Last week, Arizona State University President Michael Crow opened up to AZ Central, a division of USA Today, on the state of the Pac-12 Conference and his own school’s athletic program, including last summer’s investigation into head swim coach Bob Bowman‘s text exchange with Olympic swimmer Caroline Burckle.
Burckle, a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, came forward in July 2018 accusing Bowman and former USA Swimming coach Sean Hutchison (now banned from Olympic sports over his longtime sexual grooming and abuse of Olympian Ariana Kukors) of sending her inappropriate text messages in 2011, shortly after her retirement from swimming. Bowman acknowledged that the text messages were sent from his phone in 2011 and said he ‘promptly’ apologized for them.
The school handled the matter internally, issuing Bowman a reprimand on July 22nd – no other consequences for him were reported publicly. The school also released a statement saying that Vice President of Athletics Ray Anderson “communicated to Mr. Bowman that the text message exchange was inappropriate and unprofessional and that no such incidents will be tolerated at ASU.”
In response to a question regarding the decision to retain Bowman on staff, Crow told AZ Central the following:
“First, we had to know what the facts were. He was reprimanded based on the facts we had at the time. Then we launched a full-scale investigation when we had some other information to take a look at. We looked at all of that information, and we found was that there was no merit to it, which means his bad conduct was limited to the message he sent and the allowance of him letting another person use his cell phone. He was sanctioned at the appropriate level for what he was actually responsible for. If there had been more on the table, as was suggested by some other people who told us some things, if those had proven to be true then additional sanctions would have been taken.
“We feel the sanction was appropriate. We feel we did do a thorough investigation. We did look into every allegation that was made. We did use an investigative service to do that. We found his entire conduct was limited to the message he sent and his allowance of another person using his phone for some very inappropriate conduct. And it’s also the case the person he sent the message to, he apologized to and she accepted it. So to us in looking at all these things, that’s what we found to be the totality of this.
“We have to have evidence by talking to the actual people involved in these situations. Not what shows up in a story somewhere or in a tweet somewhere or on somebody’s social media site. We interview everybody, we interview everybody that they know. We interview everybody that’s involved, everybody that makes an accusation then our investigators come back and tell us what happened and here’s what didn’t happen and here’s why that person wrote what they wrote because what they wrote isn’t true.”
Bowman is currently in his third season at ASU after being named head coach in April 2016. In his first two seasons with the school, the Arizona State men finished 4th out of 6 teams twice, while the women’s team finished 6th and 3rd in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
This incident happened years before Coach Bowman came to ASU. As one who is personally familiar with the ASU swimming program since 2000, Coach Bowman has and is doing a wonderful job with the ASU program and its swimmers, far better than any of the previous swimming coaches who have run the program since 2000.
Is he earning his salary? (The highest paid coach in the country and not even top 10 program)
It’s hard to know what all coaches are being paid that doesn’t funnel through athletics departments (if booster clubs give them bonuses, that doesn’t usually show up in public databases because it’s not public record in states that I know of), but based on salaries that are public, Bowman isn’t the highest paid coach in the country. Bowman’s public salary was $240k in 2018, Eddie Reese’s was $283k, and Jack Bauerle’s was $457k ($77k was listed as an ‘affiliate amount,’ which to me says that maybe $380k is the apples-to-apples comparison to Reese and Bowman?)
At any rate, maybe you know something about Bowman’s salary that the rest of us don’t, but I have a hard time believing that any… Read more »
“Other people” as in multiple accounts of people who have been harassed or abused by Bowman, but have been discredited because he’s a middling swim coach. ASU is morally bankrupt at this point. Bowman has built a career on this cover-up and now everyone is giving him a pass. Wake up!
Move on. If Coach Bowman can continue being the great coach and person he has grown to be….all goo.
“and his allowance of another person using his phone for some very inappropriate conduct.”. He pulled the ‘I didn’t say any of that it was my friend who took my phone and said those things’ excuse..
I used that excuse when I was 13 and my parents didnt buy it, why is the President and AD of ASU buying it as well as hanging out and getting drunk with a complete creeper like Hutchinson? Doesnt anyone else see the lies, deceit and Crowe’s spineless response and backtracking on his big man words about creepers like his swim coach?
I couldn’t have said it better. Why have him working with 20 year old women and for that matter men when he obviously finds the seedy trolls to hang around with and does who knows what?
Not defensible. But I’m glad Bowman isn’t losing his career over it. Ms. Burckle is a grown woman and can handle an inappropriate text I presume. If she was a minor it would be different.
“Just get over it”- Mikeh in response to sexual harassment
I’m not sure why this has downvotes, you’re right. Any level of sexual harassment is too much, we HAVE to stop dismissing more minor violations because they ‘could be worse’. Care less about whether Bob manages to continue a successful career (which he obviously has). If he’s done this, he has certainly made other athletes feel unsafe and disrespected while in a position of power over them. We have to stop showing our girls that we care more about people like Bob Bowman’s future than theirs. Of course it could be worse, but we shouldn’t tolerate any level of sexual harassment. We can do better. We can hold ourselves and our community to higher standards. It’s time to change the… Read more »
No, he isn’t losing his career. His entire career was built on hiding his conduct. #TimesUp
guess that means they are fine with very high swimmer turnover too?
Probably the unpopular opinion, but I’ll say it again…was his judgment questionable and maybe borderline creepy and did he pick a really bad accomplice to be hanging out with? Yes.
But did he do anything illegal / did he violate any standards a University, USA Swimming or SafeSport have in place? No.
She was no longer swimming or a member of USA Swimming and she was 25 years old. He sent an borderline inappropriate text, which he immediately apologized for when she expressed her concern and told him she felt uncomfortable.
I know how much the trolls want to see the mighty fall, but this one is just a stretch.
Never understood the blind hate towards bowman in this site
I do
Like, it was 7 years ago, and if he apologized the day after, why are we talking about this in 2019? Nobody is perfect. Phelps had 2 DUIs and everyone forgave him pretty quickly, why not something less serious?
Boy I don’t know. If he apologized slowly, that could have been bad. However, he did apologize promptly so that makes everything ok. If i ever get in trouble, a prompt apologize should do it, right???
i’m not saying i agree that he shouldnt get punished more, but yes a promptly apology shows that you are aware of your wrong doing and feeling some form of remorse imo. if you wait until you get caught/get called out it prob means you didnt care about the people you hurt
But how much of a prompt apology is out of sincere remorse and how much is out of a desire to avoid or lessen consequences?
I see comments like this a lot in swimming. Chris DeSantis is the king of it. And it drives me nuts. You’ve created a logical loop where in your mind, there’s no way that he can be remorseful. If he apologizes, he’s obviously just trying to get out of trouble. If he doesn’t apologize, well then that’s pretty understandable. So you win the argument, because anybody who disagrees with you is just providing momentum for your loop. What does remorse even matter? Investigation says he hasn’t done it again – isn’t that the point of remorse? To emotionally reinforce the lesson learned and improve behavior?
Its a rhetorical question. No one will ever know (other than Bowman) how sincere his apology was.
Relax