AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
I’m Ayesha Rascoe, and that is The Sunday Story from UP FIRST, the place we transcend the information of the day to deliver you one large story. And only a heads up, right this moment’s story consists of mentions of sexual and emotional abuse, suicide and bullying and consists of specific language.
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RASCOE: We know all too effectively the tales of the sexual abuse of college athletes.
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ARI SHAPIRO: A former U.S. Olympic gymnastics group physician pleaded responsible to little one sexual abuse in Michigan state court docket right this moment.
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RENEE MONTAGNE: Child intercourse abuse fees have now stained a legendary story of college soccer, the long-running success story of Penn State.
RASCOE: In some instances, the violation of athletes by individuals who had been purported to take care of them went on for years. Sometimes these with energy to cease the abuse did little or nothing. How might this have occurred to so many athletes and for therefore lengthy? Today’s story requested that very same query, however we’re speaking a few completely different type of abuse of energy.
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LEYLA HERRERA: I’ve seen her name us ineffective, silly, incompetent once we could not full a drill at her stage. I’ve seen my teammates crying.
RASCOE: When we come again, take a look at the difficult subject of emotional abuse in college sports.
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RASCOE: We’re again with The Sunday Story, and becoming a member of us now are reporters Julia Haney and Elizabeth Santos. They’ve been investigating the difficulty of emotional abuse in college sports for the previous 12 months. Julia and Elizabeth, welcome to the podcast.
ELIZABETH SANTOS: It’s nice to be right here.
JULIA HANEY, BYLINE: Thanks for having us.
RASCOE: So, Julia and Elizabeth, I believe many people are acquainted with the tales of coaches who’re actually tough and demanding of their gamers. But your reporting is about one thing completely different. You’ve been trying into the difficulty of emotional abuse in college sports.
SANTOS: That’s proper, Ayesha. We discovered that emotional abuse can look completely different from coach to teach. But there are particular patterns, issues like verbal assaults, manipulation and controlling behaviors.
HANEY: That’s simply to call a number of. And we’re not speaking about one-off moments the place a coach, for instance, loses their mood. We’re speaking about persistent behaviors that start to influence scholar athletes’ psychological well-being, and the stakes may be excessive.
RASCOE: So what does that seem like in follow?
SANTOS: To actually clarify that, we need to let you know about Julia Pernsteiner, a scholar athlete in Jacksonville, Florida. We can not get her story out of our heads.
HANEY: She was a DI cross-country runner at Jacksonville University. Her buddies, teammates and those that are shut together with her describe her as decided and goofy. They say that she had a robust, intuitive learn on folks.
SANTOS: And in the autumn of 2021, Pernsteiner began making a sequence of cellphone calls. She known as everybody she might consider to report that her observe coach was abusive.
HANEY: The coach, Ronald Grigg, was the longtime head of this system.
RASCOE: I imply, you stated she was calling everybody. Like, what do you imply by that, everybody?
HANEY: Well, in a authorized criticism filed by her household, it is clear that Pernsteiner reached out to lots of people about Grigg’s alleged conduct, together with her college directors, trainers and the Jacksonville University Athletic Department. Pernsteiner additionally known as the University’s Counseling Center, an area hospital, a regulation agency, a authorized support group, a ladies’s heart, native and nationwide nonprofits, information organizations and the NCAA. That’s based on an area TV reporter who later went via Pernsteiner’s name log, and an off-duty officer for the sheriff’s division even got here to talk together with her. He was working as a campus safety officer on the time.
SANTOS: And it was truly the physique digital camera footage that basically stood out to us. That identical native TV reporter, Samantha Mathers, posted the footage on YouTube. In this clip, which is a bit scratchy, you possibly can hear Julia Pernsteiner telling the officer how her coach was treating her.
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JULIA PERNSTEINER: He’d be like, why do I hold you round? If you are not sensible, you are not quick, like, why do I hold you round? Like, making an attempt to, like – and he stored saying that, like – mainly, like, thoughts f***ing me, like, telling me, like, go kill your self. You’re terrible. Like…
HANEY: And she says…
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PERNSTEINER: One time, I used to be speaking with him, and he stated – he was like, I’ve by no means hit you, have I?
HANEY: The officer asks…
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UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: So has he bodily touched you…
PERNSTEINER: No.
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: …In an abusive method? OK.
PERNSTEINER: No.
RASCOE: So Pernsteiner is not saying that Grigg bodily touched her or bodily hit her or something?
SANTOS: Right. She says he humiliated and degraded her. But there was nothing the officer might do about that. Here he’s once more.
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UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: The unhealthy factor is that in Duval County, the state of Florida, emotionally abusiveness is not against the law. There’s nothing legal…
PERNSTEINER: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: …With – no crime has been dedicated with that.
PERNSTEINER: That’s so f***ed up.
SANTOS: After some backwards and forwards, the officer tells her…
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UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Like I stated, it is simply not a legal statute to make folks really feel unhealthy.
HANEY: The query is whether or not the coach’s alleged conduct went past that. Pernsteiner’s teammates say he known as her issues like retarded, ineffective and the slowest f***ing runner in the world. Grigg had truly minimize Pernsteiner from the group a month earlier than she spoke with this officer, based on the household’s authorized criticism.
RASCOE: So, I imply, that is going to boost the query, like, was this somebody who was simply, you realize, upset that she’d been kicked off the group?
SANTOS: Well, however she wasn’t the one scholar athlete who claimed they’d been mistreated. In recordings that Pernsteiner made, she stated she collected testimonials from 20 different athletes, they usually instructed her that they’d skilled related verbal abuse and physique shaming.
HANEY: Right. They additionally alleged that he held scholarships over their heads and bullied ladies on the group. A volunteer assistant coach, Alexa Ibar (ph), stated she’d additionally been mistreated by Grigg and instructed us that she had reported him to the athletic division. A observe group alum additionally instructed us that Julia was encouraging teammates to submit complaints as effectively.
SANTOS: But none of this made a distinction on the day that Julia Pernsteiner met with that officer. After he left her that day, he wrote in his report, Julia made no legal allegations and appeared in good bodily well being.
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UNIDENTIFIED PASTOR: Let us pray.
HANEY: Weeks later, Julia Pernsteiner took her life in her dorm room. She was 23 years outdated. Her funeral was held close to her hometown in Minnesota and posted on YouTube.
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UNIDENTIFIED PASTOR: Oh, God, who’ve set a restrict to this current life, in order to open up an entry into eternity.
HANEY: Her uncle learn a poem he wrote with the chorus, run free, Julia. Run free.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Run free, Julia. Run free. I do know you might be with God in heaven now. You made it to the end line.
RASCOE: I imply, that is past devastating, proper? And I can not think about what her household and teammates had been going via.
SANTOS: It was a very tough time for them. When we spoke to Sadie Morris, one other runner, she stated that the group was in shambles.
SADIE MORRIS: My teammates weren’t doing effectively after they got here again after break.
HANEY: She says she was nonetheless operating effectively at follow, however others had been struggling emotionally. According to Morris, Coach Grigg was pissed off.
MORRIS: He was like, oh, so is your teammates going to make use of Julia’s demise as a get-out-of-jail-free card?
RASCOE: So what occurred to the coach?
HANEY: So Coach Grigg continued to teach for the remainder of that season after Pernsteiner died. He resigned the next summer time. He hasn’t responded to our calls or emails requesting an interview.
SANTOS: Pernsteiner’s household filed a wrongful demise criticism towards the college and Grigg in 2023, alleging, quote, “he created a toxic atmosphere of humiliation and intimidation by belittling, disparaging and ridiculing runners who did not meet his standards.”
HANEY: They additionally allege that the college tolerated his conduct as a result of Grigg’s groups had been aggressive. He was head coach of the group for 20 years, and through that point, a whole lot of student-athletes went via his program.
SANTOS: The Pernsteiner household finally settled, to allow them to’t discuss to us concerning the particulars. And in the settlement, there was no admission of wrongdoing by the college. We reached out to Jacksonville University for the story and did not hear again.
HANEY: But our reporting has discovered that the abuse Pernsteiner alleged just isn’t an outlier. Her story is only one of over 100 emotional abuse allegations that we have compiled courting again to 2011. We cannot let you know all of those tales, however there’s yet one more, one which ended in a different way that we needed to share. In this different case, the allegations had been taken critically by a jury in a trial.
SANTOS: And the authorized determination that adopted might change how universities deal with student-athletes’ claims of emotional abuse.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: We need for different athletes to know that they don’t seem to be alone to know that it is attainable to combat this, to know that faculties ought to do higher.
RASCOE: That story, once we come again.
We’re again with The Sunday Story, and reporters Julia Haney and Elizabeth Santos are speaking about their reporting on emotional abuse in college sports. So, Julia and Elizabeth, I perceive that you simply’re each working reporters now, however you began this story when you had been each in grad college. So how did you come throughout it?
HANEY: Well, I used to be on the hunt for a narrative, and I heard a few state of affairs that I believed was highlighting a case of sexual abuse on a college sports group. But it turned out the difficulty was actually certainly one of emotional abuse, and that acquired me considering that there was a narrative right here, one about scholar athletes grappling for accountability.
SANTOS: And when Julia got here to me with the story, I believed it was fairly highly effective. So we determined to report it out collectively.
RASCOE: So we have heard concerning the case of Julia Pernsteiner, and also you alluded to a distinct case, one that might change how allegations of emotional abuse of college athletes are dealt with. Can you inform me about that?
SANTOS: Yeah. But earlier than we bounce into that, it is essential to know that researchers say emotional abuse in sports is extra widespread than bodily or sexual abuse. And, you realize, a lot of the student-athletes we spoke to who reported it – they did not get the result they had been on the lookout for.
HANEY: But each nice sports story has a tenacious underdog, or in this case, two. And that is the place our story begins with Marija and Marta Galic, who filed a lawsuit again in 2021 towards their head coach and the University of San Francisco, or USF.
SANTOS: Marija and Marta are from Croatia. They instructed us they began taking part in basketball after they had been little on their neighborhood court docket. They each beloved the sport, however as folks, they’re very completely different. Here’s Marta.
MARTA GALIC: Our household and individuals who know us very effectively typically type of describe us as yin and the yang.
SANTOS: Marta’s the analytical one. She describes her sister, Marija, because the inventive one.
MARTA GALIC: She was at all times extra artsy, inventive sort. We’re completely different however very complementary, I’d say. I imply, she’s at all times the individual I turned to, and we – at all times has a distinct perspective that type of enhances mine.
HANEY: And they knew how one can play to one another’s strengths on and off the court docket. They even performed for his or her Croatian nationwide group.
RASCOE: So it feels like they had been severe gamers. I imply, and sufficient to catch the attention of coaches in the U.S.
SANTOS: Yeah. So as soon as they had been in highschool, U.S. schools began recruiting them. For Marta, she says it got here right down to Columbia and USF. But Columbia was solely in her and never her sister. The University of San Francisco supplied them each full rides for 5 years.
MARTA GALIC: I needed to go together with her. You’re transferring the world over to have somebody, particularly your closest individual go together with you and share the identical expertise. So that undoubtedly was an enormous issue for me.
HANEY: And that they had change into shut with the brand new USF head coach, Molly Goodenbour.
RASCOE: OK. So, you realize, inform me a bit bit extra about Coach Goodenbour.
HANEY: Well, Goodenbour is from Iowa. She performed basketball at Stanford for the legendary coach Tara VanDerveer. She received two nationwide championships.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: Stanford’s acquired 4 3-pointers right this moment, and Molly Goodenbour’s acquired all of them.
SANTOS: And when she was a participant, Goodenbour was a guard, similar to Marta. And in 2016, she took over the USF head coach job from a former Stanford teammate.
HANEY: During the recruitment course of, Marija and Marta recall Goodenbour flying to Croatia a number of instances to go to them.
RASCOE: So it feels like Goodenbour was actually making a giant effort to recruit the twins.
SANTOS: She undoubtedly was. Here’s Marta once more.
MARTA GALIC: We took her round Croatia round city. We confirmed her every thing. Obviously, like, shared meals collectively. Really made this connection.
HANEY: Between visits, the twins say that they had been in common contact. They each keep in mind one second in specific from certainly one of Goodenbour’s visits.
MARTA GALIC: What stayed with me is de facto type of the sentence she shared on the finish of certainly one of her journeys. And I keep in mind my mother was there and my mother and father had been there, and she or he, you realize, promised my mother and she or he instructed us, like, she would deal with us, and, you realize, your youngsters are in good fingers.
RASCOE: I do know, like, as a dad or mum myself, that is what you need to hear a coach say, proper? Tell me extra concerning the University of San Francisco.
HANEY: USF is a Catholic college. It’s small, progressive and proper in the middle of town. Its motto is, change the world from right here. And you possibly can see that printed on banners all around the hillside campus.
SANTOS: It’s a DI college, so its groups play on the highest stage of college sports. Marija and Marta arrived in September 2018. It was Goodenbour’s third 12 months as head coach.
MARTA GALIC: It appeared nice, and there have been simply no indicators that issues had been going to go utterly completely different method than they did.
HANEY: The group was younger, a lot of freshmen, and most of them had been worldwide college students.
SANTOS: But the twins stated Coach Goodenbour appeared completely different virtually instantly.
MARTA GALIC: On the court docket and after our arrival, was – she turned this completely completely different individual that I knew to date.
RASCOE: What did they are saying was completely different about Coach Goodenbour?
SANTOS: Well, they had been used to strict coaches, ones with excessive expectations, ones who would yell at them. And they knew how one can work onerous. But once we spoke with Marija, she stated Goodenbour’s tone was off.
MARIJA GALIC: I’ve by no means actually had anybody that, like, imply and, like, private.
HANEY: And once we spoke with Marta, she agreed.
MARTA GALIC: Yeah. The method she began treating gamers, the way in which she began treating us, the way in which she began speaking to us, the language she began utilizing, the tone.
SANTOS: What sorts of issues would she say to you?
HANEY: Here, Marta paused for a minute, and when she opened her mouth to talk once more, the phrases she says her coach used all got here pouring out.
MARTA GALIC: She would name us idiots, silly, nugatory, low of the low. She would say, you seem like a f***ing toothpick. She known as us items of s***. You’re a f***ing fool. You’re silly, lazy, nugatory.
SANTOS: Had you ever had coaches who used that type of language earlier than?
MARTA GALIC: No, by no means. Never. And I’ve performed basketball for years earlier than I got here to USF and by no means had actually something prefer it.
RASCOE: So right here you could have Marija and Marta in a brand new nation at a brand new college on a brand new group with a coach that they are saying they do not know anymore.
SANTOS: Yeah, it was undoubtedly overwhelming for them.
HANEY: And in our reporting, we have seen a sample in the tales we have heard. Often, athletes have stated it took time to acknowledge points with their coach’s conduct. Many say that the turning level was watching a teammate face the identical therapy that that they had. And for Marta and Marija, it was like every was holding up a mirror to the opposite.
MARTA GALIC: Like, it was, you realize, double the impact as a result of, you realize, simply to me, at some factors, like, even seeing her undergo a few of these issues felt a bit bit – it virtually felt worse than me going via it.
RASCOE: Well, what about their teammates?
SANTOS: Yeah. Later on, through the twins’ litigation towards USF and Goodenbour, their teammates had been requested how the coaches spoke to them on the court docket.
HANEY: Here’s a type of gamers, Leyla Herrera (ph), talking in a deposition video.
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HERRERA: I’ve seen her name us ineffective, silly, incompetent once we could not full a drill at her stage. I’ve seen my teammates crying, so simply to call a number of.
RANDY GAW: How incessantly would she say these varieties of issues to your teammates?
HERRERA: Every follow.
GAW: How many instances per follow?
HERRERA: Three or 4.
SANTOS: The man asking the questions right here is the twins’ lawyer, Randy Gaw. Herrera, who’s African American and Puerto Rican, additionally stated that the assistant coach, Janell Jones, made racially insensitive feedback in the direction of her.
RASCOE: And so what does Goodenbour say about all this?
HANEY: Well, Goodenbour argued in authorized filings that her feedback to the twins had been, quote, “solely about their basketball performance and not personal.” She stated in her trial testimony that she instructed gamers they had been lazy and that she known as them out after they give up in drills however that she by no means known as them names.
SANTOS: And she stated that she gave them constructive suggestions. For instance, she despatched Marta texts, encouraging her and reminding her of her potential early in her freshman 12 months.
HANEY: Coach Goodenbour has declined our repeated requests for an interview, and Assistant Coach Jones has not responded.
RASCOE: DI sports may be intense and actually high-pressure. Do you suppose that contributed to the atmosphere that the twins allege existed?
HANEY: I imply, we do not actually know what Goodenbour’s motivation was, however, sure, it is true that this was a high-pressure atmosphere, and she or he may need been underneath particular pressures. NCAA coaches face excessive strain to win, and like anyone else, their jobs are tied to their efficiency. Goodenbour’s lawyer referred to Marija and Marta’s freshman 12 months as being, quote. “very difficult and stressful for their coach.”
SANTOS: And simply earlier than Goodenbour took over, USF was doing nice. The group had made it to the primary spherical in March Madness. But after changing into head coach, Goodenbour’s group struggled. In the primary two seasons, that they had solely barely extra wins than losses. In the third season, which was Marta’s and Marija’s freshman 12 months, the group’s document was seven wins and 24 losses. Marta says it was actually tough.
MARTA GALIC: You’re combating. You’re giving your greatest. You’re actually collapsing on the bottom. You’re making an attempt to face up. You’re making an attempt to undergo the drill, and on the identical time, you could have somebody hovering over your head saying you are a f***ing fool. It was depressing.
HANEY: The twins’ lawsuit cites a particular incident that they are saying crossed a line. During a follow in their freshman 12 months, Marta says that she requested to make use of the restroom 3 times with growing urgency throughout a drill.
SANTOS: She stated Coach Goodenbour instructed her no, and that an assistant coach additionally stated, quote, “not if Coach Goodenbour said no.” Marta instructed us the identical story in an interview.
MARTA GALIC: Running to the purpose the place not solely I couldn’t, like, critically management my legs anymore. Like, as I actually wanted to go use the restroom, I couldn’t management my bladder anymore, and I simply urinated on myself and my complete – my jersey, my pants, every thing was visibly moist. And I keep in mind, like, in that state, I used to be so – I do not even have the phrases to explain. Like, I felt so embarrassed, so ashamed, low.
SANTOS: And she says she went again to Goodenbour a fourth time.
MARTA GALIC: And I strategy her at that half-court. She was standing on the left facet. I so vividly keep in mind. I’m like, Coach, I actually urinated on myself. I’ve to go to the lavatory. Her response? No, you possibly can go everytime you end the drill.
SANTOS: Marta says she accomplished the drill earlier than going to the restroom and cleansing herself up.
RASCOE: OK. How did Goodenbour reply to that allegation?
HANEY: In her testimony, Goodenbour stated that she wasn’t conscious of this incident when it occurred. She acknowledged that gamers are free to go away the court docket every time they should use the restroom. And she stated she felt actually badly that this might occur to certainly one of her gamers. But after this incident, Marta says she would use the lavatory a number of instances earlier than follow, nervous about being humiliated once more. She used this time to arrange herself.
MARTA GALIC: Splashing chilly water, doing the Superman pose, like, something you possibly can to type of put together myself to face these subsequent couple of hours.
SANTOS: She says practices felt like getting into a warfare zone.
HANEY: And then it was time for the gamers’ efficiency evaluations in March of their freshman 12 months. The twins determined to secretly document their conferences with Coach Goodenbour and Assistant Coach Janell Jones utilizing their cellphones.
SANTOS: In these recordings, you possibly can hear Goodenbour threatening to remove their scholarships.
HANEY: In Marija’s recording, Goodenbour may be heard telling her repeatedly that she doesn’t need to coach her, that Marija goes to be depressing and that she’s going to lose her scholarship if she messes up. Because it was secretly recorded, the tape high quality right here is poor.
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MOLLY GOODENBOUR: The subsequent time you give up on a drill, you are not going to have a scholarship anymore.
MARIJA GALIC: OK. I perceive.
HANEY: And in a while in that assembly…
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GOODENBOUR: But whenever you’re the individual in the room that is aware of their teammates do not actually need to be on their group in a drill or in a – I imply, gosh, how do you cope with that? How do you take a look at your self and say, no person needs me on their group?
HANEY: Goodenbour continues.
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GOODENBOUR: You can go some place else now and have a possibility to have a recent begin. But you could have quite a lot of baggage proper now that it may be actually tough so that you can overcome. I can actually say I do not need to coach you. I do not.
RASCOE: I’m positive that was very onerous to listen to for Marija. What about Marta’s assembly? Was it related?
HANEY: Yeah. Goodenbour made related statements to Marta. Marta says that she was actually nervous going in. She remembers her palms sweating.
MARTA GALIC: I felt, like, confined in that room, and, you realize, them type of attacking me. It was me type of alone versus them. And at the moment, I’m this, you realize, foreigner freshman on the finish of my 12 months. I don’t know what’s occurring, what they will or can not do. And all of the sudden they’re, you realize, threatening to remove my scholarship.
HANEY: Here’s Goodenbour in this assembly.
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GOODENBOUR: The subsequent time you give up on one thing, I take your scholarship from you.
HANEY: And Assistant Coach Jones jumps in, too.
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JANELL JONES: You’re going to lose your scholarship, after which you’ll be again in Croatia as a result of it is – you are not going to be – nobody enters – there’s not sufficient faculties going to select you up right here in the United States as a result of they’ll name us and they’ll say, why did you guys kick Marta off the group? Because you have no stats and we’ll say as a result of she quits.
MARTA GALIC: I believed them. I imply, I believed it was all true. I believed that is what she was capable of do, and, you realize, she was type of the individual in management of my future.
RASCOE: Well, I imply, I do not know a lot about sports, so I’d suppose that, too. Like, it looks like coaches do have quite a lot of energy.
SANTOS: Sure, they do. But this is the factor – the NCAA doesn’t enable a coach to remove a scholarship for poor efficiency or damage. Marta says she did not know that.
HANEY: By the top of her freshman 12 months, Marta says that she needed to graduate as quickly as attainable. She needed to get out of this atmosphere.
SANTOS: And in the meantime, Marija instructed us that beginning her freshman 12 months, she was experiencing emotions she had by no means identified earlier than USF. She says she started to have racing, anxious ideas that acquired worse when she was round Goodenbour.
MARIJA GALIC: Suddenly, I began getting these panic assaults and having violent nightmares. I’m, like, I’m so depressed. I’ve by no means thought I used to be that type of individual, and no person actually prepares you for that.
SANTOS: She stated she began to want that she wouldn’t get up.
MARIJA GALIC: I used to be, like, actually on the sting. I felt like there was, like, no level in persevering with, like, with life.
HANEY: Marija suffered two psychological well being crises, based on the authorized criticism, the primary in the autumn of her sophomore 12 months, when she reported Goodenbour’s therapy of her to a USF coach who walked her over to the college’s counseling and psychological companies for an analysis. Marija acquired remedy there after that.
RASCOE: Did getting remedy assist her? Was she ready to deal with the stress, you realize, after she acquired the remedy?
SANTOS: Marija says there was a short interval the place it felt like she was gaining Goodenbour’s approval, however that did not final lengthy.
HANEY: And she had a second disaster in January of her junior 12 months. At this level, she says she had begun to really feel numb. Her father despatched an e-mail to an athletic coach stating that Marija had instructed him she didn’t need to dwell anymore. The coach instantly acquired in contact with Marija and helped her name the counseling heart once more.
RASCOE: And Marija is saying that the explanation for these crises was the way in which Goodenbour was coaching her?
HANEY: It’s by no means anybody factor. But there was a psychiatrist who served as an skilled witness for the twins in the trial. She examined them and decided that they each suffered a, quote, “psychiatric illness.” And this psychiatrist wrote in her report for the trial, quote, “Marija and Marta Golic’s psychiatric illness was caused by Coach Goodenbour’s treatment on the USF women’s basketball team.”
RASCOE: OK. So let’s zoom out for a minute. You’ve stated emotional abuse in college sports is widespread. So are there procedures in place to guard college students? Like, like, the place do they flip to for assist?
HANEY: Well, when a scholar athlete experiences emotional abuse, they could report back to any variety of establishments.
SANTOS: Yeah. Ayesha, consider these locations {that a} scholar would possibly report back to as concentric circles. At the middle, you could have the group’s coaching employees and different assist employees, then the athletic division, then the college.
HANEY: Outside of all of that, you could have a sports nationwide governing physique. This is one thing like USA Basketball. Then you could have the NCAA and SafeSport, which is a corporation that investigates allegations of abuse in sports. And lastly, you could have the authorized system. We’ve additionally seen college students report via channels designed for victims of sexual abuse and gender discrimination. For instance, a campus Title IX workplace.
SANTOS: And throughout their time at USF, Marija and Marta knocked on many doorways.
HANEY: Yeah. They reported to school employees, an assistant coach, athletic trainers, a college psychologist and athletic division management. So did their father.
RASCOE: So how did the college reply?
SANTOS: USF’s head of NCAA compliance reached out to the twins to discuss their experiences on the group. Marija met with him and HR chief Diane Nelson. Marija instructed them that she was being bullied and that Goodenbour and Jones had stated that they might make her life depressing if she returned the next 12 months.
HANEY: And right here we need to add that the NCAA doesn’t have an emotional abuse coverage to cowl the over 500,000 student-athletes who compete annually. A consultant there stated that faculties are those primarily chargeable for student-athletes’ security. The NCAA declined our a number of requests for an interview and referred us to their psychological well being greatest practices webpage.
SANTOS: USF investigated Marija’s claims. Nelson from HR led that investigation, however she did not interview any student-athletes on the group apart from Marija. The solely different two folks she spoke with had been Goodenbour and Jones. Goodenbour stated in a deposition that in her assembly with Nelson, she was not made conscious of any bullying allegations. Here’s the twins’ legal professional, Randy Gaw.
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GAW: Did Miss Nelson ask you any questions on whether or not you had made any inappropriate feedback to any of your gamers?
GOODENBOUR: No. She merely had me describe my practices.
HANEY: It’s not clear whether or not Nelson requested Goodenbour concerning the threats to take the twins’ scholarships. Goodenbour testified that she was by no means requested about this. At the top of her investigation, Nelson concluded that Goodenbour had not damaged any USF insurance policies. Nelson has not responded to our request for remark. USF wrote in an announcement that the college acknowledges the, quote, “seriousness of the issue,” however, quote, “disputes the allegations.”
SANTOS: Here’s the twins’ lawyer once more, Randy Gaw, talking in an oral argument from final August.
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GAW: Coach Jones admitted that the scholarship menace was made. And Miss Nelson admitted underneath testimony {that a} menace to remove a scholarship could be improper. And but she exonerates them and, like, writes the false assertion that there was no proof of the scholarship menace in anyway. The investigation was so perfunctory – nothing occurred.
RASCOE: OK. So the twins’ lawyer is saying the investigation was not very thorough. But once more, the college is type of policing itself, proper? Like, as an alternative of bringing in somebody unbiased to evaluate the twins’ allegations.
HANEY: Well, sure, however it’s difficult. We spoke with a lawyer who’s represented student-athletes in two dozen related instances. And he says due to the inherent battle of curiosity, the proper technique to do it’s to rent somebody outdoors of the college, an exterior unbiased investigator. But even in clear, unbiased investigations, the college nonetheless units the principles for what’s inside and out of doors the scope of an investigation, and universities need to keep away from legal responsibility publicity.
RASCOE: But what about that unbiased nonprofit SafeSport, the group particularly tasked with trying into abusive coaching?
SANTOS: Yeah. So SafeSport was created by Congress in 2017 after Larry Nassar’s abuse of athletes was uncovered.
HANEY: But SafeSport was primarily based to stop sexual abuse. There are some exceptions, however for essentially the most half, it does not examine emotional and bodily misconduct allegations. Marta says she’d by no means even heard of SafeSport.
SANTOS: So mainly, there are various organizations who would possibly examine, however it’s a patchwork system with many holes. Often, even coaches who’re pushed out of their applications simply find yourself popping up some place else.
RASCOE: That have to be fairly irritating and even painful to college students who allege abuse.
SANTOS: Yeah. And to that time, let’s return to Coach Goodenbour. She’d been accused of comparable abusive conduct at earlier applications, together with at Chico State and UC Irvine.
HANEY: At Irvine, Goodenbour acquired a suspension and an e-mail from the athletic division noting that her, quote, “insensitive and abusive remarks towards players” was a sample.
RASCOE: So with all of that on her document, how did she find yourself getting the pinnacle coach job at USF?
HANEY: That’s an amazing query, Ayesha. We know the hiring course of was fairly expedited, simply 11 days. And we all know from a deposition of the college’s athletic director that Goodenbour was not requested about these accusations of verbal abuse as a result of these questions had not been requested of different candidates. Chico State’s athletic director did inform USF’s athletic director that Goodenbour was a superb and stern coach.
RASCOE: So regardless of some controversy, Goodenbour is head coach at USF, and it looks like the college has her again. So the place does that depart Marta and Marija?
SANTOS: Well, the final choice is to file a lawsuit, and that is what the twins did.
HANEY: Marija and Marta’s father is a lawyer in Croatia, and a mutual buddy launched him to a different lawyer in San Francisco, Randy Gaw, who we heard from earlier.
SANTOS: Gaw’s agency does enterprise litigation, however they tackle some private damage instances as effectively. He says he is been engaged on this one successfully professional bono for years.
GAW: We do some, you realize, type of private damage instances on the facet, and, you realize, this was certainly one of them as a result of we felt like we will make a distinction.
RASCOE: So you stated that Marija and Marta filed their case in 2021. What did they allege?
HANEY: They alleged that Goodenbour was responsible for intentional infliction of emotional misery, which means that she had supposed to harm them or had acted with reckless disregard for his or her well-being. In quick, that her actions had crossed a line.
SANTOS: The lawsuit additionally alleged that Goodenbour and USF had been negligent, which means the college and the coaching employees had an obligation to take care of them and failed to take action.
GAW: The energy dynamic can be a important part of this contextual evaluation. If a random individual off the road stated the issues or did the issues to Marta and Marija, there could be no case as a result of that individual has no relationship, no energy over them, proper? And we in society ought to have guidelines, mainly, like, you possibly can’t simply sue for random conduct like that. Like, it isn’t anticipated to have an effect on you. But Ms. Goodenbour was a surrogate dad or mum in some ways.
SANTOS: Gaw instructed us that the authorized system has some catching as much as do in the case of emotional abuse. He says there’s resistance in the regulation to psychological damages, and that judges and jurors are skeptical of plaintiffs who declare they had been emotionally broken.
GAW: So actually, you are coping with a resistance to that, in quite a lot of jurors – or not quite a lot of jurors, however not less than some jurors – who simply do not suppose {that a} purely psychological damage is, like, an actual factor, or not less than it is a factor that is not as dangerous as a bodily damage.
RASCOE: So in some methods, he is saying it was an uphill battle.
SANTOS: Exactly. Gaw by no means anticipated this case would go to trial. Typically, instances like this are settled out of court docket. For Marta and Marija, this was additionally about justice. They stated they went via all of this in order that different athletes would not must expertise what they did. The trial went on for 10 days, and on the eleventh day in July of 2023, the jury reached a verdict.
RASCOE: What did it discover?
SANTOS: It discovered that Goodenbour’s conduct was outrageous in the direction of Marta and that she had both supposed to trigger Marta hurt or had acted with reckless disregard for Marta’s well-being. But the jury discovered that these actions had did not trigger Marta extreme emotional misery.
RASCOE: OK. So they’re saying that Goodenbour crossed a line, however Marta ended up largely OK. So what about Marija?
HANEY: Well, the jury sided with Marija, discovering that Goodenbour was responsible for intentional infliction of emotional misery and that Marija had suffered extreme emotional misery. It additionally discovered that Goodenbour and USF had been grossly negligent. It awarded Marija $250,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.
GAW: What I do keep in mind is when the jury verdict was learn afterwards, her sobbing with pleasure, you realize, as a result of she felt validated, that she instructed her story and a bunch of neutral folks determined that, sure, what occurred to you was incorrect. You weren’t overly delicate.
RASCOE: And did the college settle for the ruling, or did they enchantment it?
SANTOS: So they filed a movement asking a decide to override the jury’s determination. And the decide truly did take away Marija’s punitive damages award. But Marija appealed. And late final summer time, a panel of appellate judges restored her award, giving her the total quantity.
HANEY: That identical panel additionally granted a retrial for Marta’s case after Gaw argued that important proof was tossed out which might’ve impacted the jury’s determination. This included allegations that Goodenbour was emotionally abusive in earlier applications. Marta was granted a retrial for her negligence declare however truly reached a settlement with USF late final month.
RASCOE: And what about Goodenbour? Like, the place is she right this moment?
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SANTOS: Last 12 months, USF renewed Goodenbour’s contract via the 2028 season. She’s nonetheless coaching there right this moment.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Our half-court shot, dropped at you by USF head coach Molly Goodenbour.
HANEY: A college consultant wrote to us in an announcement that whereas the college respects the authorized course of, it doesn’t agree with all the outcomes. The consultant wrote, quote, “the university and our employees have acted in good faith and in accordance with their responsibilities. We continue to stand by the coaches and staff of the women’s basketball program.”
RASCOE: Oh, OK. And what about Marta and Marija? What occurred to them?
HANEY: So even earlier than they determined to sue, whereas they had been nonetheless at USF, the twins’ paths had already begun to diverge.
SANTOS: Marija did not play one other recreation for USF after her second go to to the campus counseling heart her junior 12 months. Meanwhile, Marta was nonetheless taking part in. And she was taking part in effectively.
HANEY: Marija graduated the subsequent 12 months from USF in 2022 with a level in structure. Today, she lives in New York City, the place she lately acquired her MFA in inside design. But the final time we talked to her, she nonetheless sounded very a lot in ache.
MARIJA GALIC: It’s undoubtedly one thing that also impacts me to this present day, like, in ways in which I could not think about.
SANTOS: She was visibly shaking as she spoke to us on our video name however stated it was essential for her to inform her story.
MARIJA GALIC: I would like folks to know that it isn’t simply the time you spend there with the coach. It’s simply – it is so many extra years after that. And your life modifications utterly.
SANTOS: Marija says she will be able to’t choose up a basketball anymore.
HANEY: Marta stayed with the USF group, graduating in three years summa cum laude, with a level in finance. After that, she transferred her eligibility to Tulane in Louisiana. She stated it was onerous to go away her sister behind.
RASCOE: Well, inform me about Marta’s expertise at Tulane.
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SANTOS: At Tulane, Marta was elected captain of the basketball group. And she thrived underneath her new coach.
HANEY: Lisa Stockton had coached there for 30 years. And her groups appeared in postseason tournaments 21 instances. Stockton was inducted into the Conference USA Hall of Fame in 2023. And this is what she instructed us about her coaching philosophy.
LISA STOCKTON: There’s a distinction between difficult somebody and pushing them to achieve success and being onerous on them and being unfair. And I believe you have to know the distinction in that.
SANTOS: Stockton retired in 2024. She stated that the majority coaches who’re nonetheless working would possible be hesitant to talk with us.
STOCKTON: I’ve been a participant’s coach. But I believe proper now, it is a actually tough time to be a coach. And I do not know if that issues in your story. But, you realize, whenever you discuss, are coaches nervous about sure issues? Yeah. I imply, it is actually onerous to do that job the place you are pushing folks past what they suppose, you realize, their limits, and also you’re making an attempt to make them higher.
RASCOE: I get that. I imply, it does sound actually onerous.
SANTOS: And now we’re in a world the place college athletes may be compensated for his or her play, the place some have massive social media followings and the place they will switch to a brand new college fairly simply.
STOCKTON: It’s an influence dynamic that is actually modified that is tough to perform with the way in which it’s now.
HANEY: Stockton says this may make it more durable to construct a constructive group tradition. But for Marta, Tulane was an amazing match.
MARTA GALIC: It was evening and day distinction, actually. Tulane actually confirmed me what it means and what large of a distinction it makes to have nice folks round you, to have nice management, to have individuals who care about you, who push you on the identical time to be higher, to enhance, to attain your potential.
HANEY: Marta instructed us that her sister watched all of her Tulane video games, and that for Marija, it was like seeing a model of herself on the market on the court docket nonetheless capable of get pleasure from taking part in the sport that had required a lot private sacrifice.
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RASCOE: Elizabeth and Julia, thanks a lot on your reporting and shining a lightweight on this topic that I did not know a lot about, and I believe that lots of people in all probability have not actually thought of.
SANTOS: You’re welcome, Ayesha.
HANEY: Yeah, thanks for having us.
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RASCOE: That was reporters Julia Haney and Elizabeth Santos. This episode of THE SUNDAY STORY was produced by Andrew Mambo. Jenny Schmidt edited this episode. Fact-checking by Katie Daugert. The engineer was Jimmy Keeley. THE SUNDAY STORY group consists of Justine Yan and Liana Simstrom. Our govt producer is Irene Noguchi.
A particular because of the audio program and investigative reporting program on the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, in addition to Shereen Marisol Meraji, who runs the audio program on the college and supplied manufacturing assist with this story. Funding for this story was additionally supported by the Carter Center’s Mental Health Parity Collaborative and the Fund for Investigative Journalism. I’m Ayesha Rascoe. And Up First is again tomorrow with all of the information you should begin your week. Until then, have an amazing remainder of your weekend.
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