The University of California Berkeley administration has come under fire over the last month following the allegations facing head women’s swim coach Teri McKeever, and now another high-ranking athletics employee is facing similar claims.
A UC Berkeley team doctor was placed on leave in December, the Southern California News Group (SCNG) recently learned, according to Global Circulate, as the school hired a law firm to conduct an investigation into allegations of misconduct against the physician.
Dr. Kent Scheff, an associate team physician for Cal’s athletic teams, was placed on “investigatory leave” on December 15, a school spokesman told SCNG.
McKeever, who is alleged to have verbally and emotionally abused swimmers throughout her 29-year career as the Bears’ head coach, was placed on administrative leave on May 25.
Cal told SCNG that Scheff remains on investigatory leave as of Friday.
The investigation into Scheff was prompted by complaints last year by female student-athletes at Cal who alleged misconduct by the doctor, according to a UC Berkeley athlete who has been interviewed by attorneys hired by the university.
Cal hired the same law firm it did to launch an investigation into McKeever, Munger, Tolles & Olson, to investigate Scheff.
“We are investigating a confidential matter on behalf of UC Berkeley regarding allegations of misconduct involving a UC Berkeley medical provider,” Mungur, Tolles & Olson attorney Jamie Luguri wrote in an email to a Cal athlete, according to SCNG. “We believe you may have relevant information.”
The documents obtained by SCNG did not detail the nature or extent of Scheff’s alleged misconduct.
He joined the Cal sports medicine staff in 2017.
Cal Berkeley Athletics Director Jim Knowlton said the investigation into McKeever could take “up to six months” at the beginning of June. It has now been over six months since Cal placed Scheff on investigatory leave.
McKeever is accused of verbal abuse, emotional abuse and bullying, including several swimmers who have trained under her claiming they were driven to suicidal thoughts by the way they were treated by the coach.
In the wake of McKeever’s allegations, numerous Cal swimmers have entered the NCAA transfer portal as they explore options elsewhere, including most recently 2022 NCAA Championship runner-up Izzy Ivey. One of the best collegiate swimmers in the country, Olympic gold medalist and two-time NCAA champion Maggie MacNeil, changed her decision to come to Berkeley for her fifth season of eligibility and instead went to LSU.
Jesse Moore, who was hired as an assistant coach at Cal in mid-April, is serving as the acting head coach while McKeever is on leave.
This is a disgusting response https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/06/25/attorney-alleges-uc-berkeley-coach-teri-mckeever-is-the-victim-of-gender-bias
How many athletic departments have had this much turmoil all at once? You have allegations against athletic directors (the allegations by Cindy Tran were awful), a head coach, now an athletic department Dr. Rip the bandaid off now Cal and start by firing the AD. It basically doesn’t matter if he is directly at fault, he has lost control of the organization and doesn’t seem to have been paying attention.
and this just 2 years ago…
https://www.ktvu.com/news/surviving-the-game-ktvu-investigates-allegations-of-abuse-in-cals-soccer-program
Burn it down 🔥🔥🔥
And to move on from the issue below — how in the fresh hell does Knowlton still have a job? Maybe an alumni with more money than me can explain how.
The link in the story for Izzy Ivey is an admin WP link.
Also, maybe we should nuke the Cal athletic department from orbit. Just to be sure.
click on her name
I understand I can do that.
Stories shouldn’t have admin links in them.
Hey there, I’m not sure what you’re referring to. When I click on Ivey’s name or link at the bottom, her bio pulls up properly (even when I’m not logged in).
When I clicked on the link to the latest story, not her name, I got the W login page.
Got it. Should be fixed now.