W. hockey not attributing exodus to coach

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY Coach John Marchetti says that no players threatened to quit if he returns next year.

No pirate flag billows above Ingalls Rink. The Yale women's ice hockey team claims that it is not in, or near, mutiny.

Rumors about a team revolt against head coach John Marchetti have been circulating all week after the Yale Daily News (YDN) ran a front page report on Mon., Apr. 17, with the headline, "Women's hockey team faces near mutiny." The article stated that "at least six team members—including starter Emily Hyde [JE '02]—have quit, and more have threatened to quit if head coach John Marchetti returns."

"That isn't what happened," captain Julianna Schantz-Dunn, CC '00, said. "Six players have quit, but they all did so individually, for personal reasons. It had nothing to do with Coach Marchetti. No one has threatened not to come back next year because of him."

When asked for comment on the situation, YDN editors said they stand by their story and maintain that the YDN has sufficient sourcing to corroborate it.

Hyde won't be playing next year, but she denies that her decision had anything to do with Marchetti. "I'm not quitting because of Coach," she said. "He and I have always had a fine relationship. He's a good coach."

Hyde was the only starting player to quit. The other five players who will not be returning saw minimal ice time. "This was the first year we had too many women on the team to dress everyone for games," Schantz-Dunn explained. "When you are not getting the playing time you want, it's natural to question the commitment. There are so many things to do at Yale, and varsity athletics are a huge time commitment. It happens every year in every sport. There's nothing exceptional here."

"There are a lot of great things to do at Yale," Marchetti echoed. "The girls simply thought of better ways to utilize their time." Isabelle Kinsolving, CC '02, is one of the other players quitting the team. She is also the captain of Yale's club sailing team and found the double commitment too much. "I couldn't do both," she explained. "Hockey was cutting into sailing, and I'm a much better sailor than a hockey player. That's what it came down to. I didn't quit because of the coach."

The rumors about a mutiny stem from a meeting that took place last week between a few members of the team and Director of Athletics Tom Beckett. Due to the team's disappointing record (6-22-1, 2-21-1 ECAC), some players wanted to meet with Beckett to discuss ways to improve in the upcoming year. "Such meetings aren't out of the ordinary," Schantz-Dunn said. "We talked about a lot of things, including some ways Coach might run practice differently, stuff like that. Never did the possibility of Coach Marchetti not returning next year come up." Beckett was out of his office on Thurs., Apr. 20, and could not be reached to confirm this.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Six players are quitting the women's hockey team, but the team hopes a strong recruiting class will compensate for the loss.

When the story came out, the players and coaches felt confused and put on the defensive. "I came home at 1:30 a.m. Sunday night," Schantz-Dunn remembered. "I checked my email and saw what the YDN was going to run and I was shocked. It wasn't true. I tried to get them to stop printing it. But they said it was too late."

"Everyone who knows our team knew that the story wasn't true," Hyde said. "I didn't think anyone would believe it. But they have. I've been accosted coming out of the dining hall. A TA of mine even brought it up in class—he asked me if I was really quitting because of the coach. My room-mate's parents read about it on the web, and so did my father's college roommate. Even people I didn't know came up to me and asked why I was leading a mutiny."

As for Marchetti, "I was disappointed," he said. "From the way it read, it sounded as if people were leaving because of me. No one was leaving because of me. Again, each of the players quitting had personal reasons for doing so."

Marchetti and his players were upset about the timing as well as the content of the article. "We had four recruits up here for Bulldogs Days," Schantz-Dunn explained. "Because of recruiting regulations, coaches and players aren't allowed to get in touch with them. We had no way of telling them that everything was all right, and they should still come here. It was a mess."

Lisa Meyers, SY '01, the newly-elected captain of next year's team, saw the article Monday morning while eating breakfast in Commons. In the heat of the moment, she gathered up 10 copies of the YDN and took them out of Commons. "As for throwing out 10 Daily's in Commons," Meyers said, "I apologize to the YDN and anyone else who may have been hurt by my action. I responded impulsively out of frustration and disgust that such an article would be printed, especially at such a crucial time as Bulldog Days, when we had several recruits visiting campus. I recognize, however, that my actions were both immature and inappropriate."

Meyers' actions prompted a free-speech backlash from the YDN, who ran a front-page article on Tues., Apr. 18, describing Meyers' "thefts," and then condem-ned them in an editorial the next day. Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead, BR '68, GRD '72, also weighed in. In an e-mail sent to all of Yale College, he re-minded the community that, "such acts are forbidden by the undergraduate regulations and violate central values of the University."

Overall, team spirits remain high. The returning players, Marchetti, and Beckett had a meeting on Tues., Apr. 18 to clear the air. "It was a very positive meeting," Meyers said. "Beckett has been a great help."

A day later, at the team's annual end-of-season banquet, players were generally upbeat. "At the banquet, things were a little tense just because the articles were so recent," Ashley Campion, BK '01, said. "But on the whole everyone has been positive and supportive. It's great."

Marchetti is also taking the accusations in stride. "I've been joking with my colleagues about dying my hair gray and wearing a red pullover to look like Bobby Knight," he said with a laugh. "But seriously, we've learned a lot this week. Teams succeed when players understand coaches, and coaches understand players. This week, in response to this ordeal, we've really grown together as a team, and we understand each other a lot better now."

Meyers agreed. "On behalf of the other four rising seniors, I can say we're excited for next year. We have strong recruits coming in. It's going to be the best season in the history of Yale women's hockey."

Back to Sports...