In a shocking move, former Carmel (Ind.) high school coach Ray Lawrence has been added to USA Swimming’s list of “permanently suspended or ineligible individuals”. Lawrence is a member of the Indiana Swimming & Diving Hall of Fame, and by most accords amongst the best high school coaches of all time (though he always considered himself an age-group coach at heart). He is the highest-profile coach to turn up on USA Swimming’s banned list since former USA Swimming National Team Directory Everett Uchiyama.
USA Swimming has not made any public statements as to why Lawrence was added to the list, though they did state that the violation occured prior to the publishing of their official Code of Conduct, meaning it happened prior to 1999. The full list of violations can be found in the Code of Conduct. Violations include things like sexual abuse (or any other crime) involving a minor, a sexual relationship with an athlete, any number of drug or alcohol violations (especially those in the presence of athletes), physically abusing athletes, illegally recruiting athletes, or discrimination against certain athletes.
What’s even more shocking about this accusation is that USA Swimming apparently has information that Lawrence’s current employer, the CIESC that is in charge of the Indiana Online Academy, has no idea where the accusations are coming from, according to a statement released to Indianapolis’ News6. That’s a bit of a scary issue, because even if USA Swimming is working to clean up the sport and improve communication, it would be odd that a banned coach’s current employer would learn about it from a phone call by a reporter.
(Update: Further correspondence with parties who have knowledge of the issue has indicated that USA-Swimming has, in fact, done a more-than-satisfactory job of handling this situation, which was only brought to their attention recently. Though there’s still a lot of work to be done, it’s all about giving credit where it’s due. It sounds like USA-Swimming is due some “kudos” for their handling of this case. Look for more to come to light in the next few months, when its appropriate.)
Lawrence won a total of 11 Indiana High School titles from 1979 to 1995. That total does not include the 1995 Boys State Championship that Carmel High School was forced to vacate due to the presence of an ineligible transfer student. The student was granted permission to swim by a lower court, after claiming that Indiana transfer rules violated his constitutional rights, before a higher court overturned the decision: allowing the IHSAA to force a forfeit of the season. The issues do not appear to be related.
Lawrence is not the first coach connected with the Carmel Swim Club to come under much fire in the past year. Former Carmel coach Ken Stopkotte was arrested in November on charges that he defrauded a different Indiana High School out of $17,000 in pool rental fees while in the position of head coach there. Stopkotte’s name, too, is likely to show up on this list in the near future.
The USA Swimming list has now ballooned to 56 from the original 46 when USA Swimming first released the list in May of 2010.
The full list, with references to infractions, can be found on the official USA Swimming website.
I don’t know the details, but it’ll be considered a sexual assault on a minor if she were under 16 at the time and he was over 21 (a Class A Felony in Indiana has no statute of limitations). Is Ray guilty? I would like to think not, but only the people involved know for sure.
What Ray did was wrong period…Can we stay away from “victicm” status for a young lady who seduced a man and twenty years later cried foul. Ray should have known better but let’s not let one poor desicion foul an otherwise good man. 16/17 is only a child in the eyes of the law…she knew what she was doing and should have kept her mouth shut then and now.
Many repetitive poor decisions, and its the adults responsibility to act in a proper manner.
Braden, I can’t believe he negotiated a deal to unlist the reason for the ban. He got away from it criminally due to the statute of limitations. He got away with it civily due to the 2 year statute of limitations. He got away with it in the form of public opinion as USA Swimming won’t post the reason for the ban. There was only one article in the Indianapolis Star that didn’t list the reason. I have a feeling there will never be another article and the issue will never be resolved with respect to publishing what he actually did. Please stay after this story. We all owe it to the victim (or victims). How did Carmel continue to… Read more »
Why doesn’t the list of Banned Coaches in USA Swimming list the offense for Ray Lawrence? What are they hiding?
Agree with your previous points. This one bad deed outweighs all of his good deeds.
I’ve spoken with the victim’s attorney, and he wanted to make sure to express that USA Swimming (as I added above) has handled this situation as well as they could have asked for. The reason no offense is listed is because Lawrence’s attorneys made the argument that because the Code of Conduct wasn’t in place at the time, there wasn’t a specific offense. He didn’t challenge the ban, just the listing of which section of a then-non-existent code of conduct.
Pretty bogus, but probably an argument that holds up in court.
USA Swimming has messed up a lot with regard to athlete safety, but in… Read more »
John,
We all thought we knew Chris Wheat very well also. When something like this happens, it’s hard to say we “really know that person”. Stop defending Ray. Jealously has nothing to do with it. I too thought he was a great coach, inspirational and motivation speaker. This allegation trumps all the great things he did…sorry.
Dr Joe,
I agree with you totally. Tamisa was one of his assistant coaches and I’m sure she feels very loyal to Ray. I’m also sure Ray was responsible for the sucess of many coaches and swimmers. Having said that, whatever he did especially if it involves sexual misconduct with a minor takes away “everything” good he ever did. It’s disgusting even if it happened 20 years ago. Unfortunately, the statute of limitations for a criminal act has tolled and he will never pay for this crime or be brought to justice. I can’t understand how Speedway hired him as a principal right after he resigned from Carmel HS. The due diligence ….well…there was simply none in Speedway’s search… Read more »
Really lady? Raping underage swimmers doesn’t outweigh your feel-good memories of him? IF THESE ALLEGATIONS DO PROVE TRUE, I don’t care what else he did in his career. This should, and will, be his only legacy. That coach who won lots of titles and raped his swimmers.
If you feel any differently, then I hope to god that you aren’t still coaching and working with kids…
As a beginning teacher and coach back in 1985, it was a privilege to work for and with Ray Lawrence. To this day, I carry the work ethics, dedication, and passion for excellence that Ray modeled on a daily basis. During the years of coaching with Ray, our coaches were more a family than a staff. This happens because of a great leader. Twenty-five plus years later, I still am grateful for the opportunity to coach with Ray and I hold dearly the memories of our caoching family. Whatever the current situation, you cannot take away what he has meant to so many swimmers, families, and colleagues.