Two members of the Virginia men’s swimming and diving teams have been suspended for this weekend’s two-day dual meet against ACC super-rivals Virginia Tech: the defending conference champions.
In a brief release on Thursday, the school announced the suspensions of sophomore Adam Whitener and freshman diver Jake Bowtell for the meet for a “violation of team rules.”
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—Virginia swimming and diving head coach Augie Busch announced Thursday (Jan. 15) that sophomore swimmer Adam Whitener (Saline, Mich.) and freshman diver Jake Bowtell (Darien, Conn.) have been suspended for the team’s meet against Virginia Tech for violations of team rules.
Whitener, a member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll, is primarily a sprint freestyler and butterflier, with season bests of 21.21/45.32 in the 50 and 100 frees, plus 48.25 in the 100 fly. Specifically, that 100 fly is the fastest by a Virginia swimmer so far this season, and he probably would have challenged for the event win against the Hokies this weekend.
This news comes at the same time as three swimmers who were suspended for the entire fall semester are eligible to return this weekend at the same meet.
The meet, being held in Charlottesville, begins with diving at 1:30 Eastern Time on Friday, swiming at 4PM Eastern Time on Friday, and resumes at 11AM Eastern Time on Saturday.
2015 recruiting class is middle of the pack in the ACC
Found out it is NOT Augie that is wanting these press releases put out. It IS Craig Littlepage, the UVa Athletic Director. I have taken time to look over many of the other UVa Sports teams’ news releases on the official website and I see no other team that is being held to this standard. IMO, Littlepage still has it out for the men’s swim team. What happens if a football player misses one practice? I’m betting that it’s handled without humiliating the student athlete. I
I don’t take issue with the athletes being disciplined. I think if there is a policy in place, then it should be applied uniformly, not just for swimmers. I find it impossible to believe… Read more »
Are you referring to the 2014 class which the best swimmer left?
No. The class that is coming in in the fall of 2015 (class of 2019).
Uva went from being my dream school to not even an option during my recruiting process. Hated the coaches and they treated me like some walk on who wanted to try out (no one on their roster has a better best time than me in my best event). Whatever, ended up at a faster school that Is not falling apart
there is something to that. I heard that a kid who is a freshman now went until almost Thanksgiving thinking the staff didn’t even know his name.
Most important, very glad it worked out for you and that you are happy at your college.
Doesn’t this about say it all? Augie and the men’s program are simply a marriage that isn’t working. Time for a divorce and a new head men’s swimming coach at UVa. It is so hard to manage two programs and have success like Troy does, or like Mark Bernardino and Frank Comfort once did. Augie ain’t the guy who can do it. We know that. The AD at UVa knows that. Everyone reading this with a passing interest in NCAA swimming knows that. Time for Craig Littlepage to do what he should have done after last year and split the programs. UVa has… Read more »
I don’t know that and I certainly don’t think that. He’s been the coach of a team that was reduced to shambles after the situation (I say situation because I don’t know all the details) with Mark. He is rebuilding and has brought in a fanatic mens class this year. Give him more than 18 months it get something going. In the meantime keep your vitriolic comments to yourself.
Please look away, please stop “bashing” the coaches from someone in-the-know, or possibly in the coaches’ office. Another red flag. The shambles comment doesn’t carry the water over bridges at this point. Whatever issues or challenges there were 18 months ago, is it reasonable now to say the effects are acute to the men’s program and not at all to the women? Yes. Is there some inference of “getting” the men’s team with these sniper bullet press releases? Yes.
I’ve posted this before, and remain agnostic to simply post — not argue — this again:
27 ACC titles,
31 times ACC coach of the year,
98 individual All-Americans (earning 205 honors), 124 All-American relays,
at least one Cavalier to every… Read more »
I’ve noticed that every single one of these suspensions and overtly public discipline displays have been onto males in the program. I don’t write this to lead to any negative inferences onto the women, but Augie and the AD at UVa seem to be burning every bale of hay in the barn to ruin the men’s program Mark Bernardino built. There are no other programs in NCAA swimming or other programs at UVa which have this tribal mentality to rush out press releases every time a student athlete misses a practice, which is what this one centers around.
I wonder why that is. For once and all swimswam.com should interview Augie and ask the hard questions in lieu of republishings… Read more »
I too would like swimswam to ask the “hard questions.” Unfortunately, asking the hard questions usually leads to less access. I guess that having some access is better than no access at all.
Republishings of news releases on the UVa athletic website is not access. Internet access, yes, access to UVa, no.
Enough hot oil on the swimmers’s skins. Ask Augie.
I agree with you, but Augie won’t say a word. Swimswam wants access to the coaches and swimmers so they will have to tread lightly in what they ask Augie, if he even responds to a request for an interview. Chances are the questions will have to be cleared by the AD. By the time he agrees to speak with Swimswam, all we will find out is his favorite color and what he likes on his pizza.
Today’s athletes and coaches have their “brand” to protect. Anything that will take away from their “brand” will be ignored. But, it never hurt to ask Augie directly what is going on, and then let the readers of this site know whether… Read more »
While no women have been suspended this season, last season in October, there were 2 women suspended in addition to the 6 men. Found this in a past article.
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Virginia Swimming, for the second year in a row, has had a high-profile student-athlete suspension as head coach Augie Busch has pulled five student-athletes from competing during the rest of fall 2014 semester.
In a release today, Virginia confirmed that Kyle Dudzinski, David Ingraham, Jake Pearce, Charlie Rommel and Luke Papendick would not be competing the rest of the year “for violations of University of Virginia policy and athletics department rules.”
That means the five will miss meets against Navy (Oct. 24), Michigan and Penn State (Nov. 7-8 in… Read more »
Just an FYI, it is an athletic department rule to announce every suspension that occurs. Augie is just doing his job.
There is no such rule at UVa to require coaches or administrators to style news releases every time a suspension occurs. There is a rule that the compliance department at the university has a copy of the discipline reports and suspensions, if any, when a disciplinary item is reported and then again when it is closed. These are NCAA rules which UVa and other institutions follow, and is not a UVa policy. Now if you have a copy of some written policy UVa had earlier implemented we’d be glad to see one, but according to the media spokesman in UVa’s athletic department, what I wrote above is correct.
What is this a soap opera? Why another press release? Augie is just digging himself deeper and deeper into a whole with the men’s team that he won’t be able to get out of. He better be happy that Mark and Co laid a ridiculously good foundation for him on the women’s side or else he’d be looking even more foolish. No chance the UVA men finished in the top 5 at ACCs this year
Is UVa the only team in the NCAA that announces every problem/meet suspension as a public press release? This seems over the top to make an announcement for missing a practice.
Curious – speaking generally, it is rare in swimming, though suspensions are usually announced in major sports, so they may just be following that lead.
If every team were required to do this, SwimSwam could have a separate tab just for these types of announcements. This just seems totally over the top. It’s like airing every single mistake out in public. This isn’t a good incentive to be a student/athlete. Other students simply don’t go through this public flogging. I know they are athletes on scholarship, but could you imagine every mistake you make being laid out for all to see? If this is the AD’s policy, he should rethink his strategy.
What is even more curious is that the press releases have been removed after the competition. A first year swimmer was suspended for the Michigan and Penn State meet last fall. Press release published the morning of the meet and removed at the end of the meet. What point is Augie proving, my way or the highway? Is he next going to suspend a swimmer for the Carolina meet for missing an interval in a set next week. The student-athletes should be held accountable for their mistakes, and the punishment should be structured so that the individual, as well as the rest of the team, learn from that mistake so it is not repeated. No good is achieved in this… Read more »
Curiouser- unless you are close to the swimmers and/or coaches in some capacity it is inappropriate to bash the program, coach or his “focus on developing the swimmers and divers…”
In the Know – Just to be clear it doesn’t matter how close I am to the program (and who’s to say who or what I know), if Augie chooses to publicly air his dirty laundry, he and those associated with the program should be prepared for people to assess his actions. Just as he is publicly addressing the actions of his swimmers.
we never found out why they let their longtime coach Mark Bernardino go (“retire”), but could this be an over-reaction to something with that by their athletic dept?