USA Swimming has updated its policies on the public reporting of temporarily and permanently banned coaches, a spokesperson for the organization told SwimSwam today. The change resulted in 9 new coaches being listed as suspended and 3 further being listed as permanently banned. The 9 new suspended coaches are all listed with ‘interim’ suspensions while undergoing the review process at the US Center for Safe Sport.
USA Swimming says that the move is intended to “better align their practices with those of the U.S. Center for Safe Sport.” Previously, USA Swimming would only add members to their public lists once all appeal periods had run out or all appeals had been resolved.
USA Swimming’s full explanation:
“Historically, the timeline of publishing a name to USA Swimming’s banned or suspended list was as follows: USA Swimming notified the applicable club and LSC and updated its member database immediately upon the ban or suspension of a USA Swimming member, but waited to publish the individual’s name on its banned or suspended lists until the decision was final (e.g., the appeal period had run or an appeal was resolved).
In an effort to provide more immediate notice and better align our practices with those of the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, USA Swimming will be publishing the names of banned or suspended individuals upon notification of their suspension.”
Inclusion in USA Swimming’s public lists no longer necessarily imply that appeals have been exhausted.
We’ve previously reported on all 12 names added to USA Swimming’s list, though the permanent bans of Eric Hill and Michael McCorvy are new information. In October, Jared Anderson published a thorough explanation of the US Center for Safe Sport’s investigations process and the meaning of several of their definitions. While the Center has taken up a high volume of cases since it was instituted as the official investigative body in Olympic sports for coaches accused of abuse, the Center has struggled to keep its public database current and in line with those policies explained to Anderson.
Hill is a former Florida high school coach at Boca Raton High School who was put under investigation this summer. The school ultimately chose to not renew his contract after allegations that Hill had a sexual relationship with a student in 2008, among other accusations of inappropriate behavior.
McCorvy had been listed as banned pending appeal, in the SafeSport database, and USA Swimming has added him to the list as well. McCorvy, who had been a coach at the Magnolia Aquatic Club in suburban Houston as the result of surfacing legal documents from a 1992 arrest on sexual assault and criminal trespass charges. The sexual assault charge was dropped by the state of Texas and he was sentenced to 1 year of probation. The USA Swimming Code of Conduct doesn’t require a criminal conviction to register a violation against a coach.
- SEE ALSO: Steven Lochte Among 8 Interim Suspensions in SafeSport Database
- SEE ALSO: Three More Names in SafeSport Banned Database, Two Removed
Suspended or Ineligible – Specific Date List
- Jeremy Anderson
- Bobby Bittner
- Peter Buecher
- Matthew Cook
- Nicholas Daddabbo
- Steven Lochte
- Rick Moulton
- Mark Schremmer
- Walter Winkler
Permanently Suspended or Ineligible List
- Johnathon Corbett
- Eric Hill
- Michael McCorvy