Concerns voiced over McKeever probe
Swimmers question focus of investigation involving Cal coach
Multiple current and former Cal women’s swim team members said they are surprised and concerned that attorneys conducting an investigation into allegations that Cal’s head coach Teri McKeever bullied swimmers for decades have not asked them about Jennifer Simon-O’Neill, senior executive associate athletic director and the coach’s longtime close friend, or about athletic director Jim Knowlton’s handling of repeated credible complaints about McKeever’s alleged abusive behavior.
Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill, the swimmers, parents and their supporters maintain, enabled McKeever’s alleged bullying by repeatedly ignoring or dismissing complaints from swimmers, parents and other administrators and university employees about the coach or defending McKeever and her coaching methods.
Current and former Cal swimmers, their parents, and a former university administrator have also questioned the independence of the investigation of McKeever, citing conflict of interest concerns about the firm, Munger, Tolles and Olson, hired by the university to conduct the probe.
Brad Brian, a former all-conference Cal baseball player, is chair of Munger, Tolles and Olson, the firm’s top position. Brian is one of the Cal athletic department’s leading fundraisers and recently led a campaign to build beach volleyball and softball facilities for the school, according to the university. He is one of only two recipients of the Robert Gordon & Ida Sproul award for the “most outstanding contribution to the university,” according to Cal and Brian’s Munger, Tolles and Olson bio.
Allegations that McKeever bullied swimmers for more than a quarter-century along with other abuse cases involving Golden Bears coaches suggest that the university has a “systemic problem” that the Berkeley Faculty Association said needs to be “urgently” addressed by the school’s administration.
The Berkeley Faculty Association released the statement to the Southern California News Group in response to questions about Cal’s handling of the McKeever case as more than 50 current and former Golden Bears swimmers and their parents as well as former Cal administrators, coaches and employees continue to push for the firing of athletic director Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill, who until May supervised the women’s swimming program.
A former Cal administration official said top athletic department officials were aware of McKeever’s alleged abusive behavior toward athletes “for years.”
The swimmers and their supporters are also critical of Cal chancellor Carol Christ and Michael Drake, president of the University of California system, for not intervening in the McKeever matter.
“The silence speaks volumes,” said the former Cal administrator.
McKeever, who has guided the Golden Bears to four NCAA team titles, was placed on paid administrative leave on May 25, the day after the Southern California News Group reported that the coach has routinely bullied athletes throughout her 29-year career at Berkeley.
To date 36 current or former Cal swimmers and divers, 17 parents, a former member of the Golden Bears’ men’s swimming and diving squad, two former coaches, a former Cal administrator and two former Cal athletic department employees have told SCNG that McKeever, the only woman to serve as head coach of a U.S. Olympic swim team, routinely bullied swimmers, often in deeply personal terms, or used embarrassing or traumatic experiences from their past against them, used racial epithets, bodyshamed and pressured athletes to compete or train while injured or dealing with chronic illnesses or eating disorders, even accusing some women of lying about their conditions despite being provided medical records by them.
“Your number one job as an administrator is to protect the student athlete, the kids. There’s no way (athletic department officials) didn’t know if there’s that much information there, this was an avalanche,” a former university administrator said. “Everybody can’t be wrong. (Athletic department officials) were enabling Teri with their refusal to shut it down.
“This has to stop!” the administrator continued, their voice raising. “This has gone on for years.”
Swimmers and parents have also alleged that McKeever revealed medical information about athletes to other team members and coaches without their permission in violation of federal, state and university privacy laws and guidelines.
Nine Cal women’s swimmers, six since 2018, have told SCNG they made plans to kill themselves or obsessed about suicide for weeks or months because of what they describe as McKeever’s bullying.
“The Berkeley Faculty Association is deeply alarmed by allegations of abuse towards student athletes by coaches,” James Vernon, BFA chair, wrote in a statement to SCNG.”The cluster of cases around football, women’s soccer and swimming suggests there is a systemic problem that urgently needs to be addressed by campus. It is all the more disturbing given that the Chancellor continues to subsidize the athletics program $25 million a year, leaving aside the huge debt burden of the football stadium, while there is such an urgent need for more Title IX and mental health staff on campus.”
The Berkeley Academic Senate said in a statement to SCNG that “the interactions that have been described in the press are deeply disturbing and antithetical to UC Berkeley’s values as an educational institution. Yet it is also a fundamental value that all members of our community are entitled to due process when accusations are made against them and that due process is an important aspect of civil society. The Senate supports the university’s processes for reporting and addressing incidents of bullying. An investigation of the allegations against Teri McKeever is underway. We believe the investigation team has appropriate distance from the campus to be independent and the experience to provide a thorough and fair accounting of events. We look forward to an appropriate resolution in due time.”
Members of the Golden Bears’ women’s team have been told they will be coached by Dave Durden, Cal’s men’s head coach, and that the two programs will be merged at least for the foreseeable future, according to five people familiar with the situation. The move has not been announced by the university.
“Dave Durden will be acting as the Director of Cal Swimming which allows him and his staff to work directly with both the women’s and men’s swimming and diving programs while the current coach is on leave,” Cal spokesman Dan Mogulof said. “When programs are combined, the NCAA permits an additional coach to be on staff to support both programs, and that is what we are doing.”
U.S. Center for SafeSport investigators have also interviewed multiple current and former Cal swimmers as part of a separate probe into allegations that McKeever, the only woman to serve as head coach of a U.S. Olympic swimming team, repeatedly violated SafeSport rules regarding bullying, physical, verbal, and emotional abuse and retaliation. Cal retained Munger, Tolles and Olson in May. The investigation, according to the university, is being led by Hailyn Chen and Lauren Bell. Chen succeeded Brian as co-managing partner at the firm.
“I’m a proud alum of UC Berkeley and a supporter of Cal Athletics and gender equity,” Brian said in a statement. “I had nothing to do with our firm being hired to investigate the allegations against Coach McKeever, have played no role whatsoever in that investigation, and haven’t discussed the investigation with anyone at Cal. Partner Hailyn Chen, a national leader in investigations involving allegations of abuse, is leading the investigation. I am confident that Hailyn will conduct a thorough and neutral investigation.”
Christ and Knowlton have not been in contact with Brian since the McKeever investigation was launched, Mogulof said.
“The university never has, and never will seek to influence an investigation’s outcome,” Mogulof said. “We have a profound and non-negotiable institutional interest in learning the truth about serious allegations of misconduct and policy violations.”
Current and former swimmers and their parents have criticized what they describe as a lack of urgency with the investigation. Some of McKeever’s alleged victims said it has taken weeks for Munger, Tolles, and Olson and longer still to schedule interviews. Swimmers said they were told that investigators did not have their contact information, although the women had previously been contacted by Cal fundraising and alumni organizations.
“It is understood there is a strong desire for quick, concerted action,” Mogulof said. “Yet, as per the laws and policies that govern how we operate, and as per the norms that govern judicial and investigative processes on our campus and across our country, everyone is entitled to due process, and everyone’s right to privacy is protected. We do not have the ability to circumvent those laws and policies. Once all that is entailed in due process is completed, the leadership of the university is more than ready to be held accountable for ensuing decisions. For now, we wish to reiterate, that when the current leadership of Cal Athletics and the campus are made aware of allegations that policies have been violated, or of complaints about employee behavior, they respond quickly and appropriately, either through managerial intervention or through referral of the matter to appropriate campus investigative offices, when required.”
A former Cal swimmer said she spent nearly an hour of a 2 ½ hour interview explaining to investigators how college swimming worked. While some women interviewed by investigators have said they felt heard, others have said the interviews were more focused on damage control and limiting the university’s exposure in anticipation of lawsuits. One swimmer, who said she planned to commit suicide because of McKeever’s bullying, said she was shocked and enraged when an attorney questioned whether she was actually suicidal.
But current and former swimmers also expressed frustration that investigators’ questioning has primarily focused on McKeever and not on Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill, who the swimmers maintain enabled and defended McKeever.
Four Cal seniors on the 202122 roster met with Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill last spring and alleged bullying and verbal and emotional abuse by McKeever, according to three people familiar with the meeting. Knowlton told the swimmers that McKeever was just a hard, tough coach who they would appreciate in the coming decades, according to the three people.
Knowlton, a former West Point hockey player and career Army officer, has repeatedly talked about the importance of the studentathlete experience since being hired by Cal in 2018.
“Clearly, they’re just paying lip service to that,” the former administrator said. “Nearly 40 kids at Cal, all sharing something similar and awful, a desperate cry for something to be done. Jim and Jenny failed to protect them.”
Simon-O’Neill has often been referred to as “Title IX Jenny” around the Cal athletic department, according to swimmers and former Cal athletic department employees, a reference for her advocacy for women’s sports and women coaches.
“But when it came to protecting women,” the former administrator said, “nothing was done.”
Current and former Cal swimmers said when they went to Simon-O’Neill with allegations about McKeever’s abusive behavior the administrator either dismissed their complaints or cited McKeever’s record of winning NCAA and Pac-12 titles and producing Olympians.
“There has to be repercussions for this or else it just continues,” said a parent of a current Cal swimmer. “For SimonO’Neill it certainly seems like the fox guarding the hen house in the most obvious way. (SimonO’Neill) was there as part of the protective scheme.
“I don’t know how you don’t blame the leader of the organization. This looks like the defense of a coach who grew up with coaching philosophies that are no longer acceptable in modern swimming.
“It’s not like this came out of nowhere. Why didn’t the university do anything?”