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Post by southeastvbfan on May 9, 2022 12:12:54 GMT -5
I have to think the Indiana situation is worse than this, but... sometimes we travel to restaurants and we put a limit on what we can order (a dollar limit and restrict certain items - milkshakes, ice cream, sodas, some food items that wouldn't be smart for athletes to eat before competition). I've also been somewhere that had weigh-ins during pre-season practices to determine the loss of water-weight. Neither the players nor the coaches got to see the weights, but the athletic trainer had the ability to hold a player out of practice if they showed dehydration. I imagine the Indiana situation is worse than this, but this quote doesn't indicate that it definitely is. Agree - other indications haven't been good, but this quote is illustrative of absolutely nothing. Preseason weighins are very common - they are often school policy put into place after a rash of incidents (mostly with football) where players died/became very ill due to dehydration. If done correctly (including with education of purpose and trust of training staff), they are certainly not unhealthy and are a necessary part of perventive medical treatment. Limits on meals (especially dollar limits) are standard. There is no other way to manage meal budgets when the team is paying for meal. The only other option is per diem, which many schools do, but is often a bigger pain while on the road - imagine 25 separate checks at a sit down restaurant. And I understand that. I was more speaking on the article as a whole but a quote from Myers in a discussion about food is telling as she literally had to take a redshirt year to recover from the mental toll of her ED. I get the food money limits and eating healthy (I played for a D1 school that was not fully funded and we had limits on every meal), but this is totally different than limiting food budget, its the mental toll it puts on female athletes to look a certain way or have a certain weight. |
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Post by vbcoach06 on May 9, 2022 12:17:26 GMT -5
Okay, I read the article, and I have two main takeaways: 1. This is outstanding reporting, especially for a student newspaper. I almost didn't even believe this was a student-run publication. 2. This is incredibly damning for Aird, and I don't see how he survives. It's one thing if you're Bobby Knight, and even he got fired eventually. Actually, I have a third takeaway, which is that it seems that Indiana itself didn't handle this situation with the appropriate seriousness, and it's hard to figure out why. It's not like buying out Scott Frost at Nebraska, where he has a prohibitive buyout. Getting rid of Aird wouldn't be that expensive (according to the same report, they would owe him half his base salary of $256,000 for the remaining three years on his contract or $384,000 total). They don't even need to fire him for cause per se. They can just fire him due to his poor record and the number of players leaving the program. Granted, for a non-revenue sport, that would be a pretty expensive buyout, but I think it's less expensive than the damage that he's caused and likely will cause until the end of his contract. Exactly what I was coming here to say. Excellent reporting and writing, and a comprehensive and thorough report. To wait 5 months to publish to make sure you fully nailed the one chance you had of getting it right is spectacular for a student newspaper. |
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Post by knapplc on May 9, 2022 12:19:00 GMT -5
Okay, I read the article, and I have two main takeaways: 1. This is outstanding reporting, especially for a student newspaper. I almost didn't even believe this was a student-run publication. 2. This is incredibly damning for Aird, and I don't see how he survives. It's one thing if you're Bobby Knight, and even he got fired eventually. Actually, I have a third takeaway, which is that it seems that Indiana itself didn't handle this situation with the appropriate seriousness, and it's hard to figure out why. It's not like buying out Scott Frost at Nebraska, where he has a prohibitive buyout. Getting rid of Aird wouldn't be that expensive (according to the same report, they would owe him half his base salary of $256,000 for the remaining three years on his contract or $384,000 total). They don't even need to fire him for cause per se. They can just fire him due to his poor record and the number of players leaving the program. Granted, for a non-revenue sport, that would be a pretty expensive buyout, but I think it's less expensive than the damage that he's caused and likely will cause until the end of his contract. It's funny, because I had the same thought reading that. Nebraska forced Frost to take a restructured deal and saved millions in the process. It can be done, even at the highest levels of coaching. Bring Aird in, slap this article in front of him, and tell him he's fired with cause or they can restructure his contract and he gets one more year. Although, the Frost thing was purely based on economics. This is a whole different ballgame. Aird should be gone today. |
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Post by mtihista on May 9, 2022 12:19:12 GMT -5
I hold Athletic Director Scott Dolson and Deputy Director Mattie White responsible for being complacent here. My daughter met with Mattie White several times and nothing was done. All three of them should be terminated immediately.
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Post by bbg95 on May 9, 2022 12:19:37 GMT -5
Of course they do. The article contributes this to a culture of certain players being targeted and shamed because of their bodies and weight. They specifically said that Aird was criticizing food choices that had been approved by the nutritionist. Exactly. There is limiting what athletes eat vs. creating a fat shaming culture on impressionable females that leads to disordered eating. Yeah, that kind of thing can be abused and can be really damaging psychologically for athletes. This story reminds me of the allegations against former Washington track coach Greg Metcalf that forced him to resign. There was a runner there who transferred from UW to New Mexico (one of my alma maters), and I remember her making a series of videos that chronicled the Lobos' 2017 national championship cross country season. In the first one (right after she transferred), it was obvious that she had just left a traumatic situation, and her personality slowly came back over the course of the season until she was absolutely elated when they won the title. That sounds similar to how the players who transferred from IU saw their outlook improve in a new environment. |
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Post by ineedajob on May 9, 2022 12:23:51 GMT -5
Agree - other indications haven't been good, but this quote is illustrative of absolutely nothing. Preseason weighins are very common - they are often school policy put into place after a rash of incidents (mostly with football) where players died/became very ill due to dehydration. If done correctly (including with education of purpose and trust of training staff), they are certainly not unhealthy and are a necessary part of perventive medical treatment. Limits on meals (especially dollar limits) are standard. There is no other way to manage meal budgets when the team is paying for meal. The only other option is per diem, which many schools do, but is often a bigger pain while on the road - imagine 25 separate checks at a sit down restaurant. And I understand that. I was more speaking on the article as a whole but a quote from Myers in a discussion about food is telling as she literally had to take a redshirt year to recover from the mental toll of her ED. I get the food money limits and eating healthy (I played for a D1 school that was not fully funded and we had limits on every meal), but this is totally different than limiting food budget, its the mental toll it puts on female athletes to look a certain way or have a certain weight. Thank you for taking the time to clarify. I spend time reading and learning about these things so that I can make sure I won't make similar mistakes. When the description of the allegations is similar to what I am a part of or have been a part of in the past, I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong. Yes, the entire article as a whole presented many other problems that I couldn't even come close to. |
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Post by greatlakesvballer on May 9, 2022 12:24:50 GMT -5
Hey VT people: If you have a Facebook/Instagram, etc. account, please post the IDS article and ask for change at IU. You have volleyball friends who are paying attention.  Help move this along so this change can happen sooner, rather than later. |
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Post by justahick on May 9, 2022 12:30:36 GMT -5
Agree - other indications haven't been good, but this quote is illustrative of absolutely nothing. Preseason weighins are very common - they are often school policy put into place after a rash of incidents (mostly with football) where players died/became very ill due to dehydration. If done correctly (including with education of purpose and trust of training staff), they are certainly not unhealthy and are a necessary part of perventive medical treatment. Limits on meals (especially dollar limits) are standard. There is no other way to manage meal budgets when the team is paying for meal. The only other option is per diem, which many schools do, but is often a bigger pain while on the road - imagine 25 separate checks at a sit down restaurant. And I understand that. I was more speaking on the article as a whole but a quote from Myers in a discussion about food is telling as she literally had to take a redshirt year to recover from the mental toll of her ED. I get the food money limits and eating healthy (I played for a D1 school that was not fully funded and we had limits on every meal), but this is totally different than limiting food budget, its the mental toll it puts on female athletes to look a certain way or have a certain weight. I understand, and all indications are that Airde was not providing an enviornment where players could feel healthy. However, the quote from the article doesn't help back this up. Talk about the sweet potatoe fries, talk about the negative comments, those would all help to indite him. But, trying to use the quote from the article only serves to show the AT staff was doing what it was supposed to be doing. If the quote said we never weighed in and were forced to practice even if we hadn't rehydrated that would be a red flag, but the ATs providing proper care can't be read as anything malicious. |
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Post by justahick on May 9, 2022 12:34:28 GMT -5
And I understand that. I was more speaking on the article as a whole but a quote from Myers in a discussion about food is telling as she literally had to take a redshirt year to recover from the mental toll of her ED. I get the food money limits and eating healthy (I played for a D1 school that was not fully funded and we had limits on every meal), but this is totally different than limiting food budget, its the mental toll it puts on female athletes to look a certain way or have a certain weight. Thank you for taking the time to clarify. I spend time reading and learning about these things so that I can make sure I won't make similar mistakes. When the description of the allegations is similar to what I am a part of or have been a part of in the past, I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong. Yes, the entire article as a whole presented many other problems that I couldn't even come close to. Same. We are very careful and explicit when we talk about who sees the information (only the ATs), we make sure the athletes understand the purpose (proper hydration), and we work hard to foster trust that gets the athletes to believe what we are telling them. My guess is that the last part is where this staff fell short. Once you lose a team's trust, anything you do, no matter how well intentioned, can be misinterpreted as punative or malicious. |
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Post by andrewwmic on May 9, 2022 12:34:32 GMT -5
Hey VT people: If you have a Facebook/Instagram, etc. account, please post the IDS article and ask for change at IU. You have volleyball friends who are paying attention. Help move this along so this change can happen sooner, rather than later.Nebraska's beat writer just retweeted it on twitter |
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Post by greatlakesvballer on May 9, 2022 12:46:03 GMT -5
Hey VT people: If you have a Facebook/Instagram, etc. account, please post the IDS article and ask for change at IU. You have volleyball friends who are paying attention.  Help move this along so this change can happen sooner, rather than later.Nebraska's beat writer just retweeted it on twitter Great! |
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Post by greatlakesvballer on May 9, 2022 12:48:09 GMT -5
And a quick note to IU Athletic Director Scott Dolson might help things move, too:
athldir@indiana.edu
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Post by Volleyfan024 on May 9, 2022 12:49:16 GMT -5
Oddly enough, his two new assistants are absolute class acts.
Let's see what happens.
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Post by d1athlete on May 9, 2022 12:50:38 GMT -5
To all the people in this thread who defended Steve in the beginning, saying that the rest of us "didn't have enough evidence" to make such statements about him... do you believe us now?
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Post by photos1 on May 9, 2022 12:57:48 GMT -5
Just wondering if anyone has asked any of his previous volunteer coaches about their experience…there may be truth to be mined there. . .
asking for a friend. . .
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