Verbal Abuse and Double Standards

 

The woman hired to clean up Rutgers' scandal-scarred athletic program quit as Tennessee's women's volleyball coach 16 years ago after her players submitted a letter complaining she ruled through humiliation, fear and emotional abuse, The Star-Ledger reported Saturday night on its website.

 

"The mental cruelty that we as a team have suffered is unbearable," the players wrote about Julie Hermann, hired May 15 as Rutgers' athletic director after serving as the No. 2 athletic administrator at Louisville.

In the letter submitted by all 15 team members, the players said Hermann called them "whores, alcoholics and learning disabled" and they wrote: "It has been unanimously decided that this is an irreconcilable issue." The players told The Star-Ledger that Hermann absorbed the words and said: "I choose not to coach you guys."

The 49-year-old Hermann, set to take over the Rutgers' program June 17, told The Star-Ledger she didn't remember the letter. The newspaper said when it was read to her by phone Wednesday, she replied, "Wow."   Read more:

It is very easy for a person in a leadership to have a mental attitude of:  “Do as I say, not as I do.”  And, while I am not a psychiatrist, I would venture to say that this behavior was learned/acquired at a very early age by our parent who learned/acquired it from their parents, so forth and so on…

Whether correct or not, this technique of mental abuse has been used over and over and over again in military boot camps and afterwards; in high school, college, and professional sports; and, in our businesses.  It has been used in Law Enforcement as well as in Fire Departments as a motivation methodology; but, does that justify its usage?  It has been rumored for many years that if anyone “speaks out” against this approach that they will be subject to charges of insubordination leading up to and including termination.

Interestingly, General Patton, used this technique and the hatred his men had for him as a result of this abuse, to unite his troops into accomplishing the seemingly impossible time and time again.  He was referred to as “blood and guts” Patton but he achieved results that pleased his superiors.

Is verbal abuse something we need to change for our current and future generations or should we live by:  “If you cannot stand the heat, you need to get out of the kitchen?”