By BETH ANN BALDRY
Senior WriterANN ARBOR, Mich. – There’s a line that’s drawn in college coaching that never should be crossed. It’s called the buddy/player line. And the line can be further blurred when it’s a male coach dealing with women.
Georgia women’s coach Todd McCorkle made a habit of crossing the line and, finally, his team had heard enough. McCorkle, 44, resigned from his position as coach May 7 after the school completed an investigation into complaints McCorkle verbally abused and sexually harassed his players (
Click here for excerpts from the investigation). Had McCorkle not tendered his resignation, according to one parent, three of Georgia’s top players were prepared to boycott the
NCAA Central Regional.
The investigation was sparked by the father of Taylor Leon, a Georgia sophomore who will turn pro after this week’s NCAA Championship. Art Leon phoned university administration in April to complain about McCorkle’s coaching tactics after his daughter said she was berated by McCorkle at the Bryan Intercollegiate.
On Monday, the school released 61 pages of interviews from former and current players to
Golfweek as part of the Georgia Open Records Act. The package included a memo from Steve Shewmaker, Georgia’s executive director for legal affairs, dated May 4 that stated, “There is evidence you (McCorkle) did engage in inappropriate behavior in violation of the University’s NDAH (Non-Discrimination Anti-Harrassment) Policy.”
McCorkle was informed he could be required to attend extensive NDAH policy training and would be suspended without pay for the month of July. Shewmaker also recommended a “close supervision” of McCorkle’s interaction with the team.
According to Art Leon, when parents learned that McCorkle would receive only a one-month suspension in the offseason, they voiced their displeasure to athletic director Damon Evans. Top players threatened to skip Georgia’s NCAA regional.
“I can categorically tell you that that Taylor, Mallory (Hetzel) and Whitney (Wade) were not going to play in NCAA regionals,” Art Leon said.
University administrators said McCorkle, who won national titles at Arizona (2000) and Georgia (2001), was not asked to resign. He had a year left on his contract.
“I have learned through this experience that I must be 100 percent professional at all times,” McCorkle said in a statement released through the university. “Although I was not asked to resign, this situation has placed a cloud over the program, and I felt like it was in everyone’s best interest for me to step down.”
Calls to McCorkle’s cell phone by
Golfweek were not returned. Efforts to reach several players Monday after the documents were released were not successful.
Written testimonies from players said McCorkle made them feel uncomfortable by “rubbing your back or flipping hair, or (a) pat on butt.” Players say he frequently told off-color jokes, talked explicitly about a “bunch of old lesbians who run the place” in college golf and showed players a graphic video of Paris Hilton on the Internet. According to the report, McCorkle also made comments about players’ underwear.
In the documents, McCorkle acknowledged telling a team member she looked “sexy” on the way to the SEC banquet. He also admitted to explaining sexual terms to his team but denied many of the specific instances several players described in their testimonies.
The team learned McCorkle’s fate May 7 in a meeting with Evans in the locker room after practice.
The Georgia athletic department released a statement that evening saying McCorkle resigned for personal reasons. It said he would work in the athletic department in a yet-to-be-named capacity.
“I’m very shocked that it happened the day before they left for regionals,” said LPGA player Reilley Rankin, a member of Georgia’s 2001 NCAA Championship team. “It just doesn’t make sense. Why would he quit and then stay at Georgia?”
Though Georgia administrators insist McCorkle is welcome to stay on staff, a source in the athletic department told
Golfweek it’s unlikely he will.
Controversy began not long after McCorkle took over in Athens. According to sources inside the Georgia golf circle who requested anonymity, the sequence of events reads like this:
McCorkle led Arizona to the NCAA title in 2000, helped by senior Jenna Daniels, who won the individual title. Longtime Georgia coach Beans Kelly retired after nationals; McCorkle, accompanied by his wife, traveled to Athens to interview for the job.
McCorkle was hired at Georgia in June 2000. He moved to Athens without his wife (they would divorce). Rumors were swirling about McCorkle’s close relationship with Daniels, who had one semester left at Arizona. By spring, Daniels was attending practices in Athens, and she played qualifying rounds with the Bulldogs. She married McCorkle in January 2004.
Not everyone, however, believed McCorkle had started a relationship with Daniels while coaching her, and there was no official investigation.
“I never thought the situation was handled inappropriately,” said LPGA player Angela Jerman, who played for McCorkle at Georgia. “Obviously, it was talked about.”
Daniels, 29, was mentioned several times in current players’ testimonies. Players said McCorkle told his players he and his wife “would go out and play for sexual favors.” Because Daniels once played under McCorkle, the comments made current players uncomfortable. McCorkle said he only told players he and Jenna “play for dinner.”
McCorkle managed to keep recruiting quality players. He is respected among his peers for his tireless recruiting efforts and work ethic. His last recruiting class at Arizona included Lorena Ochoa and Natalie Gulbis.
Vanderbilt coach Martha Richards said McCorkle’s talents as a former player (he played at UNC Charlotte in the mid-1980s) brought a fierce competitiveness to Georgia’s teams. McCorkle, a former teaching pro at Orlando’s Grand Cypress Resort and Lake Nona Golf Club, was known for having a cultivated eye for the swing.
“He won two national championships,” said Richards. “That doesn’t happen by accident.”
Art Leon described McCorkle as unpredictable – one minute fun-loving, the next “kind of like Darth Vader.”
McCorkle always has been known as a prankster who likes to be the center of attention and tell jokes at the expense of others. In the end, such behavior cost him his job.
• • •
Beth Ann Baldry is a Golfweek senior writer. You can e-mail her at bbaldry@golfweek.com.
Posted: 5/14/2007
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