COACH CLEARED
Players upset U of W probe finds no problems
Several players and parents associated with the University of Windsor women’s hockey team say they were shocked and appalled that an investigation dismissed their allegations of mental and verbal abuse by Lancers’ head coach Deanna Iwanicka.
Dakota Rouse was one of four players mentioned in a report that was sent to Michael Khan, the dean of human kinetics.
“I was so confused by it,” Rouse said of Khan’s letter to the players. “I literally lived through the abuse. It was pretty much hell. It’s like they didn’t care about our health and safety.”
A copy of Khan’s letter to the complainants was provided to the Star.
“On the basis of the totality of the evidence, the investigator does not find that Iwanicka engaged in a course or pattern of vexatious comment or conduct with respect to any of the complainants during the 2018/19 hockey season,” Khan wrote. “The investigator does not find that the complainants were targeted, subjected to ongoing abuse or demeaning/belittling language or bullying by Iwanicka.”
Peter Rouse, Dakota’s father, couldn’t believe it.
“I was so disappointed,” Peter said. “He’s taken her word over all the other girls.”
Peter said players and parents were given the impression the university had called for an independent investigation.
John Coleman, the university’s director of public affairs, told the Star in March that “an outside investigator has been appointed.”
However, a person with knowledge of the situation said the woman who conducted the investigation is a workplace mediator under contract to the university whose Linkedin profile says she works at a law firm and describes herself as a “workplace investigator.”
Retired kinesiology professor Marge Holman helped the players navigate their complaints through the proper channels.
“I think there has been no justice for the students at all,” said Holman. She asked Khan for the full report from investigator Marilee Marcotte but was denied. “It looks like he cherry-picked from the report, but I don’t know. There’s absolutely no accountability anywhere. I just don’t trust that an internal investigation is going to be balanced.”
Holman, a former OUA head coach herself, also questioned the mediator’s familiarity with the dynamics of a sports team and the power structure that exists between coach and players.
“Athletes complain all the time, but there’s just too many red flags on this one,” Holman said. “I’m still not blaming anyone, now I’m blaming the process.”
Dakota Rouse said that, as the season wore on, she suffered from “some major depression.”
Under Iwanicka, Rouse said she rarely saw ice time, felt threatened with the loss of her scholarship and said she suffered from verbal abuse by Iwanicka, including one occasion at practice where the coach said “you’re sh- -” in front of her teammates.
“I’ve never seen her so broken,” said Peter Rouse. “To see her crying as she’s coming out into the lobby after a game because of all the mixed signals. She’s not one to cry. My heart was broken.”
Reagan Kaufman and Meredith Goldhawk were two senior members of the team who also complained about Iwanicka’s treatment of players.
“It was awful to see how my teammates got treated,” Kaufman said. “She’s very manipulating with her words and actions. It’s all mind games and it absolutely kills your mental health.”
Kaufman said she was “really upset” by Khan’s letter and noted a number of players and two coaching staff had quit the team.
Goldhawk described Khan’s response as “pathetic. It was very, very disappointing, it didn’t deal with the main stuff, the big stuff.”
In announcing a large incoming recruiting class of 11 players last week, Iwanicka told the Star’s Jim Parker that, “at the end of the day, it wasn’t an abuse investigation. It was related to the school’s harassment policy. At the end of the day, it was unsubstantiated.”
Attempts by the Star to reach Iwanicka for comment on Khan’s letter to the players were unsuccessful.
An email to Khan seeking comment noted he was out of the office until June 24.
The affected group of parents and players is now considering taking their complaints to Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
Coleman said the university had no comment on any possible involvement by the ministry.
“This is a human resources issue and we do not discuss HR issues in the media,” he said in an email.
Holman said the players have a right to be heard. They kept confidentiality while the investigation was ongoing but that responsibility ended when the report was filed.
“This is their story and they can tell it anyway they want,” she said.
I literally lived through the abuse. It was pretty much hell. It’s like they didn’t care about our health and safety.