Field Hockey Coach's Firing: Two Civil Suits and Title IX Investigation
April 21, 2017 5:45 PM Subscribe
Tracey Griesbaum was fired from her job as women's field hockey coach at the University of Iowa due to complaints of being overly harsh to her players in practice. Her significant other Jane Meyer was senior associate athletic director; as events progressed, she was eventually fired as well. Both are now suing the State of Iowa, the University of Iowa, and Iowa Board of Regents. Meyer's trial got underway this week and Griesbaum will have her day in court later this summer. And there's more. Members of the field hockey team filed a Title IX complaint for the exact opposite reason their coach was fired, they want to be treated like their male counterparts and get yelled at.
The Reveal had a good episode on this case, article, if you prefer reading to listening.
posted by crush at 6:31 PM on April 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by crush at 6:31 PM on April 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Jane Meyer is on the board of trustees at her alma mater, a small Catholic liberal arts college that participates in the NAIA just 30 minutes from the U of I. They are currently in the middle of constructing a multi-million dollar athletic complex. I have it on very good authority that she is very involved and really knows her shit.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 6:37 PM on April 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Big Al 8000 at 6:37 PM on April 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Griesbaum was fired for allegedly yelling at her students, but there were no consequences for anyone in the football program after 13 players were sent to the hospital with rhabdomyolosis, a form of kidney failure brought on by overexertion. The university's official report said that a particularly intense workout was to blame, and players were told that completing the workout would be a test of their commitment to the team, but it was nobody's fault. These things happen! But a woman yells at players and it's a firing offense.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:58 PM on April 21, 2017 [77 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:58 PM on April 21, 2017 [77 favorites]
Wow. It takes a special kind of asshole to bring on exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis. It's insane that nobody lost their job over that.
posted by indubitable at 7:01 PM on April 21, 2017 [19 favorites]
posted by indubitable at 7:01 PM on April 21, 2017 [19 favorites]
It's insane that nobody lost their job over that.Oh god, no: this is Iowa. The football coach is still the football coach. He made almost $4 million last year and is (by far) the highest-paid public employee in the state of Iowa. The strength and conditioning coach who oversaw the workout is still the football team's strength and conditioning coach. (He makes a mere $600,000.) If you work a bunch of football players so hard that they all spend a week in the hospital, you're a really devoted coach who has what it takes to make winners. But apparently if you tell a field hockey player that her performance in a game made you physically ill, that's beyond the pale and you're fired.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:30 PM on April 21, 2017 [11 favorites]
In fact, Ferentz (Iowa football coach) just went on record that he's angry the NCAA took away two-a-days (two practices in the same day) and that the players all agree with him. Yeah, Coach. Sure they do.
posted by epj at 7:55 PM on April 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by epj at 7:55 PM on April 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
Perhaps they've cleaned it up since I lived there, but I remember the Iowa City water was particularly nasty. Has it finally taken its toll? I assume the university will raise tuition to force students to cover the cost of the lawsuits, same gameplan as when they jacked up athletic fees the semester after students tore down the goalposts at Kinnick.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:49 PM on April 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:49 PM on April 21, 2017 [3 favorites]
So I played field hockey at a fairly high level and I am lol'ing at anyone thinking yelling at players is abuse. It's a surprisingly brutal game: I have seen my coach pick up people's teeth off the ground and stuff them back in their mouth while continuing to yell at other players more than once. In under 16s. Plus yelling and being competitive is the culture. It's a super fun game but I've played ice hockey and field hockey and ice hockey is way safer and the coaches are nicer.
In short: there is no way she was legitimately fired for being "abusive" because unless she was like beating them with their own sticks when they lost she was 100% not the most hard core coach these girls had played for. The university is going to get their ass handed to them and it sounds like they deserve it.
posted by fshgrl at 10:14 PM on April 21, 2017 [7 favorites]
In short: there is no way she was legitimately fired for being "abusive" because unless she was like beating them with their own sticks when they lost she was 100% not the most hard core coach these girls had played for. The university is going to get their ass handed to them and it sounds like they deserve it.
posted by fshgrl at 10:14 PM on April 21, 2017 [7 favorites]
I have seen my coach pick up people's teeth off the ground and stuff them back in their mouth while continuing to yell at other players more than once.
That's terrifying.
posted by Kikujiro's Summer at 12:54 AM on April 22, 2017 [7 favorites]
That's terrifying.
posted by Kikujiro's Summer at 12:54 AM on April 22, 2017 [7 favorites]
Well, I exaggerate a bit but yeah they've definitely stuffed teeth back in there pretty casually because getting one knocked out seemed to happen often enough back then. Usually saves the teeth though! I think mouth guard technology may have come along some since then, hopefully.
posted by fshgrl at 1:08 AM on April 22, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by fshgrl at 1:08 AM on April 22, 2017 [6 favorites]
It takes a special kind of asshole to bring on exercise-induced rhabdomyolysis.
Crossfitters?
posted by thelonius at 2:38 AM on April 22, 2017 [11 favorites]
Crossfitters?
posted by thelonius at 2:38 AM on April 22, 2017 [11 favorites]
From the timeline linked in the lead of the post.
The investigation concluded that, while there was no policy violation, it was ‘concerning’ that several student athletes consistently reported an environment of fear and intimidation was created by Griesbaum, and that they felt pressured to play while injured.
It comes out that Griesbaum was fired after former players made allegations that Griesbaum verbally harassed them, bullied them, and pressured them to compete while injured. Other current and former student-athletes of Griesbaum’s dispute these allegations.
Elizabeth Altmaier, an UI psychology professor, says that parents of student athletes reported that their daughters kept silent about Griesbaum’s behavior for fear of retaliation by her partner, Meyer, who was still serving as senior associate athletics director
From the complaint link:
The argument has become a fight over method versus results. The UI has focused on the effects: players who left the field hockey program have been allegedly damaged. Former players have said that they required psychological counseling , a stunning claim that has not been denied by Griesbaum's supporters.
While, from a complete outsider's perspective it appears evident that UI was engaging in discrimination and should be punished for that, the whole notion of using male college athletics as a basis for what constitutes acceptable behavior makes me a little bit ill.
I certainly wouldn't deny that women should have the exact same rights to harass and abuse power as men do, the issue for me is why we accept that from men and give athletics such a pass on shitty behavior. I mean I know the answer, but it wouldn't be acceptable in most other areas of University or outside life and it shouldn't be in athletics either, even if some players are acculturated to it and find it thereby acceptable.
posted by gusottertrout at 3:06 AM on April 22, 2017 [18 favorites]
The investigation concluded that, while there was no policy violation, it was ‘concerning’ that several student athletes consistently reported an environment of fear and intimidation was created by Griesbaum, and that they felt pressured to play while injured.
It comes out that Griesbaum was fired after former players made allegations that Griesbaum verbally harassed them, bullied them, and pressured them to compete while injured. Other current and former student-athletes of Griesbaum’s dispute these allegations.
Elizabeth Altmaier, an UI psychology professor, says that parents of student athletes reported that their daughters kept silent about Griesbaum’s behavior for fear of retaliation by her partner, Meyer, who was still serving as senior associate athletics director
From the complaint link:
The argument has become a fight over method versus results. The UI has focused on the effects: players who left the field hockey program have been allegedly damaged. Former players have said that they required psychological counseling , a stunning claim that has not been denied by Griesbaum's supporters.
While, from a complete outsider's perspective it appears evident that UI was engaging in discrimination and should be punished for that, the whole notion of using male college athletics as a basis for what constitutes acceptable behavior makes me a little bit ill.
I certainly wouldn't deny that women should have the exact same rights to harass and abuse power as men do, the issue for me is why we accept that from men and give athletics such a pass on shitty behavior. I mean I know the answer, but it wouldn't be acceptable in most other areas of University or outside life and it shouldn't be in athletics either, even if some players are acculturated to it and find it thereby acceptable.
posted by gusottertrout at 3:06 AM on April 22, 2017 [18 favorites]
Yeah, seems to me she's being held to a double standard. Now, whether the standard she'd be held to if there weren't two sets of them is a problem is a different, no less legitimate question, but it seems pretty obvious there's no shortage of male coaches getting a pass for the same behaviors--in particular, the pressure to perform through injuries is baked into sports culture more generally. Nobody cares the science says it's not actually true that "That which does not destroy us makes us stronger," and it's actually the case that repeated injury has the opposite effect. The competitive mythology is that all those bruises and scars make you tougher in the end and that's not anymore Griesbaum’s fault or some kind of aberration from the norm in the world of competitive sports than tailgate parties or fantasy leagues.
posted by saulgoodman at 6:45 AM on April 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by saulgoodman at 6:45 AM on April 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
I mean I know the answer, but it wouldn't be acceptable in most other areas of University or outside life and it shouldn't be in athletics eitherWhen you say "it wouldn't be acceptable in most other areas of the University," do you mean harassing players, or do you mean having different standards for straight men and queer women?
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:56 AM on April 22, 2017 [3 favorites]
Am I mistaken, but the impression I got from the reporting is that Greisbaum was fired ostensibly for yelling but that everyone who ever worked with her or on one of her teams confirmed that the allegations were out of character and not in line with her coaching style. If so, it really does a disservice, both to the woman herself and to the larger issue of the assault on Title IX, to characterize it as "being fired for yelling".
She was fired for being a woman, or for being a lesbian, or because it offends the system to support women's sports (particularly with a seriousness approaching mens sports) and because all these things are true (you can be fired for being a woman, or a lesbian, or because your success offends the patriarchy), they can fire you for made up reasons that nonetheless pale in comparison with the documented behavior of men in similar professional roles.
I know, it borders on language policing, but it matters that the allegations were both mild and apparently untrue.
posted by crush at 7:28 AM on April 22, 2017 [4 favorites]
She was fired for being a woman, or for being a lesbian, or because it offends the system to support women's sports (particularly with a seriousness approaching mens sports) and because all these things are true (you can be fired for being a woman, or a lesbian, or because your success offends the patriarchy), they can fire you for made up reasons that nonetheless pale in comparison with the documented behavior of men in similar professional roles.
I know, it borders on language policing, but it matters that the allegations were both mild and apparently untrue.
posted by crush at 7:28 AM on April 22, 2017 [4 favorites]
Perhaps they've cleaned it up since I lived there, but I remember the Iowa City water was particularly nasty.Iowa City built a new water treatment plant in the early 21st century due to the vulnerability of the old one to flooding (they were able to save it from flooding in '93. but only due to /serious/ sandbagging efforts). The water from the new plant is excellent.
By the way, I got a little cute with my links. Please note that "Title IX" and "complaint" are two different links.
posted by Fukiyama at 7:48 AM on April 22, 2017 [1 favorite]
small Catholic liberal arts college that participates in the NAIA just 30 minutes from the U of I. They are currently in the middle of constructing a multi-million dollar athletic complex
There's your problem right there. When small catholic liberal arts colleges need to spend millions on sportsball facilities the rot has reached the core. Sports are a business for American higher education. They serve no public or student interest at all.
I guess I feel sympathy that this bully was discriminated against compared to the male bullies. But if you put my child in the hospital by working them too hard I'd be suing you no matter what your gender or sexual orientation. It's odd to see bullying defended on Metafilter, as much as I understand the other issues here.
posted by spitbull at 8:04 AM on April 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
There's your problem right there. When small catholic liberal arts colleges need to spend millions on sportsball facilities the rot has reached the core. Sports are a business for American higher education. They serve no public or student interest at all.
I guess I feel sympathy that this bully was discriminated against compared to the male bullies. But if you put my child in the hospital by working them too hard I'd be suing you no matter what your gender or sexual orientation. It's odd to see bullying defended on Metafilter, as much as I understand the other issues here.
posted by spitbull at 8:04 AM on April 23, 2017 [3 favorites]
I believe the issue is that she wasn't a bully, but is being described as one by those firing her. That the bullying accusations are seen as justification for her firing by a lot of people is a function of sexism; false accusations reflect worse on a woman that actual facts do on a man.
posted by Deoridhe at 12:52 PM on April 23, 2017
posted by Deoridhe at 12:52 PM on April 23, 2017
Reliable people on Twitter are saying that the jury just found for Meyer and awarded her $1.4 million in damages. That was not the outcome I was expecting, tbh, but it's good news.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 2:05 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 2:05 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]
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Between the president hiring scandal, the stripping of all bargaining rights for graduate students, and this fucking mess, the political actors and administration of this university can GO FUCK THEMSELVES.
I swear to god it's like the regents looked around and said, huh, this is a pretty good university with a lot of respected programs, interesting people, driven students, progressive politics, and inclusive sports programs. We better put a stop to all of that nonsense!
This is what happens when a pork kingpin hires a former chicken chain CEO to run a university. Let this be a lesson.
posted by Lutoslawski at 5:55 PM on April 21, 2017 [86 favorites]