From the LA Daily News (6-26-22): Allegations that University of California women’s swimming head coach Teri McKeever bullied dozens of swimmers over a decades-long period are clouded by gender bias in the standards female coaches are held to, according to her attorney. What nearly 60 people have described as verbal, emotional and physical abuse by McKeever, the 2012 U.S. Olympic team head coach, is actually accepted coaching methods approved of by the university that have been mischaracterized by female athletes socialized to react to coaching and stress differently than male athletes, Thomas Newkirk, McKeever’s attorney, maintained in an interview with the Southern California News Group and documents sent to Cal administrators.
Cal placed McKeever, who has guided the Golden Bears to four NCAA team titles, on paid administrative leave on May 25 and commissioned an investigation by a Los Angeles law firm into allegations raised in an SCNG report that the coach has routinely bullied athletes throughout her 29-year career at Berkeley. To date 36 current or former Cal swimmers and divers, 17 parents, a former member of the Golden Bears’ men’s swimming and diving squad, two former coaches and two former Cal athletic department employees have told SCNG that McKeever routinely bullied swimmers, often in deeply personal terms, or used embarrassing or traumatic experiences from their past against them, used racial epithets, body-shamed and pressured athletes to compete or train while injured or dealing with chronic illnesses or eating disorders, even accusing some women of lying about their conditions despite being provided medical records by them. Nine Cal women’s swimmers, six since 2018, have told SCNG they made plans to kill themselves or obsessed about suicide for weeks or months because of what they describe as McKeever’s bullying.
But Newkirk portrayed McKeever, 60, as the victim of both a double standard in how female and male coaches are viewed and judged, and a double standard in how female athletes are socialized from a young age to report stress, injuries and frustration differently than male athletes. Newkirk in a nearly hour-long interview and in documents sent to Cal chancellor Carol T. Christ and athletics director Jim Knowlton said top university officials were not only aware of McKeever’s coaching methods but have rewarded her. Cal gave McKeever a two-year contract extension in January 2020. The contract expires on April 30, 2024. The contract has an annual base salary of $242,000 and includes an additional $55,000 in potential bonuses.
The “Administration has been aware of Teri’s approach for years and recently awarded her a new contract,” Newkirk wrote in a recent document sent to Christ and Knowlton. “This award was based on hundreds and thousands of interactions with students, parents, and peers over many years. Coach McKeever does not coach in secret. There are several hundred witnesses to her methods and her behavior that will verify what she said, how she said it, and whether any of that was over the line of coaching standards. The administration is also aware and approves of Teri mentoring other coaches regarding their approach to leadership. Why would it permit that if there was the slightest concern about some pattern of behavior?”
Cal, citing the ongoing investigation, declined to comment on Newkirk’s statements. “The campus is required by law to refrain from commenting upon personnel matters. As a result, we are precluded from responding to these claims and allegations,” the university said in a statement. “UC Berkeley, along with all of its constituent programs and departments, is committed to supporting, protecting and advancing gender equity, and to providing students with what they need to thrive in every aspect of their lives on campus...
Full story at https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more_/attorney-alleges-uc-berkeley-coach-teri-mckeever-is-the-victim-of-gender-bias/ar-AAYRL5Q.
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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/06/swimming-in-scandal-part-4.html;
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/05/swimming-in-scandal-part-3.html;
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/05/swimming-in-scandal-part-2.html;
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/05/swimming-in-scandal.html.
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