But Stone has made it relevant! Thanks, Katey.
The former coach is set to make an announcement and tell her side of the story (it seems?) tomorrow! (So I better get this done today!) She will be accompanied by her lawyer and three former players from different eras of her tenure at Harvard.
I really have no idea what she will say so I am just going to throw out some predictions (I've been listening to a lot of podcasts about the Emmys so I am in that mode).
- she will largely deny the allegations against her (more on those below) and sue Harvard for wrongful termination (or something like that since she technically retired)
- she will use the presence of the three former players to bolster those claims
- she will "apologize" to those who misconstrued her behavior as racist or her coaching style as violent and abusive
- actually scratch that last part--I have never seen a coach acknowledge that their coaching style might actually be damaging their athletes
- she will announce the foundation of some kind of academy or organization for women in hockey that she is working on with the three women by her side
Now back to that originally scheduled post from 18 months ago!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part II of my series on the revelations that Harvard women's hockey coach created a toxic culture in her program, seemingly from the moment she arrived, is focused on the accusations and how they fit into my findings from a study of coaching in women's DI hockey that I conducted as a masters student at Simmons College.
Here is a list of the accusations*
- in accusing her players of a lack of respect, she said there were too many "chiefs" and not enough "Indians"
- fostering an environment of hazing which included a Naked Skate in which players were forced not only to skate naked in the empty arena but also slide across the ice
- other hazing: forced alcohol consumption, public costume wearing, role playing with sexual overtones
- body shaming
- causing such emotional distress that players sought mental health services and then ignoring players' mental health needs
- a system of favoritism that resulted in uneven disciplinary measures being applied
- negative motivation
- downplaying injuries (including concussions) so as to compel players to return early
- encouraging teammates to gang up on one another
The administration was complicit in these behaviors. Some of the former players (there were 16) who talked to the Globe reporters said they filed reports about Stone's behaviors but nothing was done. The public response by the AD, Erin McDermott, is an indication why:
"Our current women's ice hockey team has not fostered a culture of hazing. However, it is clear that some traditions in recent years were experienced differently by different people and not all were comfortable with those activities or with expressing concerns relating to the program."
Translation: "sorry" you felt compelled to skate and slide over the ice naked and that you could not trust any of us in positions of power to make that stop. Oh, and that skating and sliding on ice naked was uncomfortable FOR YOU. We're not doing that anymore. Maybe.
This is not just a Stone issue--no coaching problems are ever isolated to the coach. Despite similarities to the behavior of former Rutger's men's basketball coach Mike Rice, this situation only resulted in Stone's departure. At Rutgers were was a more widespread cleaning of house before they brought in a women AD as evidence of that cleaner house. I guess Harvard doesn't really know what to do since is already has a women AD.
All these accusations are horrible. None are surprising. And they are likely not specific to ice hockey (though ice hockey has been known for some truly horrible hazing "traditions").
The women I spoke with for my study over a decade ago reported similar things. No one talked about hazing but a frequent conversation was about coaching behaviors that included incessant yelling--and not just to be heard in a game; yelling in practices, yelling in locker rooms, yelling on buses. I heard about yelling that was accompanied by other violent behaviors including the throwing of trash cans in locker rooms.
The other big issue I heard about was treatment during injuries. In addition to pressure to come back that happened verbally, there was some passive aggressive tactics used. Players reported that coaches would simply ignore them if they were injured, even when they were physically there for rehab or team meetings. If a player was not healthy, she was not on the team. Healthy as in playing--most of them were never truly healthy because they were pressured to return to play sooner than was medically advised.
I talk about this issue a lot in my ethics class. Many students are future athletic trainers and we discuss the implications of letting coaches override medical advice. It is a rampant issue in intercollegiate sports that is underreported and discussed.
So while the stories about hazing and racism made the most headlines in Spring 2023, we should refrain from creating a hierarchy of badness here. All of them caused damage and were unacceptable for anyone who is supposed to be an educator.
* Annoyingly, the specifics of the abuses are difficult to track down because The Boston Globe, which did the investigation, is behind a paywall and the subsequent articles that reported on how the allegations forced Stone to retire just focus on her accomplishments as a coach.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So there it is. I had initially planned for a part III in which I explain how abusive behavior works against the best interests of a coach and muse on the concept of success.
I may still do that but I will definitely be back to talk about this press conference. (Hopefully sooner than next summer!)
No comments:
Post a Comment