Julie Hermann’s players at Tennessee weren’t happy about it, but drinking, promiscuity and athletic achievement often go hand in hand.
First Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice was caught on tape verbally and physically abusing his players, which led to his firing and eventually the firing of his boss, athletic director Tim Pernetti. Then Rutgers introduced proud alum Eddie Jordan as Rice's replacement only for Deadspin to reveal that Jordan had never graduated from Rutgers despite the school's many claims to the contrary. And then they hired a new athletic director, Julie Hermann, who finally got everything under control. Just kidding: Hermann immediately became the subject of a Newark Star-Ledger exposé which reported that she'd quit coaching the Tennessee volleyball team to go into athletic administration in the 1990s after her team unanimously told the Tennessee athletic department, via letter, that it would no longer play for her because of abusive behavior.
The letter accused Hermann of "mental cruelty," the Star-Ledger says, including a variety of humiliating "motivational" tactics like denying them showers after losses. One player told the paper Hermann had hit her in the stomach during a huddle. The real takeaway line, though, was the letter's contention that Hermann had disparagingly called team members "whores" and "alcoholics." This may be the most chilling detail of the entire affair, especially to Rutgers fans who had been hoping Hermann might help take the school's teams to the next level of competitive excellence. It really calls her judgment into serious question. Doesn't Julie Hermann realize that some of the greatest athletes in history were whores and alcoholics?
Babe Ruth: King Of Home Runs And Venereal Disease
Loved the ladies. The baseball above represents his liver.
Via: Hulton Archive / Getty Images