05-25-2022, 01:58 PM
(05-25-2022, 01:18 PM)M T Wrote:(05-25-2022, 08:37 AM)newguy Wrote: according to SwimSwam, a highly regarded swimming site, McKeever is godmother to the eldest child of Cal Athletic Dept. #2 Jennifer Simon-O'Neill. but that doesn't mean there's favoritism or anything.
https://swimswam.com/teri-mckeever-is-go...-official/
That's a pretty low blow someone's trying to land.
If you are employed somewhere for 29 years, you might have a few close friends there. Does that mean favoritism??? Does Condelezza Rice's involvement with Stanford Athletics mean that anything goes for Stanford Athletics? Of course not.
As for 25%, 50%, 25%, that is a gross assumption of what is apparently going on. Not just the numbers, but also the assumption it is the "lower" part of her team that is complaining. (By the way, she's had more than 25 Olympians go through her program at Cal in the 29 years she's been there -- not that this is any excuse for even one athlete being abused.)
I am not defending McKeever as I know nothing about her except her coaching record. There are pretty serious claims in there. It seems disingenuous to ask for a comment from the target within 48 hours on a piece like this.
I did know Richard Quick (legendary swim coach at Auburn, Texas, and Stanford) somewhat. I was a swimmer on an across-town age-group team in the late 1960s. I knew his swimmers and saw his interactions with them and others at meets. At the time, he knew me. We would nod to each other when I would sometimes see him at the Stanford pool 30 years later but I'm sure he would wonder "Where do I know that guy from?". He was always a highly respected coach among his athletes and other coaches. However, he did have at least one world-class swimmer who cut her career short. She felt that Quick contributed to her eating disorder issues when he pointed out the impact of weight upon performance. And there was another world-class swimmer that famously transferred away from his program.
Not really sure what point you're trying to make about Richard Quick. What does that have to do with anything? There are 19 (nineteen!) swimmers who spoke to the reporters, and it was an interesting and almost certainly telling statistic that 42% of kids in her program haven't completed their eligibility over the last 10 or so years.
Don't think disclosure of the Simon-O'Neill relationship is a low blow in the slightest. Simon-O'Neill is supposed to be essentially McKeever's boss (or one of them), and when it turns out she's a close personal friend then it's fair to question whether she can be impartial in her assessment of complaints, etc. Clearly she dropped the ball.
Anyway, McKeever is done. No way she survives this. I'm not one to automatically think the coach is in the wrong when an athlete complains about a tough coach, but the sheer volume of complaints, the nature of the various complaints, and the number of athletes coming forward is damning.
