The only information I know about this situation is what I have read here. Thus, I am curious as to who enabled this predator? Additionally, if the guy was fired im not sure how that constitutes "looking the other way." There is not much else they can do.
They could not hire his wife and not let him still be involved with the team. That seems like a good start.
I believe this to be the most important thing to confirm in any case. What is Nick's current involvement with the team? Anonymous posts in this thread claim to witness him in contact with runners. Is there any way to confirm this?
I do not understand why HU would not send a clear message that what happened is inexcusable and will not be tolerated. They could have easily cleaned house of everyone who was on staff at the time (Indiana is an at will state) and totally moved on.
There is no shortage of people who like to like to coach collegiately. This was a conscious decision on HU's part. It appears that they wanted the connection to the Johnson's.
These are the questions that HU needs to answer...
1. What went into the decision to hire Lauren as the full time head coach?
2. Did the athletes have any say into the coaching decision?
3. What sort of investigation did the school conduct? Can HU confirm that all athletes involved with Mr. Johnson were privately questioned? This includes alumni, current athletes, and future recruits.
4. How is the school ensuring that Mr. Johnson has zero contact with the team? Are communications being monitored? Are there third parties present at practice to ensure compliance?
5. What does the recruiting process look like at HU? Are all athletes and their families fully aware of the "allegations" against the head coach's husband?
6. Was there ever a time when athletes were living at the Johnson household, whether it be for a short period or an extended period of time?
7. What is the relationship with the Johnson family and local high school athletes. Have they been privately coaching athletes on the side?
8. How is the school and Athletic Department ensuring that Coach Johnson is complying with recruiting and transfer guidlines? Is there an audit process in place to ensure that no violations are committed?
While I agree that the violations of recruiting rules are important, I believe the focus should be on the main offense. The false identity charge and very likely breach of recruiting rules can just be written off as “competitive” and those bringing them up are disgruntled adversaries that lost. Certainly the possible violations add to the story and the type of person that would do what he did would probably not have any issue violating rules. I do believe that there are a ton of details that we don’t know. This is just a thought, not a criticism.
Oh definitely agree. Two different stories going on here that I lumped into one big pot of questions. The stories are essentially...
Story 1: Why in god's green earth is Lauren coaching the team. (Most important)
Story 2: How does HU continue to land notable D1 runners AFTER they already committed/attended other universities. (Least important). It doesn't make sense that a solid D1 athlete chooses to transfer/decomitt to an NAIA university where they can essentially tempo a race and win 99% of the time (I watched it happen year after year. Girls wearing their trainers winning races by 30 plus seconds).
The issue is, given the circumstances it's not farfetched to believe that these stories are somehow related.
As someone close to many of the HU runners during this time, it should be noted that the athletes actually wanted Lauren as the next coach. They pushed the administration hard for it during the coaching search, too. The administration was definitely squeamish, but they threatened to transfer if they hired someone from the outside. Why? Look at any of their race results from the past 3 years. Unfortunately, their great success has led to many of the runners on the team burying their heads in the sand on this issue.
As someone close to many of the HU runners during this time, it should be noted that the athletes actually wanted Lauren as the next coach. They pushed the administration hard for it during the coaching search, too. The administration was definitely squeamish, but they threatened to transfer if they hired someone from the outside. Why? Look at any of their race results from the past 3 years. Unfortunately, their great success has led to many of the runners on the team burying their heads in the sand on this issue.
I can confirm that I heard the same, or I at least heard that both the school and the athletes wanted Lauren as the coach. It was not Lauren fighting for the job.
That being said, this is one of those hard situations where the school should've cut their losses, allowed the athletes to transfer, and started from scratch. I don't care what a group of 18-22 year old kids wanted, it is simply not appropriate for the wife to coach the team. HU is the giant black sheep of the NAIA right now. Every meet they go to people cringe when they walk in. It is bizarre that Lauren literally paces her athletes during races to help them hit the qualifying standards (how is this even allowed in the first place?). The whole thing is simply weird.
On a side note, the AD's email is very easy to find and I highly encourage people to reach out with questions (I did so myself). Please do not bombard them or make any accusations, but I think it's important that they know that this has not been buried under the rug.
I do not understand why HU would not send a clear message that what happened is inexcusable and will not be tolerated. They could have easily cleaned house of everyone who was on staff at the time (Indiana is an at will state) and totally moved on.
There is no shortage of people who like to like to coach collegiately. This was a conscious decision on HU's part. It appears that they wanted the connection to the Johnson's.
"HU is the giant black sheep of the NAIA right now."
Ive never even heard of Huntington until this post. As an NAIA runner I can assure you most student-athletes have no clue and Huntington is not a black sheep to us. The coaches who have been around for longer than most current athletes obviously feel otherwise.
"HU is the giant black sheep of the NAIA right now."
Ive never even heard of Huntington until this post. As an NAIA runner I can assure you most student-athletes have no clue and Huntington is not a black sheep to us. The coaches who have been around for longer than most current athletes obviously feel otherwise.
I'm speaking as someone who ran for the Crossroads league. Also, HU literally finished runner-up at nationals a few years ago (their men's team). Not sure how a fellow NAIA runner has never heard of Huntington before.
The bad thing with this school is they were a school of interest for my daughter. With all of this going on and her interaction with the new track coach, I am pretty she she has moved on from this program. The new track coach has very little interest in anything but sprints and pays little attention to detail when interacting with athletes.
The bad thing with this school is they were a school of interest for my daughter. With all of this going on and her interaction with the new track coach, I am pretty she she has moved on from this program. The new track coach has very little interest in anything but sprints and pays little attention to detail when interacting with athletes.
Trying to stay on topic in regards to the new track coach - I believe he was hired because he was just happy to get a head coaching job and wouldn't question any of the sketchy stuff going on - he also came from a school that's notorious for questionable ethics.
I know for a fact that the last track coach was forced out so I wonder if it's connected to the Nick/Lauren situation.
The last coach left coaching all together to pursue another career outside of coaching. In sure the school didn't force him out especially since the one that got in troubles wife coaches ( obviously he didn't learn any lessons, he just got a DUI a few weeks ago). I agree the new coach comes from a program with many issues, but as a parent I definitely haven't encouraged my daughter to pursue their program especially with supporting a history of sexual misconduct issues from a previous coach.
The last coach left coaching all together to pursue another career outside of coaching. In sure the school didn't force him out especially since the one that got in troubles wife coaches ( obviously he didn't learn any lessons, he just got a DUI a few weeks ago). I agree the new coach comes from a program with many issues, but as a parent I definitely haven't encouraged my daughter to pursue their program especially with supporting a history of sexual misconduct issues from a previous coach.
Wasn't suggesting that the former track coach was involved with Nick/Lauren, just that he might have been removed due to his issues with the situation. Not to give too many details due to privacy but from direct conversations with the old track coach it was pretty clear it wasn't a planned exit and he wasn't sure what he was doing next.
Would be weird to leave as you have one of the best 400 hurdlers in the US staying and training for 2024. Didn't hear about the DUI - very unfortunate.
Regardless hope your daughter finds the right fit for her and your family.
gosh I don't think we want to start discussing the history of inappropriate activity committed by the coach that "launched" the current era of Indiana tech track and field. we are in the heart of the vortex of inappropriate conduct with athletes in northern Indiana.
Completely agree. It would be nice to know more about coaches that have had issues or programs so parents and athletes know. Many don't. Hopefully the current Huntington coach that is new hasn't had issues. Another program is Marion University. The coach does great coaching but has little control of his athletes outside of sports. I know personally they lost quite a few recruits last year do some things that happened during a recruiting trip.
The Marion athletes I knew and still run into from time to time are the best. Marion is definitely the most "secular" school in the Crossroads league, so it doesn't surprise me that some recruits may have been thrown off when they thought it would be more like a Taylor or IWU atmosphere. Great guys to party with, probably not the best guys to host a recruit looking for a small Christian university.
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