Last fall over a dozen women suited up for the varsity basketball's practices. Two weeks later, there were 10. This year, the Yeowomen will hit the court with just one returning letterwinner, though the team graduated just one player last year.
Thirteen former varsity players have declined to rejoin the varsity program this season, opting to join forces as the X-Women, an intramural team.
"I think there's a definite problem when there are 13 people who are playing intramural who should be playing varsity," said junior Carrie Losneck.
"I love basketball," said junior Tina Barksdale, a former varsity player who now plays intramural ball. "But I couldn't go through playing varsity again. The whole experience was traumatizing and emotionally damaging."
The coaching style employed by women's basketball head coach Ann Gilbert was cited again and again by former players as the main factor in their decisions to throw in the towel. Gilbert, who emerged as a basketball star as a student at Oberlin, debuted as head coach last year.
Gilbert agrees that she works her players hard and that could have contributed to the exodus. "There are different opinions about coaching style. Maybe it was too aggressive for them, I don't know. Some of them probably weren't varsity athletes to begin with, but when you're building a program you try to do the best you can with what you have," she said.
Gilbert hopes to recover from last year's 2-22 season with a team of seven first-year recruits, one sophomore and one senior. First-year Tiffany Davis said of this year's season, "It's a great experience. I'm not really interested in talking to last year's players. We have a new attitude and a different team."
Senior Toah Nkromah, the team's only returning player, did not return messages that were left on her answering machine Thursday.
According to a number of former players, Gilbert's coaching style was rarely supportive or respectful of her players.
"As a coach your job is to move players up a level," said former Yeowoman sophomore Whitney Smith. "I feel like most of the team left the season feeling worse about themselves."
"I know a hard coach would push you to do as much as you can," said sophomore Jana Caylor. According to Caylor, Gilbert's demands went beyond the realm of toughness. Caylor was one of a few players who contracted mononucleosis during the season. "Gilbert said mono is not a good enough excuse not to play basketball," Caylor said.
Gilbert said, "I think dedication, commitment, and hard work are part of every program. That's your obligation to your team."
Gilbert played basketball for Oberlin from 1989-1991. Gilbert etched her name into the Oberlin record books 24 times while establishing herself as one of the nation's best Division-III athletes. "Great players are not necessarily great coaches," Smith said. According to Smith, Gilbert often held her players to standards that were impossible to achieve.
"People would give their all and she'd just tell us how bad we were," Barksdale said.
Chris Barker is in his second year as head coach of the men's soccer and tennis teams. "At any college where you get program with a wide variety of talents, you may have to coach players differently than if they were all top-notch," Barker said. "You do have to keep players on the team that aren't varsity level. If they're on the team, you want to keep them on the team."
Professor of History Heather Hogan, a member of the Athletics Committee, drew an analogy to the history department. "Sometimes the most popular and effective teachers don't satisfy everyone," Hogan said. "The strength of the department is a diversity of styles. Teachers, coaches work for some people and not for others."
Barker, who asks his players just to whisper the words "Bobby Knight" to him when he becomes too temperamental on the bench, said different coaches do employ different strategies to inspire players. "I personally don't berate players. True athletes know when they've made a mistake."
Many former varsity players have accused Gilbert of maintaining a myopic focus on players' mistakes.
"She made members of the team feel inadequate," said Barksdale. "We never won because she didn't know how to treat people as humans."
Barksdale was among a group of players that was denied the opportunity to practice with the team. "I'd work extra time and I still wouldn't get in practice. The first time I made a mistake I was out. I was so afraid of making a mistake," Barksdale said.
"Just about every player would feel physically sick before practice," Smith said. "It was because of fear. These are not girls who cannot handle playing hard. It's not a cry from weakness."
"Her goal was not to discipline us but to punish us," Smith said. "After one game she had us go around and say each thing we'd individually done wrong in the game."
"Some students really have a hard time with authoritative women," Hogan said. "Some are turned off by women who is not a mother figure or a nuturer."
"I'm not playing because I didn't have fun," said senior Ellen Kazary. "I put more time into it than anything. Nothing has ever made me cry as much as basketball."
"There was one player in tears after every single practice," Smith said.
"I was at at least 15 practices and I didn't see anyone crying," said Athletic Director Don Hunsinger. Hunsinger said he had not heard of any problems with the varsity program until he met with two players regarding the intramurals last week. "I heard rumors the day they were in here but no specifics."
"The biggest problem was half-time talks," said Caylor. "Instead of talking about plays, talks were `you guys are horrible.'"
Smith and sophomore Beth O'Brien recalled half-time talks also revolved around players who had left for Winter Term.
"She would not talk to us after the game," Caylor said. "She would not come into the lockerroom."
"There are some decisions coaches make that are professional decisions," Gilbert said.
"I didn't agree with Ann Gilbert on way she coached," said sophomore Erin Osborne. "I think she's too young to have the responsibility."
Many former players cited a trip to a tournament in Baltimore last year as evidence of Gilbert's irresponsibility. Former Yeowomen complained that three players were not invited to travel to Baltimore, although a scorekeeper and cameraman did accompany the team. "She would just exclude people." said one former player. "They wouldn't get shoes or they wouldn't go on trips."
"Several people who went on that trip had to pay their own way," Gilbert said. "We had more players than uniforms. We did what we thought was best."
After the team arrived in Baltimore, Gilbert organized a late night practice. At 10pm, the players had not yet eaten. According to Smith, "We wanted to eat and go to bed. We walked for about a half-an-hour or an hour in sweats and shorts looking for a place to eat. It was freezing."
Gilbert led the team from one restaurant to another, until the team finally gave up and headed back to the hotel. Most of the team, chilled by the cold November winds, ran back at top-speed. At midnight, Gilbert promised to order a pizza for the players. "We didn't eat until 2 am," Smith said. "We had to be up at eight to play. In the morning, she started screaming at us that we looked tired. It made no sense. She's not mature enough to be coaching or be responsible for people's welfare."
A few players, angered by the problems they felt plagued the varsity program took their concerns to athletic committee members Hogan, professor of history, and George Andrews, professor of mathematics. The players bypassed Hunsinger because they believed Gilbert was treated particularly benevolently by the department that prized her as one of their own. Despite the players request for help in addressing the issue themselves, Hogan contacted Gilbert soon after the meeting. "There were a number of conversations that occured between a variety of people," Hogan said. "What I was trying to do was listen."
Few of the X-Women regret their decision to retire from Oberlin's varsity team. "To be forced to stop because of coaching staff is ridiculous," Smith said. "But I wouldn't go back for anything."
Gilbert professed little sadness at the loss of 13 players. "Some of the players were at best intramural players," Gilbert said. "Any kid we had is welcome to be part of the team this year. The concern they had is having fun. Hard work is part of the fun. We haven't changed our philosophy or our style."
Hunsinger seemed to take the loss in stride. Would he like those 13 women playing for Oberlin again? "Some of them maybe," he said, although he didn't think the issue merited much attention. "I think we have bigger problems than one coach on this campus."
"I can see the title to this article now," Gilbert said. "`Coaches torture...' I don't feel I'm perfect, I don't make all the right decisions. If some of those women want to condition they're welcome to come out next year. Right now we have the best players on campus on our team."
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