The College Fix

In the wake of the Rutgers basketball coach abuse scandal, another college basketball coach is now facing similar charges.

Reports late Tuesday stated that University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men’s basketball coach Brian Wardle also allegedly undertook abusive tendencies with some players.

The New York Daily News reports:

Wardle is accused of abuse by two former players — walk-on Ryan Bross and  Brennan Cougill. Bross told the Green Bay Press Gazette that Wardle called him homophobic slurs and encouraged him to violate his religious beliefs by having  sex with a girl in order to improve his play.

Bross also insisted that Wardle ignored Bross’ requests to step out of a  “boot camp” drill when he felt sick. Bross eventually lost control of his bowels while running hills.

“Coach Wardle told me to stop being a p—- and to go into the woods,” Bross  told the Press Gazette. “I came back and he was like, ‘Are you all done? Are you  OK? Are you done being a p—- now, Ryan?’ Because they thought I was faking it,  but I wasn’t. So I kept running the hills. I finished one hill. I came back  down, and I told them I was not feeling well again, and (Wardle) made me run  another hill again because he told me that I was being a baby.”

Cougill’s mother provided a letter to the paper in which she accused the  coach of minimizing her son’s clinical depression as a “distraction.”

The school has launched an investigation. … Wardle, 33, denied the claims in a statement.

“I can assure you the well-being of my players is foremost in my mind at all  times,” said Wardle, whose teams are 47-49 in three seasons. “I cannot comment  on the specific allegations under federal privacy laws. I can say the version of  events (the Press Gazette is) reporting is inaccurate.”

The Press Gazette also had a story late Tuesday in which other basketball players were quoted as saying they have doubts about the allegations.

“Honestly, I don’t agree with the things that are being said,” (player Alec) Brown said on WNFL. “I’ve been here the longest of any of the guys. I feel like if I had personally seen any of this happening, I wouldn’t still be here. A lot of the stuff is not happening the way it’s being said.”

Cougill, however, said neither Brown nor Sykes were in the same running group as Bross during the October training session that took place on the hills near campus. …When Bross dropped out because he defecated himself, the rest of the group continued to run, and the other groups were not nearby, said Cougill, whose mother also filed a complaint against Wardle.

It was at that point Bross said Wardle ridiculed him and said, among other things, “We literally ran the s— out of one player” and that “we might need to try it again next year.” Bross also said Wardle called him a “a piece of s—” and that “he had never seen such a big p—-” and continued to bring up that incident throughout the season.

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