened.
 

sarals24

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There has been no investigation because there has been no formal complaint made to the university.
The University learned of the allegations the same way we did here on the BY. A former player wrote a story which did not name specific names but enough evidence for us @Plebe mainly to piece things together and figure she was talking about SMU and the coach. The Dallas morning news picked up on the story and repeated the allegations so the allegations gained legs.
The AD responding to the allegations in the paper is far different than the AD responding to a formal complaint.
In fact the AD would not be allowed to comment if a formal complaint were lodged. Ditto for the University president, I would not be surprised if this is never addressed by the SMU president. The former players must file a formal complaint or lawsuit if they want this to go anywhere.
They did make complaints. The school didn't care enough to do anything. Also, the students shouldn't have to file a formal complaint if any of this is true, which is sounds like it is. They can conduct an investigation and talk to any of the players who have gone on the record. But they probably won't do that.
 

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