An outside review of the University of Utah gymnastics program found that while some gymnasts had a negative experience, coach Tom Farden did not engage in any “severe, pervasive or egregious” acts of emotional, verbal or physical abuse.
The school released the results of the review Thursday.
The university engaged the Kansas City-based law firm Husch Blackwell in June after several athletes and their parents alleged Farden verbally and emotionally abused and physically intimidated members of the team. The firm specializes in issues facing colleges and universities, including conducting independent investigations and culture and climate reviews of sport programs.
The report concluded that while Farden’s actions caused some gymnasts to feel “increased fear of failure” and pressure to retain athletics scholarships, he did not engage in “any severe, pervasive or egregious” acts of emotional, verbal or physical abuse or harassment as defined by NCAA regulations and the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an independent nonprofit that promotes a sports environment free of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and misconduct.
But the report did cite several instances in which Farden should have demonstrated greater compassion and self-control, and better professionalism.
The report also noted that this is the second review related to concerns about “coaching issues” in the gymnastics program in the past four years.
“I met with coach Farden this week to express my disappointment and to share with him my expectations moving forward,” Utah athletics director Mark Harlan said in a prepared statement. “Both Chief Operating Officer/Deputy Director of Athletics Charmelle Green and I will be even more vigilant in monitoring his conduct and his coaching methods, and he will be held to a higher standard moving forward.”
Farden said in a statement that he cares deeply about the health, safety and well-being of each athlete he coaches. He said he takes very seriously the concerns expressed about his behavior and coaching methods.
“It has been painful to learn of the negative impacts that my words and actions have created, and I have thoroughly examined the accounts of every person who shared their experience through their participation in the program review,” he said.
Farden said he would “take to heart” every lesson learned through the review process, and that he is committed to improving athletes’ experiences.
“I also embrace and respect the courage of those who expressed negative experiences from their interactions with me. Their input has caused me to humbly reflect and hold myself accountable in order to improve,” he said.
The Deseret News first reported that the review was underway last month based on interviews with five former Red Rocks — as Utah team members are called — mothers of four gymnasts and two former staff members who worked with Farden during his 23-year collegiate coaching career, all of whom spoke on the condition their names not be used.
They accused Farden of verbal degradation, public shaming, physical intimidation, isolating gymnasts from their parents and showing a lack of concern for athletes’ physical and emotional well-being, among other things. The former gymnasts did not allege sexual abuse of any kind.
Investigators specifically looked at whether Farden engaged in emotional and verbal abuse, disregarded injuries and athletics trainer recommendations and inappropriately managed scholarships, including by pressuring athletes to medically retire.
In response to the report, the university said it would implement Husch Blackwell’s five recommendations:
- Creating and managing a performance improvement plan for Farden, including training in appropriate communication with athletes, leadership and emotional intelligence for interactions with athletes and creating a healthy team culture.
- Continuing to support the role of the student-athlete advocate, including regular monitoring of team practices and competitions, and educating athletes about the advocate’s role, so that she can be an independent resource to address athletes’ concerns.
- Working to communicate and involve parents in the gymnastics program, while still adhering to the athletic department’s expectations for athletes to develop independence and complying with FERPA and HIPAA.
- Ensuring that all prospective and enrolled student-athletes understand the terms of their athletics scholarships. Further, consider whether the use of a multi-year award that only guarantees one-year of an athletics scholarship is a best practice.
- Assigning athletics department leaders to attend more practices and conduct regular, documented meetings with women’s gymnastics.
Harlan said he remains confident in Farden’s ability to continue to lead the gymnastics program and to maintain an environment that helps athletes reach their greatest potential while supporting their health, safety and well-being.
“We treat any allegations of inappropriate behavior or abuse within our athletics programs with the utmost care and sensitivity. Student-athletes and their parents entrust their futures to us — not only their athletic training and education, but also their physical and mental health and well-being,” he said.
The Deseret News reported last month that two Utah gymnasts were hospitalized for more than a week at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute to address mental health concerns and suicidal thoughts. Both hospital stays came toward or at the end of a gymnastics season.
“During my time on the team, I was cussed at, had things thrown at me and was emotionally abused by Tom Farden to the point of being so broken down I wanted to take my own life,” one former All-American gymnast wrote to a student-athlete advocate.
Though she competed at a high level, receiving All-Pac-12 and All-America honors, one former Red Rock in an interview last month said Farden told her she was a failure, lazy, a waste and that she didn’t bring value to the team.
“Throughout my time as a gymnast there, all I felt like was a thing, a business asset,” she said. “If you’re doing stuff that doesn’t look good for this business that he’s running, then he thinks you’re irrelevant.”
The Deseret News last month also interviewed a number of former gymnasts, including Sydney Soloski and Alexia Burch, as well as now-retired longtime coaches Greg and Megan Marsden, who defended Farden and praised his coaching style.
One of the parents the Deseret News spoke to previously called the report “disheartening” and said it’s “sad” the university protects winning coaches over the well-being of athletes.
“It’s unfortunate that the type of behavior outlined in this report is deemed acceptable to anyone,” the parent said Thursday in a text message, again requesting anonymity. “It’s disheartening that the investigators took current gymnasts’ statements more seriously than past gymnasts’ statements who have experienced his abuse.”
Another parent called the report’s conclusions and recommendations disappointing.
“The fact that most concerns were negated by the report does not make them invalid. It is obvious when Farden was not put on administrative leave that the University of Utah never took these allegations seriously,” the parent said.
Individual experiences will vary, the parent added, but all need to be taken as valid whether they agree with the general narrative or not.
The parent said the report shows that the school’s zero tolerance for abuse is an “empty promise.”
“What does it say to other athletes being abused? This pattern continues the cycle of silencing victims and emboldening perpetrators.”
Husch Blackwell interviewed all 12 members of the 2022-23 team, seven former gymnasts, five parents, six members of the current coaching staff, 11 athletics department staff members and administrators and four former staff members. None are named in the report.
The review did elicit statements and concerns related to Farden and his coaching, but did not find sufficient evidence that he violated university policies or NCAA rules.
“Although there were some student-athletes who participated in the review who felt targeted by coach Farden and who shared information about their personal experiences within the program, we did not find sufficient corroborating evidence to conclude that coach Farden engaged in actions that violated U.S. Center for SafeSport code,” the report says.
“However, in at least one circumstance related to coach Farden’s communications with a student-athlete, coach Farden violated the Student-Athlete Health, Safety and Well Being Program of the University’s Athletics Department.”
In that instance, Farden told a gymnast that if she was not at Utah, she would be a “nobody working at a gas station” in her hometown.
“We find this comment was personally degrading and, although isolated, violates the Athletics’ Well Being Policy which prohibits the use of degrading language,” according to the report.
A few gymnasts alleged that Farden made comments that, if corroborated, would have likely resulted in a finding that they violated the school’s athlete wellness policy. But the alleged comments were isolated occurrences that could not be independently corroborated and were denied by Farden, the report says.
The report found that Farden “more likely than not” threw a stopwatch and a cell phone in frustration in the presence of team members. But concluded the acts were not repeated nor severe and therefore did not violate any policies. One gymnast also alleged Farden threw a tool used for scraping chalk from the parallel bars — a toilet brush taped to a stick of wood — at her, but the report found varying and inconsistent accounts of the situation.
Despite the findings, the report noted that a majority of athletes interviewed, two-thirds of the 2022-23 team, and all but one current or former staff member described Farden as a caring, passionate coach and did not report any concerns related to the treatment of gymnasts.
Harlan said while Husch Blackwell concluded that Farden’s actions were not severe or egregious, the university will consider the experiences reported by members of the program over recent years with “great care, compassion and sensitivity. “
The first review of Farden apparently occurred internally in 2020, according to an email included in the report.
In an effort to assess the environment on the team the university’s student-athlete advocate Leila Ames interviewed 12 of the 14 gymnasts on the squad. She said feedback I received was positive overall, but there are a few areas where improvements could be made.
“On occasion, Tom can ‘erupt,” act ‘irrationally’ and be ‘explosive,’ and at times his passion and intensity can ‘come off scary,’” Ames wrote in the Oct. 8, 2020 email to university administrators.
One gymnast told Ames that the team could tell if the coaches were having a bad day based on their temperament and body language, which sometimes resulted in more serious and/or intense practices.
“Improvements can be made with regard to yelling in the gym and expressing care and concern for individuals as people as well as athletes,” she wrote.
Ames recommended that coaches make additional efforts to support a positive, productive, and respectful environment and to be mindful of the impact their verbal and non-verbal communication can have on the team and their ability to focus and contribute.
Utah has long been a premier women’s college gymnastics program, although it hasn’t won a national championship since 1995. Fan support of the program is robust, as Utah regularly fills the 15,000-seat Huntsman Center and holds the NCAA record for season average attendance (15,273 — set in 2020).
Farden joined the Red Rocks as an assistant coach ahead of the 2011 season. In 2016, he and Megan Marsden were named co-head coaches, following the retirement of Greg Marsden. Farden became the sole head coach in 2020 after Megan Marsden retired.
He was named Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year at the end of his first season. He has compiled a 165-46-1 record as co-head coach and head coach, including five Pac-12 titles and three consecutive third-place finishes in the NCAA championships. He also coached at Southeast Missouri State and Arkansas.