BleedGopher
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Thirteen people connected with the Ole Miss softball program have confirmed to Running Poles that a Title IX investigation has been launched after allegations of assistant coach Katie Rietkovich Browder having an affair with a student-athlete came to light.
In a letter obtained by Running Poles that was sent to Athletic Director Keith Carter on July 29, accused head coach Jamie Trachsel of “covering up a sexual misconduct scandal involving two super seniors and a female assistant coach.”
According to the letter, the two seniors were in a relationship and one took screenshots of text messages exchanged between her girlfriend and their assistant coach. She then printed out the screenshots and taped them to the coach’s computer in her office.
The letter goes on to accuse Trachsel of knowing about the affair and bribing the players involved with scholarship money to remain quiet.m
Later in article:
A former Minnesota student-athlete who played for Trachsel in 2019 spoke with Running Poles on the phone but wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.
“Honestly, it was in spite of her that we made it to the Women’s College World Series that year,” she said. “The most heartbreaking part about it was that we would win and win and win then we would just sigh and wonder what was going to happen with our coach because nobody was going to hear us if we kept winning.”
The former Gopher said players, including her, went to Athletic Director Mark Coyle between five and 10 times about the mental abuse Trachsel was putting them through.
“When I went and talked to Coyle, he seemed concerned but his big thing that he kept saying was, ‘I can’t find this in the rule book,” she continued. “He said he needed to find something and prove something that was in the rule book for him to do anything about it so it really went unnoticed. I’m sure he didn’t want to fire a winning coach and someone who technically wasn’t breaking the rules.”
At one point, half the Minnesota team was seeing a sports psychologist according to the player and because of that, the university made sure someone from compliance was watching over the practice hours and listening to how she spoke to the team.
“She changed her demeanor but when she wanted to say something that she didn’t want them to hear, she would lower her voice and it was always our fault that she had to lower her voice,” she said. “It was our fault that she had to cut practice and it was our fault that we couldn’t be at practice an hour early. It was our fault that she was being watched and babysat. She expected us to follow her rules but it was our fault that she had to face consequences for breaking the rules. It was really scary.”
Go Gophers!!
In a letter obtained by Running Poles that was sent to Athletic Director Keith Carter on July 29, accused head coach Jamie Trachsel of “covering up a sexual misconduct scandal involving two super seniors and a female assistant coach.”
According to the letter, the two seniors were in a relationship and one took screenshots of text messages exchanged between her girlfriend and their assistant coach. She then printed out the screenshots and taped them to the coach’s computer in her office.
The letter goes on to accuse Trachsel of knowing about the affair and bribing the players involved with scholarship money to remain quiet.m
Later in article:
A former Minnesota student-athlete who played for Trachsel in 2019 spoke with Running Poles on the phone but wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation.
“Honestly, it was in spite of her that we made it to the Women’s College World Series that year,” she said. “The most heartbreaking part about it was that we would win and win and win then we would just sigh and wonder what was going to happen with our coach because nobody was going to hear us if we kept winning.”
The former Gopher said players, including her, went to Athletic Director Mark Coyle between five and 10 times about the mental abuse Trachsel was putting them through.
“When I went and talked to Coyle, he seemed concerned but his big thing that he kept saying was, ‘I can’t find this in the rule book,” she continued. “He said he needed to find something and prove something that was in the rule book for him to do anything about it so it really went unnoticed. I’m sure he didn’t want to fire a winning coach and someone who technically wasn’t breaking the rules.”
At one point, half the Minnesota team was seeing a sports psychologist according to the player and because of that, the university made sure someone from compliance was watching over the practice hours and listening to how she spoke to the team.
“She changed her demeanor but when she wanted to say something that she didn’t want them to hear, she would lower her voice and it was always our fault that she had to lower her voice,” she said. “It was our fault that she had to cut practice and it was our fault that we couldn’t be at practice an hour early. It was our fault that she was being watched and babysat. She expected us to follow her rules but it was our fault that she had to face consequences for breaking the rules. It was really scary.”
Go Gophers!!
