Cal Athletics has released a statement in response to reports earlier today that head women’s swimming & diving coach Teri McKeever has exhibited a pattern of abuse of her athletes over “decades.”
The school says that it is taking the allegations seriously, but cannot comment on matters of this nature because of “campus policies and confidentiality requirements.”
While the statement says that “every member of our staff shares a strong commitment to the success of our student-athletes,” the OC Register’s reporting revealed that student-athletes did not receive support from the administration.
The Full Cal Statement is Below:
We are deeply concerned by what our student-athletes have reported to the Orange County Register. There is nothing more important to the university than the safety and well-being of our students, and it is that commitment which will guide and inform how we respond to all that has been reported.
The allegations described are serious and deeply disturbing in that they describe behavior antithetical to our values and policies. We are now, as always, encouraging current and former students to report behaviors and incidents that run counter to our policies and our values. We are now, as always, encouraging current and former students who may have been impacted to seek out support and assistance. We stand ready to help students in need connect with the appropriate campus resources and offices that offer support, guidance and assistance.
Unfortunately, due to stringent laws and policies protecting personnel issues and privacy, we are unable to address these allegations. We wish that were not the case given how serious these allegations are. Due to campus polices and confidentiality requirements, the campus cannot comment on matters of this nature (including whether a case does or does not exist) unless that case has resulted in a finding of violation of campus sexual violence/sexual harassment policy or nondiscrimination policy, and that case has resulted in disciplinary action.
Every member of our staff shares a strong commitment to the success of our student athletes – academically, athletically and developmentally. We have in place best-practice policies and procedures that enable Cal Athletics and the university to respond quickly and comprehensively when there are allegations of misconduct by coaches that are inconsistent with our values or applicable rules and policies.
This is happening all over ! Universities are just sweeping it under the rug and hoping no one will lift it up to see the devastating mess they have allowed to accumulate! Msu Moorhead in Moorhead, MN hired a bully of a coach in 2018. The former team he coached for celebrated when he left. Their celebration was all over social media. How can a University hire a new coach and not check references and not check PUBLIC social media postings of former athletes?! There have been multiple complaints over emotional and metal abuse, harassment, racial bias and slurs yet MSU Moorhead continues to look the other way. Their coach can come off really charming but that’s what all toxic… Read more »
In simple terms, some coaches need to grow up. As well, governing bodies need good people who have integrity who make it their job to be aware of coaches who exceed boundaries. In physical terms, I believe there is an orthopedic cost when athletes push themselves. Not saying it is wrong to do so, it’s part of the deal. But wear and tear may show up concurrently or become revealed later in life. Toughness and being competitive at the highest levels can be achieved in various ways from positive or negative external and internal forces. I have seen it both ways. Athletes, especially younger ones have shown themselves to be extremely resilient mentally and physically. But at some point the… Read more »
the swim coaches are at it again! admins need to take a close look at their SWIM coaches. former coach at SIU got cleared of s.harassment, disability discrimination, and retaliation. clearly a trend here… hopefully admin actually does something.
The administration handling of this keeps getting worse. From today:
“Recently hired Cal assistant coach Jessie Moore informed swimmers still in Berkeley there would be a team meeting Wednesday morning, according to four people familiar with the situation. Instead, swimmers showed up to find McKeever who asked them if they were “ready to swim,” according to three people familiar with the practice.
When the swimmers said they were told there would be a meeting, McKeever said she had already read a statement but then read what one swimmer described as a “basic” statement.
At that point, a majority of the swimmers walked out without training, according to three people familiar with the practice. Moore followed the swimmers, some of whom… Read more »
Translation: we knew and did nothing and plan to continue to do nothing and hope it goes away. Nothing in the law precludes Cal from saying they take the allegations seriously and are investigating, or putting the coach on paid leave until the allegations are resolved. Cal obviously going with “see nothing, say nothing” strategy.
Seems to be an issue across the country in all sports.
Head coaches have almost no oversight or accountability except with winning.
Assistant Coaches who try and stand up for athletes or say anything can be fired
Really needs to be a feedback loop from athletes to someone in admin, or ideally separate from athletics to hold head coaches accountable
Well said. As an assistant at a D1 school who was fired for saying something about the head coach, I have certainly lived this experience. There is NO accountability in the NCAA. How many humans must we break down and damage before we change the system? How many suicides? My heart breaks for these athletes.
Working under a bad head coach is almost as bad as swimming under one…nuff said
100 PER CENT
SafeSport 2020 ATHLETE CULTURE & CLIMATE SURVEY
In short… this is a known issue and has been going on for a long long time.
Too lazy to see if this has been said but Teri and member(s) of athletic department will ‘resign’ to either ‘pursue other interests’ or ‘spend more time with my family’ and it will be announced late on a Friday and, if possible, at the start of a three day weekend serving no other purpose other than to solidify the spinelessness of all involved.