Furman University
NCAA DI - FCS • NULL
Date: June 4, 2025
Would Recommend
Tags
As a parent of a highly ranked motivated and respectful athlete, I have serious concerns about the coaching environment under Gail after our experiences. Unfortunately, her leadership has resulted in significant damages physically and emotionally to many of her former players. She acts one way to some and is completely bi-polar with others. Many talented players have been alienated, their confidence eroded rather than nurtured and her approach to team management has been inconsistent and unpredictable. While discipline and structure are essential to a successful team - this is what they all signed up for - there have been instances of complete chaos then imposed rigid ridiculous controls that are not even enforced, but we have heard recorded team sessions where she was screaming and acted completely unprofessional and ranting like a banshee...again never addressing the root problems and allowing her favorites off from serious ream rule violations. She absolutely has inappropriate relationships with certain 'favorite' students - discussing other players confidential information and approaching situations as if she is a wannabe teenager still, looking to bully others and retain her queen bee status. She is the queen of Relational Aggression and encouraging her favorite athletes to do the same. There are dozens of instances of this we have now heard of and experienced. She is known to engage in gossip regarding players' personal lives, fostering a culture of distrust and negativity, again she justifies this to herself and others I am sure as some form of weeding out those unworthy, but it's far more divisive than that underneath the 'coaching' banner. The way she speaks to athletes is crazy to hear from the distance across the field and from the many recordings we have of her interactions, we kept hanging in there hoping it would all pass - you work hard you play hard you earn your way but that never seems to matter once she targets you. From a parent/spectator perspective, Respect toward opposing teams, players, and other coaches should be a fundamental expectation in collegiate sports. However, Gail displays regularly disrespectful behavior, open mockery, and negative interactions with her athletes, and competitors speaking openly badly about other teams' players to her own team and parents. During our time there we watched her mocking and laughing at another team's senior day making fun of an athlete's Asian ancestry and using a mock fake accent to disparage their heritage. It has clearly become her unfortunate norm from reading other the reviews here. Continuous mixed signals in coaching style, lack of knowledge of anything other than attack in the game, constant comparison to her own supposed athletic prowess many years ago, frequent open negativity about athletes she doesn't like or who are not part of the popular clique, and an inability to maintain a professional distance from student athletes, or create any type of supportive environment have contributed to a toxic and narcissistic atmosphere surrounding her. Furthermore, interactions with parents have been dismissive at best, with a troubling pattern of gossip about both athletes and their families. A strong team culture requires leadership rooted in integrity, encouragement, and mutual respect—qualities that, regrettably, have not been consistently demonstrated. She once said that they were better off without those who had left but that fell flat after dozens of solid athletes left the program. She told me once horrible things about a top athlete's parent and about specific students. I could only imagine the lies she has spread about our athlete to others. We can only hope her new program takes these concerns seriously and monitors her actively after reading these reviews, and considers necessary changes to ensure a positive, constructive experience for current and future athletes. Unfortunately, it seems a pattern on repeat with this coach. She absolutely reads these then asks others to put in positive reviews to counteract the negativity. There truly are too many negatives to ignore now. She's already demonstrated again recently why she isn't widely respected or liked as a coach by not communicating or attending recent clinic where she had rsvp'd - showing a complete lack of respect for the club hosting, the athletes attending and the organization planning. These pattens are RED Flags that anyone closely associated in the lacrosse community should see. Regrettably many parents do not have that level of insight to recognize or hear these to see this side of things until their athlete is hurt by her inability to successfully manage a team as a professional coach.