Sports

Rutgers softball team a hotbed of physical abuse by coaches: report

A college softball coach and her volunteer husband turned the Rutgers University team into an abusive drill camp, forcing players to run sprints until they passed out, among other cruel tactics, a report said Wednesday.

The abuse was handed out by Kristen Butler and her husband Marcus Smith, NJ.com reported in a wide-ranging investigative story about the allegations, citing interviews with former players, parents and a legal notice against the athletic program.

In one practice, the team was forced to run six 100-yard sprints, each in less than 17 seconds, as punishment for exceeding their meal budget by $6 at a Cracker Barrel, according to the report.

Former player Erin Collins told the newspaper she started to feel dizzy while running the sprints, but feared she’d be punished if she spoke up.





Then she passed out.

“I just remember my eyes opening, like, ‘What happened?’” Collins told the newspaper.

Because of abuse similar to this, 10 players left the team within a year of Butler and Smith taking over, NJ.com reported.

Six other players alleged they were abused at practice, including in a drill where they were hit by pitches thrown by an assistant coach.

Five other players said Smith invaded their privacy by collecting their phones and looking at them without their permission, according to the report. He also made a number of inappropriate comments, including telling players the team bus “smelled like period blood.”

Smith, Butler and athletic officials have categorically denied any abuse took place on the team, according to the report.

When contacted by a reporter from the newspaper, athletic director Patrick Hobbs ranted that the news organization is “f–king scum,” the report said.





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