Gardner-Webb Softball Coach Not Retained After Investigation Into Alleged Student-Athlete Relationships

The former softball coach at Gardner-Webb University’s contract was not renewed after an investigation uncovered that she had allegedly pursued romantic relationships with multiple student-athletes and coaches within the softball program.

Bailey Wigness was at GWU for parts of six seasons and was reportedly placed on leave during the 2026 season. She did not coach in the Big South conference tournament and her contract is set to expire at the end of June.

Softball On SI contacted the university multiple times and did not receive a response.

The seriousness of the allegations reach beyond a coaching change at Gardner-Webb. Claims that a coach allegedly engaged in inappropriate relationships with student-athletes at three different programs raise concerns about the responsibility universities have to protect student-athletes and how they respond when concerns are brought forward.

Because the allegations span 11 years and involved multiple student-athletes at different schools, they have become matters of public interest that speak to accountability, especially in a sport where coaches play such a vital role in an athlete’s collegiate experience.

Can confirm that Gardner-Webb head coach Bailey Wigness was not at the Big South conference tournament.

GW has not responded to an email request from Softball On SI. https://t.co/QiNnMaZwyz
— Maren Angus-Coombs (@Maren_Angus) May 9, 2026

In an email from a former student-athlete who played for Wigness to Gardner-Webb athletic director Brendan Fahey and senior associate athletic director Clare Alaimo, dated May 17, 2026, and obtained by Softball On SI, concerns were raised about Wigness having inappropriate relationships with at least four student-athletes at three schools.

Annicka McLaughlin, a senior on the 2026 GWU softball team, confirmed the investigation with Softball On SI and said administrators met with the team before the first game of the conference tournament on May 6 to say that Wigness would not be coaching in the postseason.

McLaughlin shared that “one or two” players filed a complaint during the season which launched the investigation but her personal experience playing for Wigness was great.

“I was confused because none of this is true,” McLaughlin told Softball On SI about the investigation. “The people that had reported, I think, didn’t get as much playing time and their relationship with Coach Bailey probably wasn’t as close. They probably had a little bit of resentment. It’s college sports, not everybody is going to play 24/7. All of the allegations were false. I don’t think they even found anything substantial to even use. At least, that’s what I think from the people who got interviewed and what I know.”

Before GWU, Wigness was the head coach at South Carolina Beaufort and was an assistant coach at Boise State.

Softball On SI spoke with seven people who played for or worked alongside Wigness at one of the three schools. Six of them agreed to speak on the condition that they not be identified.

Four of the sources are former student-athletes who believe they were victims of Wigness based on a pattern of behavior that included targeting athletes, isolating them, pursuing a romantic relationship and then cutting players who found out.

Brooke (a pseudonym) met Wigness at Boise State in 2015, where she worked as an assistant coach for three seasons (2015-18). Brooke and Wigness formed a close bond shortly after meeting. Brooke was far from home and had a family situation that was on her mind.

“She had a work phone so we would message quite frequently,” Brooke said in a phone interview. “I guess one day, her work phone was going to die when we were messaging, so she gave me her personal number. I would say after that happened, there was a shift in what we could talk about because we weren’t being monitored.”

Within a month of exchanging personal numbers, the relationship developed into a romantic one. The two kept their relationship a secret for four years and it stayed that way until after Brooke graduated from Boise and moved with Wigness to South Carolina.

Wigness was hired by South Carolina Beaufort as head coach in August 2018 and in 2020, she met Haley (a pseudonym).

Haley started at USCB in August 2020, looking for a fresh start. Her dad had passed away and she was searching for a place to call home. Her girlfriend, Nicole (pseudonym), transferred to Beaufort in January 2021.

It didn’t take long for Nicole to see Wigness paying extra attention to Haley.

Once the spring season started, Haley felt like she was playing well and really loving her experience at USCB. Then, Wigness started inviting her over to watch her dogs.

“I was kind of alone in South Carolina,” Haley told Softball On SI in a phone interview. “So, if I was ever upset about something, she's like, ‘You should come over and play with the dogs.’”

Haley really noticed a change in her relationship with Wigness as she was asked to attend multiple workouts a day and to stay after practice. Before she really understood what was going on, they were sitting in the training room together, holding hands and then she had the garage code to her house.

“I would go over there and watch her dogs, and sometimes Bailey would actually be there, even though she told me she wasn't gonna be there. Then it started being like, ‘You should stay for dinner,’ and then she would drink. It was always one of my things that I didn't drink during season, but she would have a beer, and we would have dinner together. Sometimes (Brooke) was there.”

As the season progressed, Haley was invited to watch the dogs more. The days she was invited over coincided with Brooke’s work schedule. She was a first responder and worked 24-hour shifts.

“We would eat breakfast in her office together at school, and it would be an every morning thing, and then it would turn into, like, oh, come, watch the dogs.  Or can you go take the dogs for a walk? And then she'd come home. There were times when I stayed the weekend to watch her dogs.”

Other players grew suspicious of Wigness and Haley. In the middle of the season, Nicole had had enough and the couple broke up. Despite knowing in her gut that there was something between Haley and Wigness, Nicole confided in her coach.

In March 2021, Nicole texted Wigness and told her how “crushed” she was by the breakup and how she blamed herself for it falling apart.

A text exchange between Bailey Wigness and Nicole. A name redacted by Softball On SI. | Submitted

Wigness told Nicole to “relax” and to give Haley space.

“Trust me,” Wigness added. “I know you're hurt but just give her time.”

The events that transpired next were shocking, as Nicole wasn’t the person responsible for reporting the relationship to USCB but she felt like she was punished for it.

In May, Nicole was kicked off the team for what she believes had nothing to do with softball and everything to do with knowing about the affair.

“Bailey wanted me gone to get closer to Haley,” Nicole said in a phone interview with Softball On SI. “It all just fell in her lap as a way to get rid of me without drawing attention to what she was doing. It was the perfect storm.”

Wigness needed to leave Beaufort before more people found out. She interviewed for the Gardner-Webb job before the 2021 season ended and was introduced as the head coach on May 28.

Nicole continued to give Haley space over the next two months. It was July 4 when Brooke walked in on Wigness and Haley. Haley, under the direction of Wigness, was dressed in her coach’s clothing and pretending to be hungover from the night before.

The secret was officially out. Both Brooke’s and Nicole’s suspicions were confirmed.

A photo captured by Haley of a message left by Brooke painted on a mattress after catching Wigness in the act. Softball On SI has redacted part of the image. | Submitted

Softball On SI reached out to USCB and former athletic director Quin Monahan, who is now the athletic director at Francis Marion, for comment. UCSB responded by confirming that Wigness was the head coach at USCB from Aug. 22, 2018, through June 7, 2021. Monahan did not respond.

By the spring of 2022, Wigness was reportedly under investigation for multiple inappropriate relationships.

Blake (pseudonym) was part of the Gardner-Webb program in Wigness’s first year and they confirmed multiple inappropriate relationships.

“She attempted multiple inappropriate relationships with players,” they said in a message to Softball On SI. “She would always use the excuse of ‘watching her dog,’ and that became the well-known way of enticing them over.”

Blake also witnessed the mistreatment of one of the coaches on staff by Wigness, telling Softball On SI that Wigness had a romantic interest that wasn’t reciprocated and as a result, the coach was fired.

Justine played at Gardner-Webb during Wigness’s first season and while she was never in a relationship with Wigness, she noticed how her head coach developed “a weirdly close relationship” with one of her teammates. That relationship was reported to the administration during the 2022 season.

The report stated that a student-athlete “had a key to Wigness’s house” and would go over to “watch the dog.”

For Justine, the inappropriate relationship became more obvious in April 2022 when her teammate quit being friends with her.

“There was a really abrupt moment during the season where it kind of went from, you know, her being friends with me and being kind and stuff like that to all of a sudden being extremely rude towards me,” Justine said in a phone interview with Softball On SI. “She was giving me, like, an insane amount of attitude on the field, off the field, like, wouldn’t even really be able to look at me? And I realized that all of that as it was happening, the more she was getting closer to Bailey and the more their relationship was growing.”

Alexis (pseudonym) told Softball On SI that she is the one who reported Wigness’s inappropriate relationship to the administration during the 2022 season. According to Alexis, she met with former university president William M. Downs “at least three times and each meeting was documented.”

“One of my teammates would come over to my house and she mentioned having a key to Bailey’s house,” Alexis recalled in a phone interview with Softball On SI. “All of a sudden her and the rest of my team didn’t talk to me.”

Alexis became isolated and bullied by her head coach and teammates. When she was sick and asked someone to take her to the hospital, nobody responded. Then, one night during the season, several of her teammates showed up, tapping on the window of her ground-floor apartment and spam calling her, disguised as a man from a dating website. She called the police, a report was filed, and the security cameras revealed her teammates harassing her.

Campus police told Alexis that her coach would handle the punishment instead of them but nothing happened and instead, the treatment worsened.

“I had been telling the administration that Wigness just did not like me and was discriminating against me,” Alexis said. “I told them months before my exit meeting that this lady was going to try and take my scholarship. I drove two-and-a-half hours for her to sit across from me, look me dead in the face and tell me that they decided not to continue my scholarship.”

No reason was provided when Alexis asked Wigness why she was losing her scholarship and because she had been documenting her experiences all season, she left her exit meeting and went directly to the compliance office. Her parents drove to campus the next day to meet with Downs and Alexis was told she wouldn’t lose her scholarship despite Wigness’s wishes.

However, the administration did comply with removing her from the team, ultimately ending Alexis’s softball career for her at Gardner-Webb.

During that 2022 season, Brooke said Wigness called and asked her to vouch for her if anyone called to inquire about an inappropriate relationship with a student-athlete.

Brooke, without hesitation, told Wigness no and said that looking back at it now, she wishes she had spoken up sooner and prevented another softball career from being ruined.

“I had people in my ear trying to tell me to do it and I wish that I had,” Brooke said. “This was someone that I cared about and loved and I didn’t want to have it on my conscience to ruin their life but I told them if I ever heard of this happening again, I would.”

Haley and Wigness continued their situationship into her tenure at Gardner-Webb. Haley tried to end things multiple times but Wigness threatened to kill herself every time.

“In the beginning of August (2021), I was like, If you're gonna kill yourself, it's on you, I can't do this,” Haley recalled. “Like, this is not my responsibility. And that was the last time I ever spoke to her.”

Haley did reach out to Wigness one more time in November 2023 after she caught wind of the coach’s new relationship at Gardner-Webb.

“I swear to God, Bailey, if another athlete ever comes forward against you, I will be the first in line against you with every picture and screenshot I have as proof of your abuse,” Haley wrote in a text that she shared with Softball On SI. “If you make me relive those moments again because you're abusing another young woman, you better bet it will absolutely be worth my while.”

Brooke feels like her college softball memories are tainted. Nicole, Justine, Haley, and Alexis all feel like their college careers were stolen. Justine and Alexis quit softball after their experiences and all five feel like that could have been prevented.

It is important to note that not every player had a bad experience. McLaughlin is one who enjoyed her four years at GWU and reiterated that the allegations against Wigness that launched the investigation during this season are not true at all.

“I think how it went down was not the greatest,” McLaughlin added. “I just think it was extensive and not needed, to be honest… I think it came down to people not getting playing time and it affected how they felt toward her as a head coach.

“Coach Bailey is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had. She is so passionate about softball and her goal is to obviously win but also to make sure you, as a player, and her staff, too, are okay. If you messed up or did something wrong, she never held that against you or had any resentment against anybody. She was so forgiving of people and she’s literally a woman of God as well. You’re able to connect with her on all different levels, win or lose, softball, outside life, or random things. She’s an amazing person.”

Wigness was allegedly under investigation almost every year at GWU, according to Blake. It took a new athletic director, Fahey, and a new president, Nate Evans, less than a year to launch another investigation and place her on leave.

Softball On SI also reached out to former GWU athletic director Dr. Andrew T. Goodrich, who is now the athletic director at Akron, for comment and did not receive a response.

On June 1, 2026, Gardner-Webb released a statement stating “the contract of head softball coach Bailey Wigness will not be renewed when it expires at the end of June.”

GWU finished the 2026 season with a 32-25 record and was 128-165 in Wigness’s six seasons. Her best season came in 2024, when she led the program to its best conference finish since 2012, and was rewarded with a contract extension.

The athletic department is currently conducting a national search to find the next leader of the Runnin’ Bulldogs softball program.

Wigness did not return Softball On SI’s request for an interview.

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