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The most disturbing claims from USA Today’s investigation into Texas Tech
SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports has obtained Texas Tech’s exit interviews with players who played the past two seasons through public records requests. In addition to reviewing those documents and others, USA TODAY Sports interviewed 10 players, two former assistant coaches and two parents about the program.
America today
First there was women’s basketball. Then it was a soft ball. More recently, women’s tennis.
The head coach of Texas Tech women’s sports has left the school for the third time in less than two years, citing investigations and allegations of abuse against athletes.
“It’s a disturbing trend,” says sports psychologist Jonathan Katz, who has worked with professional and collegiate athletes and served as a sports psychology consultant to the University of Texas men’s and women’s tennis teams. “This is obvious. I don’t think anyone can ignore that.”
An August 2020 investigation by USA TODAY Sports and The Intercollegiate detailed allegations of abuse of players by the women’s basketball coach and her top assistant. Both were fired immediately.
In depth: Texas Tech has a ‘difficult situation’ after losing its third women’s coach in less than two years.
Six weeks later, the softball coach resigned under the same circumstances.
Now, nine former tennis players who competed on the team between 2014 and 2021, the parents of two players and a former Texas Tech employee familiar with the allegations have spoken to USA TODAY Sports about similar allegations of abuse by former women’s head coach Todd Petty. He resigned in June and denied the allegations.
Katelyn Jackson, who helped lead Texas Tech to four consecutive Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA Tournament from 2015 to 2018, said Petty violated his players’ personal space during the outburst.
“He would come running in my face and say, ‘What are you doing? Are you kidding?'” Jackson said. “I remember one time he got so close to my face that I turned around and I was like, ‘I’ll try.’
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