Allegations of abuse reemerge against Clemson head coach Amy Smith

Content warning: Discussion of abuse.

I wrote recently about Clemson’s new head coaches, Justin Howell and Liz Crandall-Howell, who were the former head coaching team at Cal. In that story I briefly mentioned that the reason the Clemson job was available was because their previous coach, Amy Smith, had been let go. 

Well. You may recall from my very first column for The IX, back in April 2022, that when Amy Smith was offered the Clemson job three years ago, a year before Clemson’s squad debuted in the NCAA, she came with baggage; namely, abuse allegations from athletes that tailed her from her time as head coach at Utah State and, before that, as assistant coach at the University of North Carolina. Many of those gymnasts posted their stories publicly on social media and were interviewed for a Washington Post article about their experiences at the time of her hire. Clemson didn’t budge, going so far as to say Smith was “thoroughly” vetted. 

Fast forward two years and, according to documents obtained by Jon Blau of The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, Smith was fired for cause on April 18 after violating clauses in her employment contract stipulating that she not “physically and/or emotionally abuse” her athletes. 

One cannot help but think that if someone stopped and listened to women, this whole situation might have been avoided. 

Because, let’s face it — those women weren’t shy. They posted photos of injuries that Smith had them practice on and discussed eating disorders they said were brought on by Smith’s body-shaming them. 

Turns out that a wolf in a camouflage leo (scroll to end) is still a wolf at the end of the day. 

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Other gym news

College Gym News gives us a roundtable about NCAA roster caps and the future of college gymnastics. 

Livvy Dunne lost out (gift link) on a New York City co-op when the board rejected her. Justice for Livvy!

Riley McCusker will take a fifth year (a redshirt year) at Florida. Nice! 

LSU’s strength and conditioning coach Katie Guillory had her leg amputated following a jet-ski accident. 

Brittany McClure, the head coach at Air Force for the last five years, will become the assistant coach at Cal. McClure raised Air Force’s profile significantly in her tenure there, most recently taking Maggie Slife to NCAAs, where she set a program all-around record. 

Melanie de Jesus dos Santos will be a coach at Halifax ALTA Super Camp this week, alongside Canadian Olympian Ellie Black and world medalist Denelle Pedrick. 

Ayla Miller switched her commitment from Clemson to Utah. 

Five at The IX: Young fan interviews Chloe LaCoursiere of Alabama

This completely adorable video shows a young gymnast and journalist named Chloe Driese interviewing Alabama star Chloe LaCoursiere. Driese will one day be doing my job, I’m sure of it. 

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