Six current or former players for the University of Louisville women's lacrosse team have accused coach Kellie Young of abusive behavior and intimidating tactics, according to The Courier-Journal.
Among the claims are that she made a player with a torn ACL do 250 push-ups in an airport terminal, abandoned a player during a road trip, called players vulgar names and used vulgar terms when talking about their parents, and that she made teammates sign a contract promising to not speak to each other.
Young denied the bulk of the claims made in the report to The Courier Journal and two of her current co-captains backed her up, saying her handling of the team was intense but manageable.
Young, in her seventh year with the team, told the paper, "I tell my leaders, 'It's acting. I'm just trying to get a reaction out of you. If you're going to be mad at me, great ... if that means you're gonna play harder.' "
Making the case even more curious is that Young was previously supervised by former assistant athletic director Julie Hermann, who faced her own abuse claims linked to her time as volleyball coach at Tennessee.
The claims nearly derailed Hermann's start as the new athletic director at Rutgers, where, surprise, she was taking over for Tim Pernetti, who resigned his post over the backlash of an abuse scandal on the men's basketball team he did little to stop.
One parent produced an email from Hermann they say made it seem like something would be done about Young.
An excerpt:
"Please be assured that this is not new information to us and therefore has been part of the ongoing dialogue along with a mass of other information we have acquired and are working on. [The team has] two competitions this weekend and then we will make a determination on how the program goes forward."
Young, who renewed her contract with a base salary of $100,000 over the summer, told the paper that the only criticism she's received from administration was a request to stop cursing around players. She said she met with Hermann over parents' complaints, but that she was not disciplined.
