Former players accuse head coach of ‘bullying’; NKU says it has ‘taken complaints seriously.’

Three former Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball players have said they were mistreated by the head coach, who was part of Matthew Mitchell’s staff at the University of Kentucky for one year.

The university said late Monday it is “aware of complaints surrounding the women’s basketball program.” The statement does not mention coach Camryn Whitaker by name.

“We recognize the courage it takes to share personal stories,” the university said in a statement. “We have taken these complaints seriously and they have been thoroughly reviewed separately by the Title IX and the Athletics offices, and addressed in accordance with university policy. There are ongoing efforts to improve communications and relations between the program’s leadership and student-athletes.

“We are committed to fostering a safe, healthy and inclusive learning environment for anyone who is a part of our campus community. Our students’ voices will be heard and the Athletics office will continue to monitor and assess our programs, taking appropriate corrective actions as needed.”

Reached via email Tuesday morning, Whitaker directed all comments to the university’s media relations department. She has been the coach at NKU since 2016, after she left UK in a mass exodus from the program. Six players from the 2015-2016 UK team parted ways with Kentucky for various reasons and the team also lost three of its assistant coaches, including Whitaker.

Taryn Taugher, a senior guard for the Norse for the 2018-19 season and a four-year member of the team, said the university ignored her and her teammates’ allegations against Whitaker. Taugher said Whitaker bullied, humiliated and intimidated players over three seasons.

In a post on online blog Odyssey Online, Taugher said Whitaker would make negative remarks about the player’s family, personality, work ethic and physique.

“Questioning my own self-worth became a huge struggle for me,” Taugher wrote. “This woman is telling me that I am basically nothing: that I am lazy, not a good leader, that I suck the life out of people; maybe I was. It became hard to sleep. I would cry a lot, sometimes for no reason. I was anxious all the time and it increased significantly if I was in the same building as Coach Whitaker. What used to be joy and passion quickly became fear and numbness as I stepped into practice. Basketball became something that I no longer loved but associated with being emotionally abused.”

After redshirting her first year at NKU because of an injury, Taugher appeared in all 31 games in both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. She totaled 20 starts during those two seasons, but her playing time dwindled last season.

She told the Herald-Leader she thinks her playing time decreased in retaliation for meeting with the Title IX office and others.

She claims she was “disposable” and ended her NKU career early.

Shar’Rae Davis, a former player who played one year for Whitaker, said in a Facebook Live video Monday afternoon that everything Taugher wrote was true.

Taugher recalled an instance when she and her teammates were told not to associate with Davis. One player was reprimanded for talking to Davis on a bus trip, so Davis then sat alone on the bus, in a restaurant and had hotel rooms to herself when everyone else had a roommate, Taugher said.

Davis confirmed Taugher’s story and said Whitaker would isolate her from the team.

“It’s like I had a virus,” Davis said in the Facebook video. “People were supposed to stay away from me, and all I wanted to do was win.”

“You take away the court from me, I’m still OK. But when you take away my teammates, that’s when I start to crack,” she added.

Reece Mungar, a sophomore from Ontario who left the team, is still enrolled at Northern Kentucky. But she has her name in the NCAA transfer portal to switch schools after this semester. She said she would not meet with Whitaker alone and was barred from practice and a game for that.

“I don’t want any of this to happen to anyone else,” Mungar said. “It’s horrible and has made me question if I ever want to play basketball again.”

Mungar’s mother, Nancy Mungar, said in a Facebook post that her daughter’s NCAA basketball journey began as a dream “but soon changed to a nightmare.”

Barry Mungar, Reece’s father and a member of the 1988 Canadian men’s Olympic basketball team, said red flags popped up during his daughter’s freshman year. She stuck around for a second season, but decided around Christmas that this season would be her last.

Her father called the women’s basketball program a toxic environment created by the coach.

“(Reece) came to the realization this year that ‘It doesn’t matter what I do, she has it out for us,’” Barry Mungar said. “The common consensus with her is if you’re not on her side, you’re not on her team. She will isolate you.”

Whitaker is a native of Cynthiana who played at Harrison County High School and later Western Kentucky University. She has coached at Austin Peay, Missouri State and Dayton prior to her one year at UK.

UK women’s basketball coach Matthew Mitchell said in 2016 he wanted Whitaker and Tamika Williams-Jeter, another assistant coach who left, to return to the team.

“I tried to explain to them how it would all work together and fit together,” Mitchell said. “That was a staff I would have loved to have gone forward with, but they have to decide what they wanted to do.”

Whitaker’s resignation letter at UK did not say why she was leaving the university.

This story was originally published March 25, 2019 at 8:00 PM.