RE: ETSU baseball practice secretly video taped
I know this is two days late, but here is the article. I bet Mullins would like to make his interview go private.
As the losses mounted for the East
Tennessee State baseball team this season,
so did tension among coaches, players and
many players’ parents.
ETSU baseball coach Tony Skole conducted
a 6 a.m. training session on Monday.
At least two people who said they were
concerned for the players’ safety videoed
from the parking lot beyond left field
while players did running, sit-ups, pushups,
bear crawls, mountain climbers, pencil
rolls, hopping and somersaults or forward
rolls at Thomas Stadium.
The session lasted
approximately 30 minutes.
A couple of ETSU players
— they were identified as
Kuehl McEachern and
Matthew Scruggs —
severely struggled to keep
up at times. McEachern
was clearly dazed during
one stretch when he fell
far behind.
One of the videos, which was seen via a
private viewing on YouTube, could end up
being made public as early as 12 a.m.
Sunday. The slug when it was viewed privately,
which has since been taken down,
was entitled something like “How to torture
a college baseball player.” Another
video, which was more clear and close-up,
was also viewed for this story. The person
who has that video will apparently attempt
to meet with ETSU president Brian Noland,
which several other parents have indicated
intending to do.
According to ETSU athletic director
Dave Mullins, Skole held the session as
punishment for three players missing
curfew on Saturday night. Multiple players,
via parents, said they knew nothing of the
session being about a curfew violation
until three days later when an angry Skole
mentioned it at a team meeting on Thursday
a few hours before the Bucs began a threegame
series at Kennesaw State.
Parents say players told them throughout
the week that they were told the 6 a.m.
training was for playing poorly while getting
swept by Stetson, and to see how many
really wanted to remain in the program.
Mullins said he’d seen one of the videos,
as has ETSU attorney Ed Kelly.
“We’ve got an ongoing investigation
looking into all the various aspects of it,”
Mullins said during a 50-minute interview
Friday evening. “So I haven’t jumped to
any conclusions at this point, to tell you the
truth. I’ve seen the video. I’ve talked to the
coaches and trainers — athletic trainers
involved. Our legal counsel has
talked to the coaches — to Coach
Skole and the head trainer (Brian
Johnston), who was there.
“Of course, the team is on the
road (at Kennesaw State), so we
haven’t had an opportunity to talk
with individual members of the
team, except two of the players that
we wanted to talk to following our
viewing of the video.”
Mullins confirmed the two
players ETSU officials contacted
about the stringent session were
McEachern and Scruggs.
“Was it difficult? Yes,” Mullins
said. “And yet, all the players completed
it. There were a couple of
guys that were struggling toward the
end, but when they completed their
run, or their — the last exercise —
and they ran with the rest of the
group. When they finished, they all
did their group thing and, you know,
high-fived or whatever you call that,
and they all walked off together.
There’s nobody in distress. The
trainers weren’t attending to people.
“Players talking about it later —
some kind of kidding coach in a
way that, you know, ‘We hadn’t done
that in three years. I was hoping I
would get out of here before I had
to roll again,’ but you know, kind of
making a little bit light of it. And
you know, one saying the next day
when coach asked him, the kid you
mentioned earlier — what was his
name, McEachern? — asked him
about it, and he said, ‘You know, I
was a little sore, you know, from all
that, but I’m fine.’
“So I think we’ve monitored it
closely. I think we’ve viewed what
has been sent to us. If there’s more
information that needs to be sent or
other video tapes we’ll be glad to
take a look at them. Ed Kelly, our
legal counsel, has viewed the tapes
and has talked with the coaches and
two of these young men. And so
we’re continuing our look into what
happened.”
A concerned caller first
approached the Kingsport Times-
News last Sunday. Six concerned
parents contacted the Johnson City
Press throughout the week.
They all had similar stories about
their sons saying the session was
done because of Skole’s anger over
losing, and that the season has been
a grueling, profane gauntlet through
an atmosphere of intimidation and
humiliation.
Various parents compared their
sons’ sort of silent shame to that of
a battered woman.
This is the 13th season at ETSU
for Skole. The Buccaneers finished
the season 8-19 in the Atlantic Sun
Conference and 23-32 overall.
Skole has finished above .500 in
the conference twice in 13 years —
in 2011 and 2010. A return to a
losing season, one in which ETSU
was playing in its new stadium, has
taken its toll, many say.
The arrival of touted, intense
pitching coach Kyle Bunn has
amplified anxiety but bolstered the
pitching staff. Bunn’s staff compiled
a better ERA (4.40) than opponents
(4.42) despite those opponents
pitching against a Buccaneers
lineup that Skole has described as
“anemic.” And Bunn lost Derek
Bushey to a recurring elbow injury
after nine appearances.
Bunn was previously at Alabama
for one season (2010), and spent
two years at Clemson before that.
Several ETSU players have made
unsolicited remarks about Bunn’s
impressive knowledge of the game,
particularly pitching.
Like Skole, Bunn’s a graduate of
The Citadel, and they each had
accomplished careers at the military
school.
ETSU assistants Reid Casey and
Clay Greene each left after last
season. Has the arrival of Bunn
during a losing season in a new ballpark
been part of a perfect storm
for strife?
“They know the game of baseball,
but those guys that go through that
military school stuff, they can’t get it
out of their blood,” said a college
coach who knows many former
ETSU players. “I think a lot of them
feel like it’s probably made them
stronger getting through something
like that (playing for Skole), but
they’re also smart enough to realize
that some of that stuff they had to go
through probably shouldn’t have
been associated with playing college
baseball. … There’s a lot of times that
he doesn’t know how to treat people
the right way when they deserve to
be treated the right way. All he
knows is come down on people, come
down on people, come down on those
kids. … And when they’re losing it’s a
constant beat-down.”
Mullins said Skole has only been
on a somewhat level playing field,
in terms of scholarships, the past
three years, and the previous two
years produced winning seasons.
“Admittedly, this has been an
overall tough season,” Mullins said.
“And so you know, I think we have to
view this in the context of the entire
season and then know that the discipline
for this particular instance,
which is the only time this year that
that has happened, where they have
used, you know, the physical training
like this as a disciplinary measure
for missing curfew. Three guys
missed curfew on Saturday night
before the game on Sunday, and so
even though we’re not having a, you
know, have not had a good year, uh,
you know, coach believes that you’ve
got to enforce your team rules all the
time.
“And he didn’t do anything that is
outside the normal in some of these
physical training periods of, you
know, 25-30 minutes. There are
other teams here and everywhere
that use some of the similar training
tactics for discipline, because, you
know, a message is sent to the
players. We had a head trainer on
site, had water, Gatorade.”
Action still could be taken,
according to Mullins.
“I think after we come to some
conclusions about it, then we’ll deal
with it,” Mullins said. “But in the
heat of the emotion and, you know,
everybody threatening to do this
and threatening to do that, you
know, and ‘If you don’t do this,
we’re gonna send this world-wide
virule.’ You know, it’s hard to
operate in an environment where
people are trying to tell you how to
do your business. So we want to be
reasonable, we want to be thorough
and we want to not jump to a lot of
conclusions. …
“You don’t want to just compare a
lot of different things, but people
ought to go watch our ROTC kids
training, you know, early morning,
when they do it three times a week,
and throwing up and can barely
crawl across the finish line and throw
up and then get up and laugh about it,
because the ultimate goal is to push
them to the extreme limits and make
them better and stronger and tougher.
If we felt like these kids were in distress
and couldn’t make it through
the drills, uh, we’ve got professionals
right there.
“Our head trainer is one of the
best in the business and sees these
kids on a daily basis, and knows
which ones are playing the system
and which ones are working and
are maximizing their potential.”
Skole’s players graduate at a
nearly flawless rate. Mullins says
he’s met many who are thankful to
have played for Skole, and he says
Skole’s transfer rate is probably
middle of the pack, at worst.
“I go to a lot of games, you know,
and I meet parents, and some of
Tony’s players have worked in the
department where I’ve got to spend
time with them,” Mullins said. “And
so I’ve seen the players that come
through the program and mature
and at the end of their period of
time, they’re strong, they’re confident,
they’re tough kids, they’re
disciplined, they’re polite, they’re
successful and they look back and
say nothing but good things.
“They come back to reunions.
When they come back to reunions,
they joke a little bit about the physical
training: ‘Remember the night
coach had us do this and we thought
he was crazy?’ and yet that’s part of
their experience.
“I drove down to the game in
Georgia Tuesday night and had a
chance to visit with some of the
families that came up, and one
family met Dr. Noland and told him
what a great experience their son
had had here. I talked to another
family sitting right next to them
and they told them that their son’s
transferring — coming here — was
the greatest thing that’d ever happened.
He wished he could get
another year of eligibility.”
Skole addressed issues in an
email to the Johnson City Press at 8
p.m. Saturday, and indicated this
entire matter being based on a particular
player’s parents and grandparents
being disgruntled about a
lack of playing time.
“Last weekend we had a curfew
violation so we conditioned Monday
morning for about 30 minutes,”
Skole said. “I was disappointed that
we got knocked out of postseason
contention and I was disappointed
about the curfew violations. (I think
most coaches would be disappointed
with those things as well.) We did it
early for it wouldn’t be too hot and
also that was all the work we were
going to do that day, so the guys
could have the rest of the day to
themselves.
“Was it difficult? Yes. It was supposed
to be. But it wasn’t anything
my guys couldn’t handle. The guys
were actually laughing about it
after it was over and later that
morning. They were laughing about
it today in the dugout.
“Just like at any game or practice
we had our trainer there with all his
necessary equipment and supplies.
We also had two players who I knew
would struggle with the conditioning
and I had them sit out. They had no
intention of sitting out, but I thought
it best they not participate.
“When our players make a decision
off the field that could be detrimental
to themselves, their future,
our program and our university
there must be accountability. I can’t
paddle them, I can’t fine them
money and I can’t suspend the
entire team. So in order to get their
attention we usually condition.
Once the conditioning is over everything
is forgotten and we move on.
I didn’t think that kicking them out
of their locker room or doing something
in that fashion was what was
needed.
“Due to the recent events on our
campus (shooting and robbery) and
the fact that we are still in season,
we want to make sure our players
are safe and not in the wrong place
at the wrong time. We all know the
facts about there not being many
good things happen that happen
after midnight.”
Many parents are wondering,
even if the session truly was done
for a curfew violation, which they
insist players said they weren’t told
beforehand, why curfew violators
weren’t the only ones punished.
Skole is 330-390 (.458) at ETSU,
including a 161-218 (.424) combined
record in the Southern Conference
and Atlantic Sun Conference.
“Ultimately I guess I get judged
on wins and losses, but I am most
proud of the relationships I have
with my players, current and
former,” Skole said. “I would challenge
any coach in the country who
has better relationships with their
guys. I just had a very emotional
afternoon with our five seniors this
year that I will never forget. I
wouldn’t trade those moments
today with those kids for any kind
of championship.
“We recently had an alumni
weekend where over 75 guys came
back and you should see the love
they have for our program, each
other and how successful and well
these guys are doing. I am very
proud of that.
“Of course we have had kids who
have left our program and been
disgruntled. Every program, in
every sport has them. Especially at
the Division I level. Just down the
road in Knoxville, (Rod) Delmonico,
(Todd) Raleigh and (Dave) Serrano
have had far more leave than we
have. And I bet if you contact those
players, they are not going to say,
“You know what I was in over my
head at UT.” They are probably
going to blame it on the coach. The
APR for our program is very solid.
“Our departures have mostly
been local kids who are unhappy
about playing time and can see the
writing on the wall. None of these
kids have been impact players and
with most of them, we were the
only Division I school to give them
an opportunity. I don’t believe those
who have left our program have
gone somewhere else and put up
outstanding numbers at their new
school. It always comes down to the
parents thinking their son should
be playing instead of someone else.
With almost 40 years of coaching
experience on our coaching staff, I
think we have a good idea of who
should be in there and who
shouldn’t.”
|
/
ETSU baseball practice secretly video taped
