Former Utah Coach Tom Farden now at Twin City Twisters

[makam]

Yeah, but even the cops call next of kin if you are in a car accident.

 

[MaryClare]

Apparently Utah have fired their director of gymnastics?

 

[RedBirdie]

Megan Marsden really needs to learn how to say no comment though. Yikes

Her comments made me do a double take. I get the impulse to defend someone you consider a friend (we see this every time there are allegations of abuse. “He was always so nice to me!”), but her comments really crossed the line.

I’m curious who the assistant coach in the story is.

 

[irichluck21]

Megan Marsden really needs to learn how to say no comment though. Yikes.

Exactly.
Or simply comment that as co-head coaches she did not see this type of behavior from him while she was working with him, but that once she retired she no longer had that perspective/observations.

Solaski and Burch also said a lot more than they should have as former gymnasts.

 

[RedBirdie]

Reading the comments from Solaski and Burch, all I could think was “You’re so clearly one of Tom’s favorites that others are talking about.”

 

[Laura722]

What’s interesting about Solaski and Burch is that this past season there was that article where gymnasts talked about a rift between the previous year’s seniors (2022 seniors - Solaski & Burch) and some of the rest of the team.

 

[hmmmm]

It looks like some were not 18 at the time

Some gymnasts say Farden’s need for control leads him to isolate girls as young as 16 from their family upon arrival at Utah

“He would say things like, like ‘Don’t have your parents contact me. This doesn’t have anything to do with them. They’re not here, they don’t know what you’re going through.’ He’s saying that to the whole team, to girls ranging from 16 to their early 20s,” said one gymnast. “That was like a pretty common theme throughout my career, that you need to cut ties from your parents basically.”

 

[blake]

Report: Utah gymnastics coach Tom Farden accused of verbally and emotionally abusing athletes

The University of Utah gymnastics program is currently under investigation.

www.sltrib.com

Cristal Isa confirms Tom did throw a grip brush, but that he “chucked it into oblivion” and had no intention of it hitting any athlete. I’m not sure that really speaks in his favor since a head coach should have better emotional regulation skills than that.

I’ve seen speculation that the claims of pressuring athletes to train in the off-season could be the death knell for him at Utah. Apparently the NCAA takes that very seriously.

 

[RedBirdie]

Throwing anything is out of bounds. Completely unacceptable behavior in any workplace.

But you’re right about the voluntary workout stuff. Everyone knows voluntary workouts aren’t actually voluntary, but when athletes are keeping attendance and passing that to the coaches, it very much violates a rule the NCAA takes very seriously.

 

[cuuf]

Ah the internet has got to internet. For every accusation, one can create a different scenario that is normal and non-remarkable. Throwing a grip brush at the end of practice while joking with other coaches as athletes are leaving is pretty harmless, yet maybe one athlete felt it was directed at them because he accidently didnt see her (not saying this is what happened, I am just painting a plausible scenario that is harmless from one point of view but bad from another). It all depends on your point of view and interpretation. Point being, until we get a full accounting of what transpired from a verifiable independent its just people speculating and projecting their opinion on heresay.

 

[MaryClare]

When Sir Alex Ferguson kicked a boot at David Beckham

What was the story behind Alex Ferguson kicking a boot at David Beckham in the Man Utd dressing room?

www.90min.com

 

[irichluck21]

I am shocked that he has not resigned.

 

[BB12]

Not standing him down while the investigation takes place is completely inappropriate and suggests the allegations aren’t being taken as seriously as they should.

 

[irichluck21]

Especially since Cristal Isa confirmed that Farden threw the grip bush, though she said he wasn’t aiming at anyone.

 

[BB12]

It’s always murky when intention is brought into it by other people because no one really knows what his intention was expect Tom himself.

 

[Suzzie]

I am also curious to see who it is (if we ever get to find out)! When reading the article my initial thought is that it was one of the Griffiths because they were at Utah a few years ago with Tom and now 2 former Utah gymnasts have transferred to LSU where they are now. It makes me wonder if there is a correlation between their history with Utah and some of the recent transfers…

 

[rlayt]

 

[irichluck21]

Farden should have been let go, but clearly Utah athletic department values winning over athletes.
NO coach should ever throw anything in a fit of rage, including a grip brush. Sorry, but Cristal Isa admitted that Farden threw a brush. She tried to defend him, but her statement is evidence it clearly happened.

Unacceptable.

 

[Orange]

I read the report and I really don’t see why they are keeping Farden around. Sure he’s won a couple of PAC-12 titles, but he also apparently told a gymnast that if she wasn’t at Utah she’d be working at a gas station. Yikes. He has three years left on his contract, so maybe Utah just doesn’t want to pay him out?

The scholarship situation was also interesting. Apparently everyone but four of the gymnasts last season were on year to year scholarships. So basically he’s holding everyone’s scholarship over their head every year except for a chosen few. That seems like it would lead to a real healthy culture.

He also took away the free bread at a restaurant once. I’d fire him just for that. No one messes with my free bread.

 

[RedBirdie]

What’s the link to the report?