Texas Tech has fired the head coach and assistant coach of its women’s basketball team, after a scathing report chronicling claims of physical, mental …
Texas Tech has fired the head coach and assistant coach of its women’s basketball team, after a scathing report chronicling claims of physical, mental and verbal abuses against players was published on Wednesday. Head coach Marlene Stollings was fired Thursday; the termination of assistant coach Nikita Lowry Dawkins was announced Friday morning. A third staff member, strength and conditioning coach Ralph Petrella, resigned in March at the end of the season. A collaboration between The Intercollegiate and USA Today Sports, the report is based on documents including exit interviews with former players and interviews with current players, former staff and current parents and paints the picture of a toxic and abusive environment. Among the allegations, the coaches punished players whose heart rates dropped below 90% of capacity during playing time for more than 2 minutes, leading players to try to elevate their heart rates by jumping up and down unnecessarily and avoiding taking painkillers in the hope the pain would affect the heart rate.
