University of Cincinnati head swimming coach Mandy DiSalle-Commons has suspended 7 of the team’s 9 senior athletes from the men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams, according to one of the 7 suspended swimmers. Michael Palleros indicated the suspension “ended the careers” of the 7 swimmers, while a spokesperson for the Cincinnati says that it is “not accurate,” and after publishing would elaborate that decisions on who participates in each meet are “at the discretion of the coaching staff leading into each and every meet, particularly for away competitions.”
One member of the team clarifies that the seniors have been told that their senior day ceremonies against Kentucky have been cancelled (which the school disputes), and that they were then given the option to either “quit the team” or “swim by themselves until the last dual meet” and that they would then be done after that. Palleros says DiSalle-Commons told him the same thing, that swimmers are not allowed to practice with the team, use the varsity weight room, and only have the option to swim at Kentucky, though he says that they will be left on the official roster.
Palleros says that 7 senior swimmers were sent home early from the team’s training trip in Naples, Florida last week after the coaches found them having a dinner to “commemorate the four year grind of being a college swimmer,” a dinner that Palleros says includes ordering “one drink” with their meal.
Palleros said the following 7 athletes were sent home from the trip early and informed that they were suspended, effective immediately, which is backed up by the fact that none of the 7 competed in Cincinnati’s meet against Miami on Saturday – roughly three weeks after they were sent home from the training trip. That meet was a home meet.
- Michael Kaplan
- Tim O’Brien
- Ola Kaminska
- Katie Dunn
- Michael Palleros
- Kendra Bierman
- Stacy Loushin
Palleros says that the seniors did not challenge the suspension immediately, because while they thought it was a fairly minor violation, they understand that they did break the rules.
On the other hand, Palleros also believes that a double standard is applied, and that they are not the first members of the team to be caught drinking or violating other team rules this season, but that “the real mistake they made was not being NCAA qualifiers.” Palleros alleges that several members of the team who are bigger contributors to the scoring have committed far more significant violations of the team’s rules and gone unpunished.
The team’s next meet is a two-day quad against Oakland, Kenyon, and Olivet on Friday, January 16th, and Saturday, January 17th. The team then has meets at Alabama (January 23rd), at Western Kentucky (January 24th), and at home against Kentucky (January 30th) before the American Athletic Conference Championships in February.
Article updated at 2:05 Eastern after Cincinnati elaborated on their view on the lack of a suspension.
Jamie’s Winston can still play NCAA football after a rape and shoplifting incident, but these kids have one drink and then kicked off the team seems like hipocracy to me. I guess it’s related to how much money and prestige athletes can bring to the school outweighs the seriousness of the violation.
Absolutley. Athletes getting special treatment based on their performance is becoming a prevalent issue in the ncaa. This is obviously a coach who couldn’t care less about the integrity of the program or institution if this is going on. Get that clown out.
It just breaks my heart to see what Common’s is doing to this program. This certainly isn’t the first time she’s demonstrated her lack of integrity and her disgusting character. How she hasn’t answered for colluding with the sport oversight Senior Associate AD McKinley to get the head coaching position over the many other coaches that applied that were far more qualified. For god sake’s she’s not even the most qualified coach on the current staff. What she did to that poor man Monty Hopkins who didn’t deserve to leave the program under the circumstances that he did. Now, for being exposed for special treatment of some swimmers while crucifying others is more than I can bear to know. My… Read more »
Many of you have made some good points. The seniors are (probably) all 21, responsible for their own actions, alcohol policy in this country is a load of crap, this was an overblown punishment, etc. However, this is not just a case of a 21 year old having dinner. I would equate this with being at a three day meet (say Friday to Sunday), traveling with the team, and getting (a) drink(s) on Saturday night of the three days. I don’t know any coach that would tolerate their athletes doing that, so why should this be treated differently?
If you look at the UC student-athlete handbook under the alcohol policy, it states: “The consumption of alcohol by S-A’s is prohibited… Read more »
What a freaking joke. Are you kidding me?? This coach is a complete douchebag from the looks of it. They were of legal age and had one drink. If your of legal age I say drink it’s wine not everclear, or bacardi I mean it’s legal and you’re the adult here. In Russia this would of been a joke. In Russia you can drink anywhere you like and the drinking age is 16. What is this crap? Stuff like this just pisses me off! What are we living in the prohibition era?
Well, you’re not in Russia. Most Americans would take not having the ability to drink at 16 over the life in Russia. And where is the moderator when someone calls a fellow coach (who he/she doesn’t know) “a complete douchebag”.
First of all, The drinking age in Russia is 18. Second of all, if you get cought drinking you get in trouble and the substiquent punishment follows after.
My first impression is there must be more to the story. It seems like a great opportunity to teacher these athletes and young adults an important lesson. Being of age to drink or only having one drink isn’t the point. Understanding that there are rules, regulations and policies that need to be followed is the point. When you sign onto a program, a job, etc you must abide by the rules or go elsewhere. If it was a first offense it would seem an extreme punishment. Maybe a one meet suspension would have been more appropriate. As seniors in college it means they are preparing to enter the workforce, an environment that is must less forgiving of rules and regs… Read more »
They will be fortunate to enter the workforce . No doubt they can show their thing in various internships & thus be able to say to a job interviewer –
‘I made a mistake , I have learnt through that & the 42 internships that rules mean me also . I have joined The Ohio Temperance League & will never drink alcohol again.’
At 29 & 8months of age they will finally get a paying position & become stalwart upright citizens . Just in time before their lives end at 30 they just exist ( like the rest of us) .
Gina, There is a great misconception among the young that they deserve to walk out of college and into a high paying job. Very few people have emerged from college into an economy that was strong enough to offer that kind of opportunity. The vast and I do mean vast majority of people “earned” what they have today. Most of us scraped by while we built our skills, built on our knowledge and built our reputations over years of proving ourselves in the workforce.
This isn’t about alcohol consumption (a classic right of passage in college) it’s about maturing and understanding that you will face rules you agree with and disagree with throughout life. You have the right to… Read more »
It’s her team; leave her alone and let her discipline athletes as she sees fit. The UC administration can follow up, not a bunch of gossip mongerers and second guessers on this website.
New coach but NOT new to program. Was the training trip’s seniors dinner a UC tradition that involved a (“a” meaning “one”) drink with dinner that was tolerated/condoned/accepted by coaching staff in the past? If so, and expectations/consequences had changed with the coaching change, then were those expectations/consequences clearly communicated? If they weren’t, then this year’s seniors were destined to screw up. It’s possible that both parties have life, leadership and professional lessons to draw from this.
I certainly agree that a rule is a rule is a rule. But rules demand clarity, communication and effective application; otherwise they are nothing more than gray areas and fuzzy edges where both leaders and the led are all doomed to fail.
No, the previous coach did not tolerate alcohol and you can be sure he would have a)sent anyone who was drinking home and b)would have also doled out significant punishment. Further, I graduated only a few years ago and this was not a tradition.I cannot imagine the expectations/rules were unclear.
If a person can not handle 7-10 days of a training trip without a drink then they have a problem. Follow the rules! As a former college swimmer and coach I bet it involved more than one drink and “celebrating the grind” sounds negative but even meant positively, it would best be left for after the season.
“the real mistake they made was not being NCAA qualifiers.” Palleros alleges. I had to laugh at that since very few swimmers anywhere are qualifiers and it is a easy out. They had one qualifier last year so maybe throwing her under the bus. Always easier to deflect the blame than to take it.
Maybe it is overblown, maybe not, we… Read more »