AP Photo/Ben Margot
At least 26 people have alleged that Cal women’s swimming head coach Teri McKeever has created a toxic culture rampant with severe verbal and emotional abuse that has led to significant mental and physical health ramifications for team members.
Scott M. Reid of the Orange County Register provided an exclusive report Tuesday featuring a host of on-the-record comments about McKeever’s alleged behavior, which also includes sharing confidential medical information about swimmers with the rest of the team, profane insults toward team members, forcing swimmers to perform despite injury, body-shaming issues and the use of a racial epithet when describing rap music, among other allegations.
Reid summarized what the 26 student-athletes and parents he spoke to said about McKeever’s behavior and its impact:
“But in interviews with [Southern California News Group], 19 current and former Cal swimmers, six parents, and a former member of the Golden Bears men’s team portray McKeever as a bully who for decades has allegedly verbally and emotionally abused, swore at and threatened swimmers on an almost daily basis, pressured athletes to compete or train while injured or dealing with chronic illnesses or eating disorders, even accusing some women of lying about their conditions despite being provided medical records by them.
“The interviews, as well as emails, letters, university documents, recordings of conversations between McKeever and swimmers, and journal entries, reveal an environment where swimmers from Olympians, World Championships participants and All-Americans to non-scholarship athletes are consumed with avoiding McKeever’s alleged wrath. This preoccupation has led to panic attacks, anxiety, sleepless nights, depression, self-doubt, suicidal thoughts and planning, and in some cases self harm.”
In addition, numerous swimmers and parents said they brought up their concerns to Cal athletic administration members only for their reports to be ignored, per Reid:
“Several Cal swimmers and their parents said they have complained about McKeever to Cal athletics director Jim Knowlton and to Jennifer Simon-O’Neill, the school’s executive senior associate athletics director, and senior woman administrator. Those complaints have either been ignored or met with indifference, swimmers and parents said, or in one case dismissiveness.”
Per Reid, at least six Cal women’s swimmers since 2018 said they made plans to end their lives or “obsessed about suicide for weeks or months because of what they describe as McKeever’s bullying.”
Former Cal swimmer Danielle Carter said that McKeever’s abusive behavior led to her attempting to end her own life in 2019. Carter said that McKeever accused her of lying about having epilepsy and berated her at “almost every practice, usually in front of the rest of the team,” calling her “worthless,” “lazy” and “piece of s–t.”
She texted a teammate before attempting to end her life and went to practice the next day, where McKeever was informed about what happened by numerous team members.
McKeever allegedly confronted Carter about what happened the night before, per Carter:
“Teri literally laughed in my face and said, ‘Do you know how pathetic that is? How stupid that is? How selfish that is?'”
McKeever also chided Carter by saying her actions had “totally messed up” another swimmer’s practice that day.
In addition, 14 women said that McKeever bullied them on a regular basis. All 19 swimmers who spoke about McKeever’s alleged behavior said they witnessed McKeever’s “almost daily verbal and emotional abuse” of her team members.
Of note, ex-Cal swimmer Chloe Clark said she was forced to swim at practice despite suffering from severe stomach pain as a result of Crohn’s disease and appendicitis.
“No one died from swimming with a stomachache, get in the water,” McKeever reportedly told Clark, who ended up practicing and underwent an emergency appendectomy weeks later. McKeever later disclosed Clark’s Crohn’s diagnosis to the team at a meeting Clark “was not allowed to attend.”
McKeever is already being formally investigated by the university’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination for her alleged use of a racial epithet. The investigation “will initially focus on potential racial discrimination but could be expanded to also consider possible discrimination based on sexual orientation and national origin,” per Reid.
Five current swimmers also said McKeever told a Black swimmer that she had too much “attitude.”
McKeever has been Cal’s head women’s swimming coach since 1993. Her teams have won six Pac-12 Championships and four NCAA Championships.
McKeever also served as the head coach for the United States Olympic women’s swimming team in 2012 after working as an assistant in 2004 and 2008. Team USA won eight gold medals, four silvers and a pair of bronze medals.
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