Coach-athlete sex, rape and PEDs at Huntington University? Nick Johnson scandal gets grimmer thanks to David Woods expose

Also, for those in the Indy area, David will be on Fox59 at 8:40AM (so in around 40 minutes). Glad to see this already making it to the prime time news channels.

This LRC article from 2015 tells the story of Nick and Lauren Johnson and their connection to OTC:

letsrun.com

The Lauren Johnson Story: From Over 2:20 For 800 In HS To The U.S. World Championships Team At 1,500

Jonathan GaultAugust 18

Johnson grew up in Indiana playing basketball and didn't take running seriously until her senior year of college. Now she's heading to Worlds.

Open link

So why are posts still being taken down? Looks a lot like censorship and its a bad look for the site and appears the moderator is covering posts up.

I would imagine that certain names cannot be named. They’re doing quite a lot right now to push this story out. We can definitely give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

I get that, but if they are named in the lawsuit it is public and if they share a social media post that is public as well. Maybe NAIA or Huntington Community Schools could explain why they allowed a teacher to work today that should be on admistrive leave.

Huntington University is gonna need to explain quite a lot indeed.

The guys on the team would also make up lies about any girls that spoke out against Nick. He was teaching a group of young men that they can do whatever they want to with women and if the woman turned against them, it was the woman's fault.

I'm sure we will see a lot more kids come out now. The coaches didn't just start with these 2.

We haven't deleted any posts in this thread save for posts where I posted the wrong links to old messageboard threads. Once I got the right links, I pasted them in another post. We don't want multiple threads on this topic and would like this to be the main thread as it makes moderation easier.

I did delete one sentence in a post as we don't want anyone accidently IDing a potential victim that hasn't publicly ID themselves as such.

Rojo, I am so impressed with the way you have presented this terrible and ongoing story. Very professional. Props to you. Keep it up.

Is there evidence of any real involvement/relationship between the Johnsons and NOP?

Say what you will about him, but it seems like Salazar is the type of guy who would steer clear of a couple that was booted from the OTC (another Nike property).

Is anyone here familiar with the SafeSport process? If the University fails to act, is there another governing body like SafeSport that can take action here? Against Lauren specifically, whose enabling behavior clearly presents a danger to any athlete she coaches?

NAIA can ban her from being at practice and competitions. Also IHSAA has a xc semi state that needs moved before a competition is held at the school in a few weeks. I know many parents and coaches are forcing them to move the meet.

I would also like to see if Let's run can ask some questions of the history between the Johnson's and the OTC.

Pat Casey's comments on twitter make it appear like there were significant issues caused by the Johnsons.

As someone who grew up in Indiana around the same time as the Johnsons, I had no idea that the separation from OTC may have been for unprofessional and/or illegal reasons.

would love an interview with OTC or a statement from the organization.

How did they manage to get coaching roles in the sport if they were fired from a track organization from wrong doing?

Obviously people behave inappropriately and get "recommended" into a new organization to avoid causing more problems at their current job. But this would appear like the start of a pattern of terrible behavior was not brought to light and led them conveniently right back to their alma mater and abusing young women.

I'm also curious about Nick's connection to NOP/Alberto. Did he really learn some of this directly from Alberto or is he just pretending?

At this point lrc has released an article on their front page. What's more likely, someone posted something inappropriate or lrc is covering something up. Hint, it's the former.

This stuff sounds horrible. I can't imagine what this guy was thinking? How can anyone think any of this is the correct way to behave?

On a larger point, when people think of "abusive coaches" the typical person thinks about some football coach that might slap a helmet or curse, or do things to make a player "tough". I think track coaches can give football a run for their money when it comes to being abusive, often I think track is even worse.

David's segment was pretty short, but solid. Said this is the most important story he's worked on in his 50+ year career. Also interestingly he mentioned there are details that he simply wasn't comfortable reporting on because they were so heinous (assuming he's referring to some of the details mentioned in the court filing).

He commended the victims for speaking out and telling their story. Seems like a really stand up guy and I'm assuming we'll see him on some larger networks shortly.

The Johnson's ran in social circles with at least one of Salazar's former athletes. If all of the allegations in the lawsuit are true (bearing in mind that the defendant's have already admitted or been found guilty of a number of terrible acts ((if you'd sleep with a teenager how could PEDs be crossing a moral/ethical line for you?))) you would think that Nick Johnson didn't just administer PED's to athlete's without past experimentation or guidance from some knowledgeable party.