Nudity, hazing probe shook Kentucky’s acclaimed cheerleading team. What’s next for it?
Turmoil has caused a University of Kentucky team with a reputation for excellence to restart without its national championship-winning head coach and his cadre of assistants.
UK announced Monday that it fired four coaches from the program, which has won 24 national championships, after an investigation into allegations of hazing, nudity and alcohol use on cheer team trips.
After the team won four consecutive national titles from 2016-19, UK dismissed head coach Jomo Thompson and assistant coaches Ben Head, Spencer Clan and Kelsey LaCroix because the university determined that the coaches “knew or reasonably should have known” about the team’s conduct and did not properly address it. T. Lynn Williamson, a university lawyer who also served for four decades as an administrative adviser to the cheerleading squad, retired as a result of the investigation.
Sandy Bell, the executive associate director of UK athletics and the current leader of the program, said the team had some “missteps.”
The program has been moved under the direction of the athletic department and Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart.
“It’s a new day for UK cheerleading,” Bell said Monday. “UK athletics will immediately begin the national search for a new head coach. We expect to receive some outstanding candidates, and we hope to select a new leader within a month.”
The new head coach will be part of the process to select assistant coaches and 2020-21 squad members, Bell said. Until then, UK athletics “will work to develop the infrastructure and support needed to maintain UK cheerleading as the nation’s premier cheerleading program,” she said.
UK’s tryouts for the 2020-21 cheer team will be conducted virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to UK’s website. Further information has not been announced. UK said athletics officials met with the team Monday to discuss the timeline for hiring coaches and holding tryouts.
Cheerleaders have to try out for the team every year, according to UK spokesman Jay Blanton. There were 54 cheerleaders on the 2019-2020 team.
Athletes upset, uncertain of future with team
Bell said she’s “confident” that the cheerleading team will continue to impress in competitions as the program moves forward. Still, numerous members of the 2019-20 team said Monday that they were upset by the firings and uncertain in the aftermath.
Jake Graham, a sophomore on the 2019-20 team, said the program’s reputation had been hurt by Thompson’s departure. Thompson has been the team’s head coach since 2002.
“I think it’s a huge detriment to our team and a huge detriment to his name,” Graham said. “... He is a legend in the cheerleading world.”
Graham also said he and his teammates would face uncertainty as the program moves forward. He said he’s on a full cheerleading scholarship, and he’s not sure what will happen with it.
“A few of my teammates are planning on leaving because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.
Others took to social media to voice their frustrations.
“I am struggling to come to terms with the fact that the coaching staff who taught me how to believe in myself and push myself are now gone [because] of one person’s false accusations,” Donavon Rice, a senior on the 2019-20 team, said on Twitter.
“Thank you whoever you are, you have now destroyed my happiness. My heart hurts.”
Rice may be able to return for the 2020-21 season. The Universal Cheerleaders Association, which UK competes in nationally, allows for cheerleaders to participate in up to five national championship competitions. Rice was not part of UK cheer’s spring 2020 graduating class, according to the team’s Instagram.
The university acknowledged that an initial complaint launched the investigation, but its findings were corroborated by some cheerleaders who didn’t support the penalties against coaches.
Allie Law, another senior on the 2019-20 team, said the vast majority of the team did not want Thompson to be fired.
“One person’s voice was louder than 40+ athletes’ voices. & that’s all I have to say on the matter,” she said in a tweet Monday.
Athletics adding more oversight
In addition to assembling a staff and team for next season, UK athletics is putting further oversight in place. The department will now require that all coaches comply with NCAA rules on outside income, and all outside income opportunities for coaches will need to be reviewed and approved in advance. The investigation found some cheerleaders worked for coaches’ gymnastics businesses.
Cheerleaders will have to go through the same drug and alcohol testing procedures and follow the same drug and alcohol rules as other student-athletes. UK athletics administers a year-round drug screening program, according to the student-athlete handbook. The NCAA also performs periodic random drug tests.
UK athletics also has a drug and alcohol screening program that aims to educate student-athletes about the dangers of drugs and alcohol, according to the student-athlete handbook. Any student-athlete involved in an alcohol or drug-related incident “will be subject to immediate evaluation for possible alcohol or drug abuse.”
Cheerleaders will also get money per-diem for university-sponsored travel on the same terms and conditions as other student-athletes. According to a summary of the university’s investigation, the team began using per-diem cards in 2019; however, guidelines on how and when to use the cards could have been more clearly communicated by coaches.
Assistant cheerleading coaches will have more defined titles and roles going forward.
UK said it will appropriately supervise university-sponsored team activities, and the Lake Cumberland retreat has been eliminated.
At that retreat in 2019, the university found some members of the squad brought prohibited alcohol and drinking occurred on boats, Members of the squad reportedly performed “basket tosses” — a gymnastics routine that requires throwing a person in the air — while either topless or bottomless and within view of some coaches, the university’s internal investigation found.
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Nudity, hazing probe shook Kentucky’s acclaimed cheerleading team. What’s next for it?."