1. Many of you are taking what she wrote as absolute fact. It is not. It is her version of her experience. It is, at best, one side of the story and an interpretation at that. It may or may not be all true, partially true, or completely untrue. You have no way of knowing, so it would be best to treat it as one person's version.
2. The article is written for and featured on a site for a business that is trying to attract clients. This does not mean her account is true or untrue, but there is a bias and a financial gain to be made, at least for the site and business.
3. There are quotes in the article. A quote is suppose to be word for word exactly what a person said. In fact, many of you are treating the quotes as just that. However, you have no verification that the quotes are exact quotes, or the former athletes interpretation. This is dangerous.
4. This is the trend. It seems to me this is only going to escalate,. Everyone is a victim. Nobody is responsible for their own actions or decisions. It is taught and glorified. While people, coaches, bosses, etc. do need to be held to a moral standard, it has gone way way beyond that in society as a whole. I don't see how a country can exist and thrive if people don't take personal responsibility. But I don't see this slowing down. Anyone who feels in any way mistreated can post on social media or the internet or whatever and destroy those they don't like, without any fact checks, etc. We have become an emotion driven, everyone is a victim, "know-it-all" culture. It's probably the beginning of the end for us.
5. Even if everything she says is accurate, she could have quit or transferred. Is that complicated? Yes, but not as complicated as it was to deal with all she had to deal with, if true. She was not a slave. She did not have a binding contract. She didn't have to stay there and continue to endure real or perceived abuse.
6. If coaches are expected to be mental health experts, they probably should get some extensive training from the school, conference or NCAA. Expecting them to magically be experts in something they have not been told to be experts in, and do not have the knowledge for, is stupid.
7. NCAA I athletics are not for everyone. That is a fact. They are also not a right. She was an "empoloyee". She was paid to join a program and perform a job at a high level. She received extensive benefits with the expectation that she do and give her best and with the expectation that she do it the way she was being asked. If she was paying Vanderbilt to be on the team, this would be different. She was not. This does not give a coach the right to abuse their "employees", but it does put the relationship in the correct perspective. Does she have the same expectations of her employer in a "real" job? Don't employers usually care first and foremost about the employee doing the job, doing it right, doing it successfully and being a great employee? An employee can leave a bad employer. But the expectations are the same. Why would a scholarshipped NCAA I athlete be considered less than an employee of any company?