When I saw this article on ESPN, this is just one of many examples of what I would like to call “honeybuns” among athletes. I had posted on this topic a while ago– because I saw many cases of these types of people in track and field alone– and with it seems that it is not limited to one sport.
It seems that the Boston College Women’s Ice Hockey Coach, Tom Mutch, “resigned” because of the news that he had a relationship with one of his athletes. From the way that I saw this– Mr. Mutch could either resign and the university would not disclose information about his case, or he could let the university fire him, and then what happened to Mr. Mutch will be available for the public.
In this situation, I would be interested to see when exactly Boston College found out about this situation, or did they just had enough? With coaches like Mr. Mutch, they don’t just have one incident– but many. If you look and read about his wife– she is a former athlete of his (she was a hockey player on the American hockey team he coached in 1998). Hmmmm– shouldn’t Boston College have been aware that Mr. Mutch has a history of having “misconducts” with his athletes? But– they might have only cared that he made BC an established hockey program– but, if they were proactive and realized earlier who exactly they had– they wouldn’t be in this “PR Nightmare” situation.
I would say that even though track and field has dealt with its crises and issues with athletes using performance enhancing drugs, I believe that the inappropriate coach/athlete relationship is its number one problem. Also, I believe that it’s not just track and field– but all women’s sports.
This coach not only is married, but he just had his first child in September! Mr. Mutch should not only be out of coaching permanently, but not around young adults period. One thing that I find amazing is the fact that the NCAA has many rules on recruiting, student-athlete financial support, and even rules about text messaging. Why isn’t there stricter rules against coaches like Mr. Mutch and what they try to do with their athletes?!! Many universities have rules for professors and their students– so why aren’t coaches? The NCAA needs to address this issue immediately— because it isn’t just limited to ice hockey or track and field. As time goes by, I believe that every sport has “honeybuns.”
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