By Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D.
After a successful, 14 year career as head field hockey coach at the University of Iowa, Tracey Griesbaum was fired last August. In terminating Griesbaum, the University honored the not-for-cause clause in her contract, providing her $200,000 in severance pay. Some of her current and former players, parents of players, and colleagues mobilized on social media to call for her reinstatement. Within the women’s college coaching community, concerns have been expressed that her firing is symbolic of a larger pattern of mistreatment and sex discrimination within the college sport workplace that actively undermines the ability of women to effectively assert authority and survive in their careers (Trahan, 2015).
The latest attempt to challenge the University’s decision in the Griesbaum case is a Title IX complaint filed by four Hawkeye field hockey players (one representing each class, first year through senior) alleging Griesbaum was subjected to a double standard by Iowa administrators, one that was more tolerant of aggression in male coaches and more expectant of nurturing behavior in female coaches (Ackers, Silfer, Cafone, & Hemeon, 2015). Situating Griesbaum’s case within a larger context of perceived sex discrimination, the complaint raises several significant questions, among them whether female coaches at the University of Iowa were expected to exhibit “softer” qualities than their male counterparts and whether complaints and criticisms expressed by female athletes against their women coaches provoke harsher consequences.
The alleged harm to players, according to the complaint, emanates from the perceived gender bias believed to have been used in the dismissal of Griesbaum. By removing a coach described as meeting the “highest standard of coaching”, there is a “…clear detriment to the team to lose the skill and the experience of Coach Griesbaum compared with her replacement…” The complaint further argued that female college athletes “should not be coddled or dismissed as secondary to male student athletes based on outdated or patronizing views of the role of women. It, of course, means that female students and coaches should not be treated differently from male students or male coaches” (p.3).
In urging the Office for Civil Rights in Chicago to give its full attention to the complaint, Women’s Sports Foundation executive director Deborah Slaner Larkin (2015) wrote, “ When a successful, seasoned coach is terminated for gender biased reasons or treated so poorly that she leaves, the coach loses her livelihood, the student-athletes lose a good coach, recruiting suffers – to the detriment of the sport – and student-athletes’ lives are disrupted as they often seek new programs or share the turmoil of a new hire (all of which results in fewer quality opportunities for the student-athlete).” Slaner Larkin further suggested that the firing of Griesbaum fed into a culture of fear among women working in college and university athletic programs that renders them silent because of the potential retaliation they might face when challenging the gendered norms that define their work lives. Such an observation is not without foundation as shown in the results of a study where 18.6% of NCAA women coaches indicated that they feared they would lose their jobs if they spoke up about issues pertaining to gender equity and Title IX compliance (Staurowsky & Weight, 2011).
As evidence of a double standard, plaintiffs use the fact that an Iowa strength and conditioning coach was believed to have put 13 football players at physical risk following an excessive workout which resulted in them having to go to the hospital emergency room seeking treatment for rhabdoyolysis (a dangerous breakdown of muscle tissue as a result of over training). Following that incident, which prompted football player William Lowe to file a negligence claim against the University and football staff, the coach in question was reportedly honored as a coach of the year and given a pay raise.
Plaintiffs conclude that to fire a female coach for pushing female athletes physically and mentally beyond certain limits in service to achieving a defensible end when this is an accepted method for male coaches constitutes sex discrimination. To target female coaches and remove them from programs for that reason violates Title IX by perpetuating a sex stereotype and robbing female athletes of the opportunity to be subjected to and to benefit from the same treatment that male athletes are subjected to.
As many have already noted, this case is important but the question becomes why. If we accept on its face the compelling record that paints a picture of a gendered dynamic that is in operation within college athletic programs that negatively impacts female coaches, as demonstrated by the fact that approximately 20% of all head college coaches are women and 46% are head coaches of women’s teams (Acosta & Carpenter, 2014), then the case is important because of its attempt to create awareness and recognition of gender bias in the hiring, evaluation, and retention of women coaches (See Beglin, 2015 for an analysis of the University of Iowa Department of Athletics).
However, this cases raises a question regarding which female voices count. The realities (or subjectivities) of several groups of women associated with the Iowa field hockey program are presented here, some supportive of coach Griesbaum and others unsupportive of her. Opposite in perspective, a shared theme is a culture of fear, intimidation, and retribution. Consider the athlete evaluations as reported by University of Iowa administrators external to the Department of Athletics who interviewed 40 individuals associated with the field hockey program (Bathke & Stevenson Earl, 2014). The majority of current athletes described their experiences as positive with the program being “intense and highly competitive”. However, “[s]everal SAs described a fear-based environment and that SAs do not feel comfortable vocalizing their complaints for fear of repercussions, which included fear of their scholarship being reduced/taken away, reduced playing time or being ostracized or singled out during team meetings, events or conversations”.
And what coaching method should be used to measure equality of treatment? Is it the standard of male coaches in the football program at Iowa as highlighted in the complaint? Should female coaches, as plaintiffs’ attorney Tom Newkirk said in an interview with Vice Sports, be permitted to “go over and yell at her players? Is she allowed to use foul language? Is she allowed to throw a water bottle?” (Trahan, 2015).
Considered from yet another perspective, in the theoretical, might William Lowe, the football player who alleged negligence for the harms done by the football staff subjecting him and his teammates to a workout regimen that caused physical and mental damage, realize relief under Title IX because the standard of care that led to the protection of a female team was not used in protecting the football team?
This case is important and how it gets resolved may hold implications for many years to come.
Acosta, V., & Carpenter, L. (2014). Women in Intercollegiate Sport. A Longitudinal, National Study, Thirty Seven Year Update. 1977-2014. Unpublished manuscript. Available for downloading at http://www.acostacarpenter.ORG
Akers, C., Silfer, J., Cafone, N., & Hemeon, D. (2015, January 28). Title IX complaint. Chicago, IL: United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/pdf/2015/0204/espnw_complaintofstudentathletes.pdf
Bathke, J., & Stevenson Earl, T. (2014, August). Field hockey program review of alleged harassment and violation of other university policies. Retrieved from http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1349919/inquiry-memo.pdf
Beglin, E. (2015). Dismantling Christine Grant’s legacy and the demise of the University of Iowa athletic department: Open letter. On file with author.
Lowe v. State of Iowa (2014). Docket No. LACV076259. Retrieved from https://localtvwqad.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/lowe-vs-state-of-iowa-lawsuit.pdf
Slaner Larkin, D. (2015). Letter to Ann Cook Graver, Supervising Attorney, Office for Civil Rights, Chicago, IL. East Hemstead, NY: Women’s Sports Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/en/home/advocate/title-ix-and-issues/iowa-field-hockey-players-file-title-ix-complaint
Staurowsky, E. J., & Weight, E. (2011). Title IX literacy: What coaches don’t know and need to find out. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport 4, 190-209.
Trahan, K. (2015, Feb. 16). The gender discrimination lawsuit that could change college sports forever. Vice Sports. Retrieved from https://sports.vice.com/article/the-gender-discrimination-lawsuit-that-could-change-college-sports-forever
Staurowsky is a Professor at Drexel University. She can be reached at ejs95@drexel.edu
