Cal Fires Women's Swim Coach Teri McKeever, per Report by Orange County Register
The sad saga of Cal swim coach Teri McKeever allegedly bullying and abusing her athletes over a period of years has ended with her firing by the university on Tuesday, following an eight-month investigation.
McKeever was accused of inappropriate and damaging behavior by dozens of current and former swimmers, according to reports by Scott Reid of the Orange County Register, who also broke the story of her firing.
Former Cal women's swim coach Teri McKeever
Photo by Kirby Lee, USA Today
Reid published a letter sent by Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton to members of the Bears’ swim team:
“I’m writing to inform you that today we have parted ways with long-time women’s swimming coach, Teri McKeever. After carefully reviewing an extensive investigative report that was recently completed by an independent law firm, I strongly believe this is in the best interests of our student athletes, our swimming program, and Cal Athletics as a whole.
“The report details numerous violations of university policies that prohibit race, national origin, and disability discrimination. The report also details verbally abusive conduct that is antithetical to our most important values.
“I was disturbed by what I learned in the course of reading through the report’s 482 pages that substantiate far too many allegations of unacceptable behavior. I want to apologize, on behalf of Cal Athletics, to every student-athlete who was subject to this conduct in the past, and I want to thank everyone who had the courage to come forward and share their story with the investigators.”
Details of the newspaper’s investigation were troubling from the start. Last May 24 the publication revealed in the first of a series of reports that McKeever “allegedly verbally and emotionally abused, swore at and threatened swimmers on an almost daily basis, pressured athletes to compete or train while injured or dealing with chronic illnesses or eating disorders, even accusing some women of lying about their conditions despite being provided medical records by them.”
McKeever coached at Cal for 29 years and is one of the sport’s most accomplished coaches. She was the 2012 U.S. women’s Olympic coach and her Cal program produced 26 Olympians who combined for 36 Olympic medals.
But the charges against her by athletes were impossible for Cal officials to ignore, at least after they became public.
Cal put McKeever on leave on May 25, a day after the initial report was published. The school then hired a Los Angeles-based law firm to head the investigation.
According to the Orange County Register, nine Cal swimmers said in interviews they consider suicide because of McKeever’s actions toward them.
“I didn’t want to exist in a world where I had to see Teri every day,” former Cal distance swimming standout Chenoa Devine told the newspaper. “I didn’t want to be alive. I didn’t want to exist.”
Athletes said McKeever “allegedly verbally and emotionally abused, swore at and threatened swimmers on an almost daily basis, pressured athletes to compete or train while injured or dealing with chronic illnesses or eating disorders, even accusing some women of lying about their conditions despite being provided medical records by them.”
Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton
Photo by Kelly L. Cox, KLC fotos
Equally troubling is the charge by swimmers and their families that these alleged abuses were reported to Cal officials as early as 2010, according to the newspaper, and were basically ignored.
As a result, there is sentiment among some in the Cal community that the university also fire Knowlton and Jennifer Simon-O’Neill, whom the Orange County Register describes as McKeever’s close friend and executive senior associate athletic director, who had direct supervision over the Cal women’s swimming team for years.
Cover photo of former Cal women's swim coach Teri McKeever by Kyle Terada, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo