The Ball State women’s swim team was informed on Wednesday that head coach Kristy Patterson will not be returning to the team next season after her contract wasn’t renewed. Patterson had been the head coach for the last 6 seasons.
The move comes 2 months after the retirement of head men’s swimming coach Bob Thomas, and clears the way for the school’s plans to combine the programs under a single head coach.
Patterson came to Ball State after a decade as an assistant at her alma mater Akron from 2003-2012, where she also served as an assistant lecturer. As an athlete, she was a two-year team captain and four-year letter winner while setting school records in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke, 100 freestyle, and as part of 4 relays.
Ball State has finished last in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship standings in each of the last 5 seasons. In Patterson’s first year leading the program, they were 7th out of 8 teams, but haven’t placed better than 8th since. Ball State has been in the conference’ bottom 3 every season since placing 4th in 2005.
Her time with the Cardinals began promisingly: the team broke school records in 12 swimming events in her first two seasons as head coach combined, some of which had previously stood for more than 20 years. They haven’t broken any since 2014, however, as the program has flat-lined athletically in the last 4 seasons.
The team did excel in the classroom, however. Last season, they placed a conference-best 16 athletes on the Academic All-MAC team, led by sophomores Sophie Bader and Anne Vormohr with perfect 4.0 GPAs, and in the 2016-2017 season the team had a cumulative GPA of 3.65, earning CSCAA Scholar All-America honors.
We have reached out to Ball State and Patterson to ask about the move, but they have not responded. Ball State recently announced Beth Goetz as the school’s new Director of Athletics.
And now come the complaints about how the female head coach was maternal enough to swimmers…..”lack of empathy”….”lack of emotional support”……classic gender bias in action and one of the main reasons women coaches have the deck stacked against them. When’s the last you heard such complaints about Dave Marsh, Bob Bowman, Bottom, Lopez, etc.?
Have you read any of the threads about IU?
I haven’t….which ones are you referring to?
Empathy is a characteristic that is needed for all coaches, regardless of gender bias. College athletes lead very stressful lives and coaches should be empathetic to a certain degree in order to support mental health of athletes. I hope this argument does not turn into a discussion of lack of female coaches. Most athletes don’t care if a coach is male or female, they probably just want a capable coach.
I wholeheartedly agree that empathy is a needed characteristic for a coach and I don’t think that anyone would disagree with that statement. I also agree that college athletes lead very stressful lives and want coaches that are capable. My contention here is that when it comes to defining and perceiving a coach as capable and empathic, men and women coaches are held to entirely different standards. My previous question stands: When has any male coach had a complaint lodged against him for a “lack of empathy” or “lack of emotional support”? When has a male coach been fired for these sort of complaints? Yet we hear these same complaints against female coaches all the time, AND it often serves… Read more »
Zero gender bias. I’ll say it again: I have been a member of this team for 4 years. I don’t care whether I have a female or male coach; I’ve dealt with both in my career. I want a coach that is capable of producing results, believing in their own coaching abilities, and displaying leadership qualities. None of these were present in the outgoing coach. When there are multiple episodes of my Division 1 head coach breaking down into tears because she felt “overly emotional” or was confronted by athletes for a concern they had regarding the program, training, etc, and became extremely defensive, there is no room for that on this level of athletic commitment. I did not sign… Read more »
My point here is to shed a light on how SA’s view male and female coaches differently. Of course most people these days are going to say they don’t care if its a male or female coach, but that’s not the point. The point is how implicit biases prompt you in your perception and judgment of people, particularly those in authority, in a way that are outside your awareness. Even if you, yourself, may be aware of your biases, we all have them, and to say otherwise is being naive…..its part of how we’re wired as a species and how we’re socialized in our culture. And, these biases become magnified when we’re in groups, as any introductory course in group… Read more »
Georgia Tech and Cincinnati are both combined programs with female head coaches.
Correction, I should have stated that no power-5 conference team has a female head coach of a men’s or combined program. That aside, GT and Cincy are two out of how many programs?
Georgia Tech is in the ACC, which is a power-5 conference.
Correction again…..so we have one. The greater point still stands, although my math is off.
A woman having trouble with math?
I’ll accept your assertion that men and women are judged differently. But what is your end goal? What is the “correct” percentage of female head swim coaches?
I don’t believe in equality of outcome (which would lends itself to a proportion based approach), merely equality of opportunity, and fairness in standards by which men and women should be judged.
Coach Hart at Georgia Tech is female coach of a combined program
This was already corrected, above.
Not to mention the number of lost athletes due to being too injured to continue. Kristy would constantly push athletes till they became injured then force them to continue practicing and make the injury all their fault. As well as the lack of emotional support she provided. I’m excited to see how this program develops and can come back from the fear and bad reputation.
As a follower of the women’s team for recent years I have seen the great recruits that have been brought in. The program has NOT “flat-lined athletically” each class has athletes with great potential that wasn’t showcased due to prior coaching. I believe it will not take long for the new coach to get the best out of these athletes and to see a quick turnaround.
Coach Patterson and the Ball State Women’s team’s lack of improvement over the last 6 years was disappointing to say the least. It was sad to see such a talented group of athletes continuously be defeated during dual meets, the mid-season meet, and most importantly, the MAC Championship meet. Coach Patterson’s lack of experience, empathy, and confidence has led these girls into losing season after losing season, and as a person close to this program, I am greatly looking forward to what the Cardinals will be able to achieve under a new head coach, as anything will be an improvement.
As a member of this team for 4 years, this is the best decision the school has made thus far regarding this program. Such talent recruited in during my time with the team and such a lack of development which led to repeated last place finishes in the MAC. So glad to see the team now has the chance to finally flourish under someone new!
The NCAA has a female coach retention problem.
This is an accurate statement.
This is also an accurate statement: Ball State had a ‘getting last place’ problem.
Not sure that this particular departure is indicative of the female coach retention problem that NCAA swimming has.
Both statements are true, and Ball State has been struggling for years to place well within the MAC. I don’t know the details of this coach’s departure, but it is part of an overall trend for female coaches to not be supported or drummed out of coaching for various reasons. My money would be on a male coach being appointed to the emerging combined program.
Ball St offers zero swim scholarships. Any AD that makes that choice knows upfront that the team will finish behind every funded team in the conference. The metrics for coaching success in that situation are things like team GPA, grad rates, alumni engagement, etc. What happens in the pool is pre-destined by the AD, no matter who the coach is. Boston College in the ACC is the same situation.
Ball State is nearly or completely fully funded on the women’s side. You are correct, no scholarships on the men’s side.
Please, please, please don’t be the beginning of another program going away. Long time coach retires, women’s coach resigns, and a new AD! Moves that has the making of tough decisions on the horizon.
As alluded to in the article, the athletes were told that the programs will be combined.
We’ve heard what’s said publicly all to often in the last few years. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you. In this case I hope you are correct and I’m just having an ‘oh no’ moment.
Coach Patterson didn’t resign, her contract was not renewed after 6 bad seasons. Hopefully this move will allow the men and women teams to improve in their conference.