Monday, January 14, 2013

UT Coach Beverly Kearney Admits to Ousted Relationship with Student After Approval of Contract Renewal

University of Texas women’s track coach Bev Kearney resigns due to gay relationship with student

Texas Track Coach Beverly Kearney Admits to Same Sex Relationship with Student, Resigns

Yahoo! Sports News reports:

University of Texas women’s track coach Bev Kearney resigned last week and acknowledged in an interview with the Austin American-Statesman that she had an intimate relationship with a female athlete in her program in 2002. Kearney, who won six national championships since 1993, was placed on paid leave in November as university officials investigated unspecified issues within the program.

In a statement released Saturday night, university officials said the relationship was first reported to the school in October and the school was taking measures to fire Kearney before she resigned.

It was reported that the former student involved, now 30, is not being identified but recently reported the relationship to the university. This happened soon after Kearney was approved of a new 5 year contract with a $150,000 raise attached. Some theories are stating someone did not want the coach to receive the new contract.

UT coach Bev Kearney, resigns, admits sex relationship with former student

The statement from UT at Austin was released about Coach Kearney's now public matter and resignation:
"Coach Bev Kearney informed The University of Texas at Austin today that she is resigning her position as head coach of the Women’s Track and Field program effective immediately. Coach Kearney also had advised the Austin American-Statesman of her decision."
"Coach Kearney told the Austin American-Statesman that she had had an intimate consensual relationship beginning in 2002 with an adult, then a student-athlete in her program, and that the University had begun to review this relationship when it was reported by the former student-athlete in late October, 2012. ...
"Based upon the review, the University does not believe that Coach Kearney had any similar relationships with student-athletes either before or after the reported relationship, which began about 10 1/2 years ago and ended at least about eight years ago.  Coach Kearney is a good person and has been very important to the University. However, she made this terrible mistake and used unacceptably poor judgment in having this relationship.  
"The University determined that it no longer was appropriate for Coach Kearney to serve as head coach or to work directly with our student-athletes and was prepared to begin the termination process. This was discussed with Coach Kearney recently. The University told Coach Kearney that we cannot condone such an intimate relationship, including one that is consensual, between a head coach and a student-athlete. We told Coach Kearney such a relationship is unprofessional and crosses the line of trust placed in the head coach for all aspects of the athletic program and the best interests of the student-athletes on the team."
University of Texas women’s track coach Bev Kearney resigns due to gay relationship with student

Kearney admitted in an interview:
“You destroy yourself. You start questioning how could you make such a judgment,” she said. “How could you make such an error after all the years? You can get consumed (by it) … I didn’t commit a crime, but I displayed poor judgment.”
The L.A. Times says Kearney gained nationwide fame after she was partially paralyzed in a car accident that killed two of her friends in 2002. Thrown more than 50 feet from the vehicle, she suffered extensive spinal injuries but learned to walk again.

Kearney is the first African American coach to win an NCAA national team championship in Division I track and field, and she was the first African American to serve as a head coach at Texas.

Tainted Teachers Report's Take: The coach admits her act of poor judgement and never denied it which is good. There seems to be something behind why this resurfaced after 10 years of not being in a relationship with the former student athlete. It all recalls the news about Sesame Street's Elmo puppeteer, Kevin Clash. After so many years of being involved with some alleged young men, it came out in the public. The question is why? Where these two prominent figures in their field still having secret relations with the former lovers? Were they being blackmailed for some reason at this time? Maybe it was just time to uncover what was hidden in the dark. Either way, these things tend to eventually get exposed because that is what always happens. It can't be covered forever.

We are in a time and era where people are uncovering abuse or improper relationships because they can not go on hiding it, for whatever personal reasons they choose. We just pray that people start using better judgement when dealing with their professional positions and really think about the consequences, first.

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