University of Southern Indiana
NCAA DII • OVC
Date: June 16, 2026
Would Recommend
Tags
I’ve been a swimmer for coach Cam for 4 years and very quickly he changed from caring about my academics, health, and swim career to making me feel bad about being sick or injured, wanting me to skip classes for swim practice, and only giving me feedback that consisted of “move your arms faster.” He wanted doctors notes when I was sick and to see the doctor’s assessment which I didn’t feel comfortable with. He told me to keep pushing through my injury and just stretch more when my pain was deeper than that and I lost all feeling in my arm. He complained that I was fine walking and going to class but not able to swim and I was cherry picking when I decided to be injured. I told him I was struggling with chronic pain and it affected my daily life like eating, sleeping, writing notes, and I was going to the Athletic Trainer and PT/OT to help but he didn’t believe that I was really in that much pain. He constantly thought I was lying about my illnesses, injury, and even class schedule when I had some unavoidable class conflicts that prevented me from going to swim practice. He didn’t believe that my labs were 3 hours long and lecture/clinicals/simulations were mandatory. He wanted me to make-up simulations/labs/mandatory class hours that were impossible to do by myself. I understand if this was because the team was traveling to a meet or something but no this was for everyday practice. When I started having more clinicals and class simulations, his perspective of me got even worse because I stood up for myself and wasn’t willing to skip class or clinicals for swim practice. He told me that I wasn’t committed enough to be on the team, didn’t understand why I needed to be in class that much, and wanted me to leave 10 minutes before my class to shower, change, and run to class or to clinicals. He accused me of taking too much time in the locker room to get ready for class when I needed to brush my long hair, change into clothes, and walk to the other side of campus to my class. He said that girls take too long in the locker room and it’s unacceptable behavior. He is balding and doesn’t have long hair so he does not understand how long it can take sometimes to look presentable before class. My professors will sometimes have job recruiters visit us during class time so it’s helpful to look somewhat nice. He didn’t support my academics at all and said I could pursue a Nursing degree and swim at the same time but he lied. He admitted that he knew nothing about the USI nursing program and it was very different to the other universities he’s worked at. He lied about me being able to balancing Nursing and swimming because he wasn’t supportive in this balance and always had swimming over my classes, illnesses, and injury that caused me to fall behind in my classes and study schedule because I lost the ability to write and sleep through the night. He told me that it was my decision to be unable to fall asleep due to immense pain and I should have showed up to practice whether or not I was crying out in pain or sleep deprived and couldn’t feel my arm. We would meet about my class/clinical schedule every week and he would repeatedly tell me to quit or transfer and go home because I had a hard week ahead of me and he didn’t think I could handle the academic load or keep up with the other swimmers who didn’t have class conflicts. I tried to attend open hours when I would miss team practice, but he doesn’t even leave the practice papers out for me to have something to do and I’d end up swimming by myself. My senior year, I had even more class/clinical conflicts with swim practice so I bought a membership to another nearby pool and swam there when I could to prove my commitment to coach Cam. I did this until my injury became too much and that’s when I had all the pain and numbness in my arm. Even before I was injured, I wasn't getting faster, didn’t feel stronger in the pool, and didn’t get any effective technique advice from coach Cam. I had another teammate teach me how to do a proper backstroke start because coach Cam didn’t have the time or equipment to do so. My teammates are the ones that built up my confidence, pushed me in the pool to go faster, and supported me as a student and as a swimmer. Coach Cam stopped caring about me as a swimmer when I wouldn’t give up my academics for swimming and stood up for myself when I was sick or injured. He always thought I was lying to him and would accuse me of skipping practice when I actually was in attendance but he didn’t even notice or remember me. To conclude, if you are a swimmer or parent who values your education or your health, don’t swim for Coach Cam. He says he cares and supports you but it’s fake and doesn’t last once you hit an obstacle like a hard class/major, illness, injury, or even family emergency. Coach Cam sees you as a swimmer who can go “this time” and then has no empathy or respect for you once you disagree or stand up to him about his coaching style, values, or lack of respect for you and the rest of your life outside of swimming. He is also lying to recruits and freshmen that they can pursue Nursing and swimming at the same time but he is the one that gets in the way of this. He will want you to skip lab, class, or clinicals just to go to swim practice or he will say that you can only swim for the first 2 years but once junior year starts then it’s all Nursing program and no swimming. He says that this is because you can’t be committed to or work towards both but actually he won’t put in the work or effort to schedule more than 1 practice time or extend open hours and leave the practice papers. Do yourself a favor and don’t swim for him or hit the transfer portal as soon as you can!