(05-16-2025, 12:09 PM)Sakibomb25 Wrote: Not sure how I feel about this hire. Part of me feels he should have known about the gambling scandal and the culture. There are some reports that he knew about it and turned a blind eye... then threw the team under the bus. But of course, those are just rurmors. The biggest concern is the women's team did not improve at all under his tutelage.
The biggest indicator for me this upcoming season is will our swimmers improve and also how well can he recruit? We'll see how this one pans out...
I went back to the earlier reports of the Harvard problem. This is from the
school's AD's press release:
Quote:The coaching staff participated in and fully cooperated with all aspects of the external review. The review found that the staff was not aware of gambling or the scope and extent of other troubling behaviors because team members effectively concealed such behaviors from the coaches and staff through concerted efforts. According to the review, when the staff became aware of certain isolated incidents of unacceptable conduct, they treated them seriously and professionally. We appreciate the continued service of the staff to our women’s swimming and diving programs and our men’s diving program during these difficult times.
Ok, if you accept that he wasn't aware, then the issue is why wasn't he aware? There's not much time that the swimmers would have together that wasn't at the pool or on a trip. A defense for lack of knowledge would be that it was only his 2nd year at Harvard. He and the swimmers were still getting to know each other. The swimmers may have feared letting him get wind of it.
What I didn't see was when the betting on results started. Did it start after he arrived? Did it start in a vacuum just before he arrived?
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I will remind people that legendary coach Richard Quick came to Stanford (from UTexas) not long after there was controversy at Texas about whether he was asking the swimmers (female) to monitor their weight. IIRC, he was not asking them to report it to him, but for them to weigh themselves. Some of the swimmers objected quite publicly, and Richard made changes.
I knew Richard from the late 1960s as a club coach and then followed his career. He and I arrived at UTexas (grad school for me) about the same time, and then to the Stanford area about the same time (I was never a Stanford student though). Back when I swam on an opposing club, he had the highest integrity and was generally beloved by his swimmers (whom I knew) and by opposing coaches. Obviously, as his career progressed for decades, he was well respected by the swimming community, across the US and internationally.
I am hopeful the same will be said about Lindauer in 50 years.
(05-16-2025, 03:02 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote: The Swimswam comments are pretty damning. Not a single compliment for Lindauer and a number of negative comments from athletes who said that they swam for him.
The release does say that the offer is contingent on Lindauer passing a background check.
Ouch.... you're right.
Most damning is one comment that is listed under what the post claims to be the poster's real name. The name matches a member of the ND men's team (Senior last year). He wrote "The men’s team kept it a secret that Lindy and other coaches knew about the gambling in order to protect the future of the program."
If I were the NCAA, I'd flag that as a failure of those swimmers to cooperate with the investigation and open the whole thing up again.
