OT: Cynthia Cooper ($)

[SaveFerris]

Former star at SC and WNBA. I haven't read all of it but more than enough to come to a conclusion of wow.

This is a The Athletic article ($).

*Content warning: This story contains graphic language of a sexual nature.

Former players accuse Cynthia Cooper-Dyke of demeaning, demoralizing and abusive behavior

WNBA legend and Hall of Famer’s alleged actions led to a Title IX investigation at Texas Southern.

theathletic.com

 

[kougkurt]

Behind pay wall

 

[SaveFerris]

Yup. It's an article from The Athletic. I would post an excerpt but, I doubt it would pass guideline.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Yup. It's an article from The Athletic. I would post an excerpt but, I doubt it would pass guideline.

I've done so without reprecussion.

 

[FnuLnu]

I've done so without reprecussion.

They introduced here as the WNBA's Michael Jordan.

Rest of it was about her talking about sex as coach (something Michael Jordan as coach would probably do)

Did that at most of her stops including USC.

Probably will end up coaching AAU on the Eastside if CoachEd has his way.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

They introduced here as the WNBA's Michael Jordan.

Rest of it was about her talking about sex as coach (something Michael Jordan as coach would probably do)

Did that at most of her stops including USC.

Probably will end up coaching AAU on the Eastside if CoachEd has his way.

Did a Google search.

She used words.

*yawn*

 

[triscuit one]

Totally apples to oranges here, but I had a DB coach in high school that was frustrate over our inability to catch ints in practice one day. Had us run laps and as we left he told our "dumb asses" we needed soft hands and could pratice at home by grabbing our "momma tits". That she could help us develope softer hands. Simpler time.

 

[TrumpCoug]

Totally apples to oranges here, but I had a DB coach in high school that was frustrate over our inability to catch ints in practice one day. Had us run laps and as we left he told our "dumb asses" we needed soft hands and could pratice at home by grabbing our "momma tits". That she could help us develope softer hands. Simpler time.

Did it work?

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

I was on mobile before, but I just want to expand on this:

She isn't the first high level coach who has coached women and has now been ratted out as being abusive, there was the Oregon distance track coach as well. That guy had a long track record of producing winners over several decades, but now he's a monster. He dared to tell an athlete she may need to mind her weight, and yelled at her to get her to train harder.

Now we have this woman, who much in the same vein, uses harsh words and yelling to motivate - she isn't the first but possible may be the last if this trend continues.

I guess my questions are this: if she hurts you're wittle feewings, why doesn't widdle baby go pway somewhere else? Also, what exactly are the expectations of these kids? Is this the end result of years of participation trophies?

 

[SaveFerris]

I was on mobile before, but I just want to expand on this:

She isn't the first high level coach who has coached women and has now been ratted out as being abusive, there was the Oregon distance track coach as well. That guy had a long track record of producing winners over several decades, but now he's a monster. He dared to tell an athlete she may need to mind her weight, and yelled at her to get her to train harder.

Now we have this woman, who much in the same vein, uses harsh words and yelling to motivate - she isn't the first but possible may be the last if this trend continues.

I guess my questions are this: if she hurts you're wittle feewings, why doesn't widdle baby go pway somewhere else? Also, what exactly are the expectations of these kids? Is this the end result of years of participation trophies?

I think I understand where you are coming from. There are situations where fragility is more in play. I don't think this is the situation in this case. It's not just the words although the context some were used is disturbing IMO. She seemed fixated on her players sex lives or sex was her go to as a way to marginalize players. Of course, without seeing and hearing it maybe it wasn't as bad as it reads?

There were also some other tactics used that look like she abused her position. From the article:

1. There were also allegations that she and her staff doled out excessive punishment that team members say endangered players’ physical and mental health. At UNC-Wilmington, one such punishment drill – log rolls up and down the court – caused a player to vomit repeatedly and some of the skin on her knees to rub off. At USC, one player felt so wronged by Cooper-Dyke after her punishment that the player repeatedly punched a bleacher until her hand bled while Cooper-Dyke watched.
2. At USC, where Cooper-Dyke coached from 2013-17, she also harped on some players’ sex lives and named one of the team’s plays “hot sex.” She called some players “retarded” and once mocked people with special needs. She also pressured some players to practice when they were injured or returning from an injury.
3. Thaddesia Southall was, like Cooper, once a prized local prospect, a forward from Long Beach Poly. But by the time Cooper-Dyke arrived at Heritage Hall, Southall was a senior academically but had missed two full seasons because of serious knee injuries – in 2012-13 she had surgery after her body rejected a ligament graft to repair her ACL. Going into the 2013-14 season, doctors had her on a methodical plan to return to action, but Cooper-Dyke insisted she return to practice in violation of the doctors’ orders, Southall says, and threw her out of some workouts and practices, telling her if she couldn’t go hard she had no use being there.

She even threw staff out of practices if they questioned her and players if they asked questions telling them to f*** off and that they were a sorry b****. Cooper has a compelling story as a player having overcome a lot of adversity. IMO, she simply wasn't a good fit to coach and was allowed to get away with it for far too long. I'm not putting this on players being too sensitive. There were too many players impacted and incidents IMO for that to be the case.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

I think I understand where you are coming from. There are situations where fragility is more in play. I don't think this is the situation in this case. It's not just the words although the context some were used is disturbing IMO. She seemed fixated on her players sex lives or sex was her go to as a way to marginalize players. Of course, without seeing and hearing it maybe it wasn't as bad as it reads?

There were also some other tactics used that look like she abused her position. From the article:

1. There were also allegations that she and her staff doled out excessive punishment that team members say endangered players’ physical and mental health. At UNC-Wilmington, one such punishment drill – log rolls up and down the court – caused a player to vomit repeatedly and some of the skin on her knees to rub off. At USC, one player felt so wronged by Cooper-Dyke after her punishment that the player repeatedly punched a bleacher until her hand bled while Cooper-Dyke watched.
2. At USC, where Cooper-Dyke coached from 2013-17, she also harped on some players’ sex lives and named one of the team’s plays “hot sex.” She called some players “retarded” and once mocked people with special needs. She also pressured some players to practice when they were injured or returning from an injury.
3. Thaddesia Southall was, like Cooper, once a prized local prospect, a forward from Long Beach Poly. But by the time Cooper-Dyke arrived at Heritage Hall, Southall was a senior academically but had missed two full seasons because of serious knee injuries – in 2012-13 she had surgery after her body rejected a ligament graft to repair her ACL. Going into the 2013-14 season, doctors had her on a methodical plan to return to action, but Cooper-Dyke insisted she return to practice in violation of the doctors’ orders, Southall says, and threw her out of some workouts and practices, telling her if she couldn’t go hard she had no use being there.

She even threw staff out of practices if they questioned her and players if they asked questions telling them to f*** off and that they were a sorry b****. Cooper has a compelling story as a player having overcome a lot of adversity. IMO, she simply wasn't a good fit to coach and was allowed to get away with it for far too long. I'm not putting this on players being too sensitive. There were too many players impacted and incidents IMO for that to be the case.

Look, I don't think her coaching style is largely effective, but you realize that you/the article made her responsible for a player punching a bleacher. Again, she used words and the players were free to leave at any time.

I don't have a whole lot of time or patience for these stories because we have kids yelling abuse because the coach calls them a pu$$y.

 

[triscuit one]

I didnt take his advice, but it did lead to a conversation about hot moms who might want to help the team out. And I know a few of us ask our female friends if they thought we had soft hands and asked if they could help us in our football training.

Did it work?

I didnt take his advice, but it did lead to a conversation about hot moms who might want to help the team out.

 

[SaveFerris]

Look, I don't think her coaching style is largely effective, but you realize that you/the article made her responsible for a player punching a bleacher. Again, she used words and the players were free to leave at any time.

I don't have a whole lot of time or patience for these stories because we have kids yelling abuse because the coach calls them a pu$$y.

Coaches swearing is nothing new and it's not like players ears are unfamiliar with swearing. I haven't heard of coaches acting the way Cooper was across multiple programs though. I thought excerpts that weren't "words" driven would help with the overall context of Cooper's actions.

What I took away from the player punching the bleacher was how Cooper responded by watching and doing nothing to stop it. Just seems like a strange lack of response to me but in the end it's 1 event. The scale of her actions is what's make this disturbing to me.

IMO, I believe Cooper is maybe an example of why a lot of really good players have no business coaching. They often don't have the patience or temperament for coaching and can struggle to understand and manage their players inability to pick up things with the ease they would be able to. I'm probably biased toward that direction because I know someone who probably would have fallen into that category but figured it out before making coaching a career.

 

[jourdand]

I was on mobile before, but I just want to expand on this:

She isn't the first high level coach who has coached women and has now been ratted out as being abusive, there was the Oregon distance track coach as well. That guy had a long track record of producing winners over several decades, but now he's a monster. He dared to tell an athlete she may need to mind her weight, and yelled at her to get her to train harder.

Now we have this woman, who much in the same vein, uses harsh words and yelling to motivate - she isn't the first but possible may be the last if this trend continues.

I guess my questions are this: if she hurts you're wittle feewings, why doesn't widdle baby go pway somewhere else? Also, what exactly are the expectations of these kids? Is this the end result of years of participation trophies?

Thats not coaching its bullying! No place for people like that in athletics or society!

 

[wsudefense]

Sounds like she’s a hot pistol in the bedroom. Just saying, taking her personal fantasies to the the practice.

 

[FnuLnu]

Women's basketball has 15 schollies.

And Texas Southern women's basketball team has one NCAA appearance where they lost their only tourney game by 89 points.

Seeing the bottom tier up close is never pretty.

Sister publication The UnAthletic will probably provide the next article on this program.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

They introduced here as the WNBA's Michael Jordan.

Rest of it was about her talking about sex as coach (something Michael Jordan as coach would probably do)

Did that at most of her stops including USC.

Probably will end up coaching AAU on the Eastside if CoachEd has his way.

You misspelled WokeEd.