A Letter From Western Kentucky Head Coach Bruce Marchionda

Earlier this month, Western Kentucky University announced that it was suspending its men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs for 5 years, beginning an era of darkness for the Hilltoppers’ aquatics programs. The drastic move was a result of a Title IX investigation that concluded, in part, that the swimming & diving teams participated in unacceptable acts of hazing that the coaching staff knew about and ignored. Among the positions that were eliminated was the role of head coach, held by veteran Bruce Marchionda who has held that spot for 10 years as part of an overall 30-plus-year coaching career.

Below, Marchionda has penned a letter in light of the conclusion of his time in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It is posted in its entirety and unedited.

The recent Title IX investigation brought to light problems with in our Program that are disappointing and clearly unacceptable.  I am truly saddened by how these events have tarnished the Program and negatively impacted all those associated with it.  I want to dispel the misperception that the coaching staff knowingly turned a blind eye to this misconduct.  First, neither my staff nor I would ever condone hazing, harassment, or underage/excessive drinking of our student-athletes in any form.  Second, as head coach one of my responsibilities was to discipline student-athletes for misbehavior.  A few examples of the disciplinary actions taken over the past two years include: suspending swimmers for an entire semester of competition for breaking team rules (whereas normal university policies would enact only a one-game suspension); removing scholarship money for violations of the team’s code of conduct; and not allowing swimmers to compete at the conference championship for violating mandatory dry periods.  In short, when misconduct issues were brought to my attention, I strived to find a solution that was in the best interest of the athletes, the Program and the university as a whole.

With the clarity that only hindsight can afford, I accept the criticism that more supervision over the team members’ personal conduct outside of Program activities should have been in place.  However, I want to emphasize that I took measures to help individuals learn from their mistakes and take responsibility for their actions.  We had a code of conduct that team members were expected to comply with.  I also had an outside expert come in and deliver workshops on goals, along with the values and behaviors needed to achieve those goals.  I kept the administration up to date on all major disciplinary matters and employed their help, in addressing the team, when I felt it was appropriate.  I do not give up on kids easily, and I certainly believe in second chances.

The past twelve years of coaching at WKU have been a source of great pride for me.  The accomplishments both in the pool and in the classroom speak for themselves.  Academic All-Americans, an Olympic gold medalist, NCAA finalists, and conference championships all come to mind.  However, more importantly are the relationships that have been built with student-athletes, parents, and alumni that I will continue to cherish for years to come.  Last year’s alumni weekend, when over two hundred alumni returned to campus, illustrated the special bond, which transcends generations, that comes with swimming and diving at Western Kentucky University.

I want to thank Coach Bill Powell for giving me the opportunity to work with him during my first three years at WKU and then having the faith to turn the program over to me.  I was fortunate that he chose not to immediately retire and that we were able to work together for many more years. In addition, I will never take the amazing parental support for granted.  Many of them have become great friends.  I am thankful that they gave me an opportunity to become part of their lives and their children’s lives.

I want to thank President Gary Ransdell for all of his support during my tenure.  Gary and Julie have been some of our biggest fans and have always been there to help.  The conference championship team dinners held at their home remain special to me.  Craig Biggs, Associate Athletic Director in charge of swimming, and Athletic Director Todd Stewart were always supportive of the goals I set for the program.  The administration is also enabling any of our team members who do not transfer and wish to continue their education at WKU to do so at their current scholarship levels, which we all appreciate.

My main focus at this point is to help each student-athlete in every way I can.  I have had nonstop meetings with the swimmers to help them emotionally and to counsel them on finding a new home if that is what they wanted to do.  I want to help put a plan in place to make sure that the program returns in five years.  Once this is completed, I will turn my attention to the coaches and helping them find a new home.  Any program in the country would benefit from their being on the pool deck.

I want to thank everyone for the more than one hundred text messages and emails of support I have received over the past week.  Your support, especially in times like these, means the world to me.  I will truly miss the opportunity to continue to work with the current swimmers and divers and the twenty individuals that were scheduled to join the WKU swimming family next year.

Moving forward, I do wish to remain in coaching.  Wherever my future path leads, I will always treasure my experiences at WKU and truly wish this great university nothing but continued success in every area.

Bruce Marchionda

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Truth Be Told
9 years ago

Coach M, we clearly informed you and your staff in the fall of 2010 of excessive drinking that was planned the weekend our daughter was at WKU on her recruiting trip. After several phone conversations late Friday night and Saturday morning, you and your assistants refused to allow our daughter to travel home earlier than planned. She was uncomfortable and nervous at a Friday night team dinner about all the talk of “getting wasted” at a party that was to take place the following night. Perhaps you recall the recruit who ended up in jail that Saturday night due to intoxication at the swimmer party. How was the recruit busted? Someone showed up at the swimmer party with a gun.… Read more »

Bossanova
Reply to  SwimSwamSwum
9 years ago

Colin Craig’s text message:

“Hey can you get a fifth of taka and a six pack of redds for the recruits?”

Colin Craig’s letter to the police:

“Nearly every recruit was taken to parties at the party house and at least offered alcohol without regard to their age or desire.”

What a pathetic hypocrite.

guest
Reply to  Bossanova
9 years ago

WKU’s message:

“If you haze, we will suspend your program for five years.”

Bossanova – how does it feel to be right?

PAC12BACKER
9 years ago

CYA

Sally
9 years ago

Bruce Marchionda is a phoney. This entire letter is a lie and he is more to blame than anyone else for what happened to this program.

NONA
9 years ago

I think there is some real irony in this situation. Allegedly this is a program with a different set of expectations/consequences based on your level on the team. The stars could get away with more than the walk-ons. I’m not saying that’s always the wrong approach. On my team, I’m much more likely to tolerate a 2.4 GPA from an A finalist than from a walk-on that will never score me a point. How can you make us better? You need to figure out a way.

In this case, the Swim Team was the “walk-on” of the athletic department. Want to maintain your spot? Better make sure that the attention you bring to the school is always positive, because… Read more »

OG SWIMMER
9 years ago

Bruce is not remembering, that my recruited swimmer turned down a major scholarship offer to WKU and told him, it was because of the partying done at the recruit weekend and didn’t want to be part of that situation. Bruce doesn’t remember the assistant coach, that resigned at the end of the season because he refused to act on the harassment happening to the assistant. Bruce needed to be fired, swimmers needed to be dismissed, but the program should not have been suspended. Craig Biggs, should have done a better job monitoring the program.

SwimMomof2
Reply to  OG SWIMMER
9 years ago

My swimmer was also on an official visit this past Fall where he was taken to a party by his host and dropped off while his host went out with someone else. At this party he was offered alcohol. Aren’t recruiting weekends supposed to be dry weekends? Bruce was unable to give my son a “yes” or a “no” to be a member of the team. After being a head coach for 10+ years, you would think you could do that, right? Then, to put a wrap on an “interesting” weekend, no one was able to provide my son with the proper paperwork to return to school with to excuse his absence. I emailed Bruce at least twice asking for… Read more »

wkuswimalum007
9 years ago

What happened to the program is overkill and mostly for money to go to football. Follow the money and it’s easy to see this is mostly a smear campaign to justify getting rid of the program to give to the football team. No individuals have been charged with anything related to the accusations regarding this situation. The innocent men, and especially the women and divers don’t deserve this punishment.
Bruce is lying and trying to save his own image. Bruce was inconsistent on punishing athletes based on who could score him the most points. I can’t believe how little responsibility he is taking. He is obviously trying to say agreeable things and be politically correct, but wow way to… Read more »

PK
9 years ago

Many variations of a leadership quote state that good leaders take less than their share of the credit and more than their share of the blame. I’d say that only one sentence of that letter takes blame, and the next sentence starts with “However”. This reads more to me like a letter to potential future employers than anyone else.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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