University of Oregon
ACHA M1 • NULL
Date: September 4, 2026
Would Recommend
I watched this coach for four years as the parent of a player who was a starter and played significant minutes. I say that upfront because negative reviews of coaches are too easily dismissed as coming from athletes or parents unhappy about playing time. That was not the issue here. What I witnessed was a coach who identified certain players early and treated them very differently, regardless of ability or contribution. A small group received warmth, friendship and extraordinary personal attention. Others were subjected to hostility, humiliation and intensely personal criticism. Players seemed to be either in her inner circle or a target. This went far beyond demanding coaching. I witnessed public humiliation, a lack of empathy, players being pitted against one another, and personal feelings affecting how athletes were treated. I also witnessed comments and patterns of treatment involving race that I found deeply disturbing. Over four years, I saw enough to become concerned that race played a role in how certain athletes were spoken to and treated. There were serious issues around body image as well. I became aware of multiple players who developed disordered eating while in the program after being subjected to comments about their bodies. These were young women navigating Division I athletics, often away from home for the first time, while attending a rigorous academic university. They deserved better. Perhaps the most disturbing realization came when parents finally began talking to one another. For years, many of us thought what our athlete was experiencing might be isolated. Only later did we discover multiple families had been having versions of the same experience. There was a collective realization: Why didn’t we know? Why didn’t we talk sooner? Why didn’t we go to the athletic director together? Several of us deeply regret that we didn’t. Separate from her treatment of players, I also did not consider her a strong developmental or tactical coach. Over four years, I watched talented athletes stagnate or regress. Opposing teams frequently appeared better coached, making tactical adjustments and using their depth while our players were left visibly exhausted. Too often, personal preferences seemed to interfere with decisions that should have been about developing players and winning games. College athletics should be hard. Coaches should demand excellence, hold athletes accountable and push them beyond what they think they’re capable of. Humiliation is not accountability. Discrimination is not intensity. Body shaming is not player development. And creating an environment in which selected athletes are psychologically worn down while others are welcomed into an inner circle is not good coaching. My greatest regret as a parent is that we didn’t understand the full picture soon enough to act collectively. Knowing what I know now, I would never recommend that another family entrust their daughter to this coach.