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At this rate, more and more athletes are going to come out and say they were abused verbally and had thoughts about suicide. I mean who hasn't been verbally abused? Who hasn't thought about committing suicide? Anyone who finds herself unloved or without value is going to have those thoughts, especially if she is in a highly competitive environment. Did the coach tell her to die or kill herself? probably not. Did the coach push her to give it her best? probably Did she feel worthless because she wasn't the best? probably Is that the coaches fault? Back in my day, it wasn't. But today we're supposed to coddle anyone who makes such claim. You know what...we used to call it life. Life is hard and the beauty of sports is that it taught us life lessons. But in today's climate, we're just going to fire coaches. Our players are going to get soft. And in the olympics 10 to 20 years from now, the united states of america is not going to medal in anything. Why? because we're coddling our kids. And if you grow up in places like ukraine, you can't hide behind claims of mental illness or suicide ideation. You fight for your life or die. kids who grow up in countries like that are going to win. So I say all this so that we get the other side of the story. Let the coach have her day in court. let those swimmers who claim these things be cross examined. Am I defending the coach? No. But I'd like to think that we are a country who believes in due process. I think all of us would want that for ourselves or for the ones we love. It's might be easy for you to say they should resign. But believe me one day you could find yourself on the hot seat, and you're going to wish people were more understanding and fair.

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At this point, we won't be able to attract top swimmers with McKeever anyway, so she can be fired.

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Maggie Mac Neil, a prized grad transfer from Michigan, might still be coming to Cal despite the recent developments. Apparently there was some bureaucratic mistake that makes it looks like she's still in the transfer portal. Cal apparently also added two breaststroke transfers from FSU and Arizona.

https://swimswam.com/olympic-champ-maggie-macneil-re-enters-ncaa-transfer-portal-amid-cal-turmoil/

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The university has been aware of issues within the program for over TWELVE YEARS?! Something is rotten within the administrative ranks...

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Sad state of affairs. Knowlton appears to be operating in a house of cards.

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I normally write a decent annual check to Cal Athletics but I won't give a fucking dime that Knowlton can touch. I'll figure some way to support the athletes in this free-wheeling era but I've really lost faith in the administration.

And, most importantly, it seems that McKeever's athletes may have lost faith in her.

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