UVic Women's Head Coach under investigation for abuse and harassment

[limegreenspeed]

This has occurred at American university rowing programs but I think this is the first example of it at a Canadian university.

UVic has the top Canadian women's university rowing team, their men are in the top three. It will be interesting to see how this shakes down. I think Williams has had some success with the women and he's well known as the stroke of the 2004 second place Olympic four and well known within the rowing community.

https://www.martlet.ca/celebrated-vikes ... 6-H7j402BA

[Big Koala VI]

This has occurred at American university rowing programs but I think this is the first example of it at a Canadian university.

UVic has the top Canadian women's university rowing team, their men are in the top three. It will be interesting to see how this shakes down. I think Williams has had some success with the women and he's well known as the stroke of the 2004 second place Olympic four and well known within the rowing community.

https://www.martlet.ca/celebrated-vikes ... 6-H7j402BA

Yikes. I rowed under Barney a bit and thankfully I never saw that side of him. Maybe that's because he was sort of an assistant coach at the time and didn't have the full authority?

The alleged coaching style sounds similar to the way Spracklen was described by his detractors (who was the head coach for Williams' 2 quadrenniels on the national team), but the specific interactions are a whole other step beyond that.

[fatherrowsbest]

Wasn’t he at Cornell?

[Big Koala VI]

Wasn’t he at Cornell?

He was the "Interim Staley Head Coach of Women's Rowing" at Cornell for a season, yes.

[fullmetal]

Those are pretty specific and verifiable incidents that form a pattern of unacceptable behavior...I have no reason to disbelieve those who are seeking administrative action

[Prettyinfiveseat]

I’m Betting this happens at a lot of colleges and clubs but the complaints seem to fall on deaf ears of the AD’s because they think it’s just a bunch of crybaby females and the AD’s always back the coaches because they don’t want a mark on the college.

[asdad123]

It's odd at a top school too.

You cant really make the argument that they didnt have a winning mentality or don't know how to work hard, if they have a relatively strong history of recent success.

[Big Koala VI]

Those are pretty specific and verifiable incidents that form a pattern of unacceptable behavior...I have no reason to disbelieve those who are seeking administrative action

I don't doubt accusations either. This does remind me about a story I heard several years ago regarding Barney and a coffee filter, but I would have thought he would have smartened up in the decade since.

[Long'n Strong]

Some people are simply not cut out for the coaching profession.

[fullmetal]

This is more than that though. Even outside of coaching as a profession, how can you function in a position of oversight where you aren't transparent/objective/fair with performance metrics and where you don't care for people as human beings...?

[Stewie Griffin Should Cox]

Some people are simply not cut out for the coaching profession.

Many.......I laugh at all these athletes who start Team Building and Business Change consultancies based on their athletic exploits when it was indeed their coaches who built the programs they rowed in and created the teams.

I am sure there is much exaggeration in this accusation but its been proven countless times that great athletes often don't make great coaches. In all sports.

[sandor]

This is more than that though. Even outside of coaching as a profession, how can you function in a position of oversight where you aren't transparent/objective/fair with performance metrics and where you don't care for people as human beings...?

...This sounds like the employment situation for many of the middle class in the US.
Management doesn't care & there is no obvious career advancement.
If you speak up, you will be made redundant.
No wonder wages for middle America have generally stagnated over the past decades.

(point mostly being that 1/2 of managers/bosses are below average too

[limegreenspeed]

Some people are simply not cut out for the coaching profession.

Many.......I laugh at all these athletes who start Team Building and Business Change consultancies based on their athletic exploits when it was indeed their coaches who built the programs they rowed in and created the teams.

I am sure there is much exaggeration in this accusation but its been proven countless times that great athletes often don't make great coaches. In all sports.

Passion for and success in a sport are easy to spot on a resume and in an interview. Classic example of using irrelevant information to make a decision, not saying that that is what happened here, Williams had coaching experience with Cornell's women, Canada's development program and the UVic men.

Will this story make letting go of Williams inevitable? Friendly and cushy relationship with the head of athletics at the university, lack of transparency around the process they're going through to investigate the allegations. If this story hadn't come out I would bet he'd have been back - looks bad for the team and the university sports if their brand new coach is let go so early.

[asdad123]

Some people are simply not cut out for the coaching profession.

Many.......I laugh at all these athletes who start Team Building and Business Change consultancies based on their athletic exploits when it was indeed their coaches who built the programs they rowed in and created the teams.

I am sure there is much exaggeration in this accusation but its been proven countless times that great athletes often don't make great coaches. In all sports.

Passion for and success in a sport are easy to spot on a resume and in an interview. Classic example of using irrelevant information to make a decision, not saying that that is what happened here, Williams had coaching experience at Cornell's women, time with Canada's development program and the UVic men.
.

But even coaching experience, while obviously relevant can be misvalued, especially in rowing since the athletes' starting point makes such an impact. If you're lucky enough to coach a relatively fast team, as long as the team doesn't implode, you look like a good coach regardless of if you're getting the best out of your athletes. If I replaced Gladstone tomorrow, what's the worst yale would finish at IRA? But i'd still be able to tell an AD that I coached a top 15 team (I don't know if that's too high or low?) and how many would know that doesn't make me a good coach?

Also not saying that's what happened here, your comment just made me think of it, and its an interesting topic.

[okayrower]

If you coached Yale to a twelfth or thirteenth place finish at IRA, the AD would certainly notice and think it was a steep decline. Regardless of the situation, the impact of the coach will have an effect, and after a few years a coach owns all of the the team’s results.