AP Photo/Butch Dill, File
Five former players for the Florida Gators women’s basketball team have shared details about alleged abuse by former head coach Cam Newbauer.
Per ESPN’s John Barr, players said Newbauer routinely belittled and berated players and created a toxic and abusive culture:
“Players described a pressure-cooker environment where the slightest misstep during a practice drill or a game could spark fury from their former coach. They said he threw basketballs at players, at one point hitting a player recovering from a torn ACL in her injured leg, made racially insensitive comments and routinely reduced players to tears during profanity-laced tirades.”
Haley Lorenzen, who played for the Gators from 2014-18, told Barr that she didn’t even pick up a basketball for more than a year after graduating because of her experience with Newbauer.
“I had the opportunity to play professional basketball,” she said. “I had an agent lined up. I even went to the WNBA combine and I got there and I just didn’t even want to be there.”
Details of the alleged abuse were first made public this week when Zachary Huber of The Independent Florida Alligator, Florida’s student newspaper, published a story about Newbauer’s history with the program.
“For him, I felt very, ‘You’re only useful to me on the court,'” Sydney Morang told Huber about her experience playing for Newbauer. “‘I don’t really care about anything about you or how I treat you other than that.'”
Morang medically retired from basketball during her sophomore season because of a series of concussions.
According to Barr, Sydney’s parents, Frank and Lynn Morang, sent an email to Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin and school president Kent Fuchs in April 2018 that said Newbauer had “cultivated a toxic environment and is not equipped to coach young athletes who are at a crucial point in their development as women.”
Current WNBA player Sydney Searcy told Barr that Newbauer would frequently call players “b—hes” and “made racially insensitive comments about the hair and tattoos of several Black players on his team.”
Searcy and Mikayla Hayes also recalled witnessing Newbauer tell three Black players on the team to throw away their clothing.
“He didn’t like that they wore baggier or men’s clothing, as if they dressed like thugs,” Searcy said. “He had them go into the locker room and throw their clothes away. … As a Black woman I saw the pain and the fear in their eyes.”
Hayes noted other times in which Newbauer told a group of players on the Gators team who were gay that he “didn’t like the way they looked or how they presented themselves.”
Cydnee Kinslow, who played for the Gators as a graduate transfer during the 2020-21 season, told Barr “it was very difficult to play behind someone that we felt was very sexist and homophobic, racist, all those kinds of things.”
Kinslow also described Newbauer’s treatment toward women as “outrageous.”
Newbauer was hired as head coach of the Florida women’s team in March 2017. He spent the previous four years in the same position at Belmont.
The school announced on June 1 that Newbauer’s contract had been extended through the 2024-25 season. The 43-year-old announced his resignation on July 16, citing personal reasons.
Despite no mention of the allegations by the school at the time of Newbauer’s resignation, Florida issued a statement on Monday in the wake of Huber’s reporting (via Barr):
“There were concerns brought to our attention. Each time, additional information was sought, and these concerns were addressed directly with Cam as we required corrective actions and outlined clear expectations of behavior moving forward. Ultimately, we did not see the required improvements, and following discussions with Coach Newbauer he made the decision to resign.”
Kelly Rae Finley, who was an assistant under Newbauer for the past four seasons, was promoted to interim head coach for the 2021-22 season.
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