Piedmont Family YMCA Chief Operating Officer Chris Carr recently issued an update to Cavalier Aquatics club parents following the news that head coach Gary Taylor was currently serving a two-year probation period was reported earlier this month.
As first reported by Chris Graham of the Augusta Free Press, Taylor received the two-year probation from the U.S. Center for SafeSport after an investigation concluded with him admitting to emotional misconduct while coaching swimmers from 2015 until 2022 at NC State, Auburn and Cavalier Aquatics.
In the message to club membership, Carr told parents that after Taylor’s arrival at the club in 2021, three families issued complaints to SafeSport that same year, and the complaints were investigated by both the YMCA and SafeSport, and they found no wrongdoing.
Full Message:
Good Afternoon Cavalier Aquatics Parents,
Our leadership team is aware of the articles and comments regarding Gary Taylor and our Cavalier Aquatics Program. While we have spoken to several of you regarding these comments, we wanted to address our full team to provide additional information.
Gary Taylor arrived at the Piedmont Family YMCA in 2021 as our Head Coach for Cavalier Aquatics. In 2021, SafeSport received three (3) complaints from Cavalier Aquatics Families. These complaints were investigated by the YMCA, and then independent of the YMCA by SafeSport. In each of these cases, we found no wrongdoing, and SafeSport dismissed the complaints. Throughout any SafeSport investigation, SafeSport requires confidentiality from all parties (including the YMCA). To respect this process, the YMCA did not release the full details of the complaints to the team.
The YMCA remains committed to ensuring the safety of all participants in our organization. Incidents that arise out of Cavalier Aquatics, Camp, Afterschool, Youth Sports, or incidents within our facility at the Brooks Family YMCA will be investigated. Members and program participants can speak directly to myself as the Chief Operating Officer of the Piedmont Family YMCA with any concerns regarding our operations and programs.
The YMCA is proud of the accomplishments of our Cavalier Aquatics program. Notably, our club won the overall team championship at the 2022 and 2025 National Meet. We have also received Gold Medal Recognition from USA Swimming’s Club Excellence Program in 2023 and 2025, marking the program as one of the Top 20 clubs in the nation in each of these respective seasons. These successes have allowed our premier swim club to grow to over 235 youth throughout Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. We are incredibly thankful to you, the parents and athletes, who have supported us over the years. It is your dedication and support, along with our talented coaches, that have allowed for this success.
Thanks,
Chris Carr
Although the complaints mentioned all came in 2021, Taylor’s probation came after admitting to emotionally abusing athletes from 2015 until 2022.
Shortly after the news of Taylor’s probation was reported, he was removed from the Cavalier Aquatics website and is currently not listed as a coach with the club. However, he is still listed as an associate head coach at the University of Virginia, a role he took in addition to already being the Cavalier Aquatics head coach in May 2024.
According to The Augusta Free Press, the club’s first acknowledgement of Taylor’s probation came in a different message to club parents, where Carr told them Taylor “has been primarily at UVA for the last year, continuing at the Y to mentor coaches Conor Hassard and Jason Swaim through their transitions to Head Senior Coach and Head Age Group Coach.”
On June 17, The Augusta Free Press reported that Lauren Suggs, the wife of UVA head coach Todd DeSorbo, stepped down as a member of the Board of Directors at Piedmont Family YMCA.
Taylor’s wife, Jessica Taylor, is still listed as the CEO of Piedmont Family YMCA, however.
Read more on the allegations that led to Taylor’s probation here.
Please oh please post the new Augusta Free Press article with quotes from David King. He deserves what’s coming to him.
Check out additional reporting on this by Chris Graham of Augusta Free Press: https://augustafreepress.com/news/the-toll-of-emotional-abuse-on-a-young-swimmer-i-havent-been-able-to-get-through-a-practice-without-planning-how-id-end-my-life/
and
https://augustafreepress.com/news/uva-extended-contract-of-coach-two-weeks-after-he-was-put-on-probation/
and
https://augustafreepress.com/news/piedmont-family-ymca-issues-odd-defense-in-latest-email-on-gary-taylor-case/
and
https://augustafreepress.com/news/uva-all-american-the-kids-that-quit-at-cavalier-aquatics-had-horrible-attitudes/
UVA All-American: ‘The kids that quit at Cavalier Aquatics had horrible attitudes’
Wow! This is exactly what happens when male coaches mistreat young women in front of their male counterparts. The young men learn that behavior or think it is okay. And of course David’s experience was different.
So, emotional abuse only gets probation? Why can’t they find another head coach who doesn’t mistreat kids???
There are plenty of fabulous college coaches with successful swim teams and programs WITHOUT admitted emotional abusers on their staff.
It seems like he’s got some ability with talented swimmers who are trying, but struggles with patience. He also appears to have pissed off some people to the point that they’re weaponizing both Safesport and the swimswam comments section against him. I’m undecided on Gary Taylor until I see something specific that he’s done. Is he an old school coach who holds kids accountable without much concern for their feelings, or is he an evil monster? My guess would be the former.
100% agree. I don’t doubt he probably stepped over the line but people these days (saying this as a 24 year old) generally do not get held accountable very often and don’t know how to handle it when they are disciplined. That being said, after hearing some of the stories about Gary he’s an idiot for saying some of that stuff
He admitted to emotionally abusing athletes for 8 years, what more proof do you need?
There’s a lot of gray area, and in some cases (not all) the line between emotional abuse and tough coaching comes down to the impact that the coach’s behavior has on the athlete.
I’d say that admitting to emotional abuse shows that he’s capable of self-reflection. Does it definitively prove that he’s a monster? I’m not so sure.
Bottom line — Gary brought this on himself with his behavior. The Y and UVA looked away due to their personal relationships— Jessica and DeSorbo. Full Stop.
Unrelated to Gary Taylor himself – how did this ever get made public? There is a reason that HR matters, performance reviews, suspensions, PIP, etc. are confidential. In most companies, it is a dismissible offense to disclose confidential HR matters such as these. Moreover, employees can sue the daylights out of a company for such breaches. Just look at this media tornado as a prime example. Now this coach probably needs to be gone no matter what, because he will become ineffective due to the disclosure itself.
Taylor may well should have been dismissed in the first place. I’m not defending Taylor in the least. But SafeSport sure needs to get it’s you-know-what together. If he should be gone, then… Read more »
I assume some of the families went to the press with the allegations. I doubt SafeSport publicized this on their own.
Final decisions by Safesport are posted on the website. His probation is public.
Unless there’s a secondary list that I don’t know about, probations are not made public by the USCFSS.
The SafeSport system sucks
what does probation mean? Is it just a word that will be attached to him for 2 years while he gets to keep coaching?
It’s not well defined in the SafeSport documentation. https://uscenterforsafesport.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/CDD-Link-1-overview-and-definitions-v2.pdf
It’s not a high enough sanction to be listed in the public database. I think it’s intended as a wake up call and as a punishment to appease the process, so to speak.
Probably used when there’s a pattern of troubling behavior but no one incident that crosses the bright red line. This sort of emotional abuse is so hard to define and scope, I think that SafeSport would probably like to do everything in its power to avoid having to actually suspend someone for it.
appeasement … ah yea … yep … that tracks.