Former Penn State swimmers are coming to the defense of head coach Tim Murphy and assistant Steve Barnes after three former members of the women’s team told PennLive the coaches bullied them and released them from the team without cause.
The mother of another former team member, though, said the accusations of mistreatment are similar to her daughter’s own experience.
In PennLive’s report on Wednesday, one swimmer said she was berated by the coaches and saw a psychologist after they refused to discuss criticisms with her. Another said she was berated in front of the team and a third said she was ‘blindsided’ when she was released from the team and told she wasn’t committed to the sport.
They also said the coaches had favorites and refused to take qualified swimmers to the Big Ten Championships. Penn State confirmed to PennLive that Athletic Integrity Officer Bob Boland is investigating the claims.
A former swimmer on the women’s team, however, told StateCollege.com that she was cut from the team after her sophomore season but had a very different experience.
‘The coaches are very transparent at the beginning of the season when it comes to rules and expectations of the athletes,’ the former swimmer, who asked not to be named, wrote in an email. ‘If you don’t meet those rules and expectations, you don’t get to travel. This also applies to Big Tens. This is a D1 program, this is not a ridiculous request.’
She said that bullying is a serious issue, but that in any sport there are reasons for a coach to yell at an athlete.
‘All athletes know that,’ she said. ‘Tim is a passionate coach and cares about his athletes. These are not causes for bullying in the slightest, but I do not feel as though I was ever bullied during my time as an athlete under Tim Murphy.’
She added that she doesn’t blame the three former team members for being angry about being cut, but that she doesn’t believe they would have been blindsided by it because the coaching staff was always open about cuts.
‘There seem to be other issues that need to be addressed with the current situation and team, but I do believe there is more to the story and it’s not all bad,’ she said.
Penn State All-American Shane Ryan, who represented Ireland at the 2016 Olympics, and former Nittany Lion Nate Savoy told PennLive on Thursday that they never witnessed coaches mocking or mistreating athletes.
Murphy was hired as coach of the men’s and women’s programs in the fall of 2013 after 15 years as head coach of the men’s team at Harvard. Barnes, who was previously head coach at Wabash College, joined Murphy at Penn State in 2013.
Both Ryan and Savoy were at Penn State before Murphy arrived and stayed throughout the remainder of their eligibility.
‘They are there to talk to. If they push you, it’s because they want the best from you,’ Ryan told PennLive.
‘This whole thing didn’t add up to me, because both of them were transparent with me and helpful, and Steve really thinks things through,’ Savoy said.
The mother of another former women’s team member told StateCollege.com that the accusations of bullying reflected her daughter’s experience. She asked that she and her daughter not be identified.
She said her daughter came to Penn State in 2013 after being recruited by the previous coaching staff. By the end of her sophomore season she ‘couldn’t take it anymore’ and transferred to another Division I school where she continued swimming and had a positive experience.
Her daughter and others were berated and belittled in front of the team and coaches refused to provide feedback, she said.
‘They would completely ignore her, not even acknowledge she was standing there,’ she said. ‘It was demoralizing.’
After training for years in a competitive club environment, her daughter did not have a problem taking criticism or being yelled at.
‘She’s used to all of that,’ she said. ‘Just to be ignored is humiliating.’
Coaches frequently threatened to cut team members and her daughter and others experienced fear and anxiety, she said, adding that a number of swimmers left the team between 2013 and 2015.
Like the three swimmers who talked to PennLive, she also said coaches would not take qualified swimmers to the conference championships. Murphy also would not speak to parents of swimmers who were not in his favor, she said.
‘It was a terrible experience,’ she said. ‘It was such a toxic environment.’
She did, however, credit Murphy for releasing her daughter from her scholarship when he could have refused and forced her to sit out a year before competing elsewhere.
Ryan and Savoy both told PennLive that Murphy and Barnes were welcoming to all team members.
They also said the team had a positive atmosphere and was nothing like the accusations made against former women’s gymnastics coach Jeff Thompson and his wife and associate head coach, Rachelle Thompson. Former and then current gymnastics team members, including the entire 2016 team, complained to the university about bullying and humiliation by the Thompsons. Rachelle Thompson resigned in June 2016 and Jeff Thompson was fired in February 2017.
‘I know what happened in the gymnastics program and that was terrible,’ Ryan told PennLive. ‘But this is different. Tim and Steve are great coaches and great people.’
