Wow. Kudos to Lynn for helping him get banned and for now going public.
I still can't believe in the year 1998 that after he admitted to doing the following that Wellesley let him back on campus.
The woman and her parents reported Babington to Wellesley College. Babington acknowledged to the school that he kissed her, fondled her, provided her alcohol while she was underage, and used marijuana in her presence, he said.
The article to me shows you what a responsibility and honor it is to be a coach. They had a guest speaker come to Cornell and address the athletic department one time. I wish I remembered the guy's name but the speech was titled something like "They call you coach" and then he just described how impactful you are on the athletes lives. You see them almost every day - more than their parents in college, etc. Don't abuse that title.
Well it was abused here.
Did anyone read the retirement article in the Globe from 2013. His athletes, assistant coach Alison Wade and the author were full of praise for him. But one other thing struck me.
In 1979 he left the legal profession and became assistant coach at Harvard, before taking a hiatus.
What was the reason behind that hiatus? What are the odds that Harvard just had him leave to cover something up and never told anyone? Does anyone know how long he was at Harvard?
Also why would a guy who was coaching world record holders and world xc champs take a job at Wellesley? It seems like this dude was emotionally stunted and in need of 25 young women to idolize him.
One other line from his retirement article stunned me.
When Boots won the NCAA mile, “I ran up to him and gave him a hug,” she said.
She’s not sure if she was happier for him or herself. He had guided her that far. “I wanted to make him proud of me,” she added.
What? That's not healthy. Me and the Cornell women's coach used to really look down upon coaches that made it about them. He heard a coach yelling once, "Do it for me." What the hell? That's not healthy.
There are countless Wellesley runners who can relate John Babington stories; his influence runs far beyond being a coach. “I grew up most of my life without a father,” said Randelle Boots. “John has been the strong mentor I n...
Jennings also found — and the Globe confirmed — that , rather than fire Babington or report him to the police for molesting the student runner, placed him on unpaid leave for only a semester in 1998 and never formally notified his assistant coaches or the student-athletes he coached over the next 15 years about the abuse.
“In the course of the SafeSport proceedings, I acknowledged some past conduct and clearly expressed regret or remorse that the conduct occurred,” Babington said.
“We are deeply sorry for the pain suffered by our former student as a result of John Babington’s sexual misconduct at Wellesley in the late 1990s,” the school said in a statement. “Wellesley strives to create a safe environment for our students, faculty and staff and to prevent sexual harassment and misconduct with strict policies, and we do not tolerate these behaviors in our community.”
For Babington, the school’s handling of the case , when he was lionized as one of the great running coaches of his era.
There are countless Wellesley runners who can relate John Babington stories; his influence runs far beyond being a coach. “I grew up most of my life without a father,” said Randelle Boots. “John has been the strong mentor I n...
You are correct. But I've talked to one of the women involved at Huntington and she most definitely doesn't consider herself a victim.
I think I told her, "You are a victim whethe you realize it or not." The last place on earth I'd want her running is Huntington if I was her parent. But she is running amazingly well right now. But Lynn showed herself how well human beings can compartmentalize things as she ran really well under Babington as well.
I wonder if Lynn felt like a victim at the time at age 15. Now the Huntington woman was 17 or 18 so legally things could be a little bit different.
Sorry to go off topic a little bit. Let's try to keep this about Lynn but the fact that we are basically seeing history repeat itself 40 years later is a bit disturbing.
After starting 1979, looks like he left Harvard by the fall of 1982, referenced here with simply: "The women's assistant coach, John Babington, is gone."
There are many awful people serving in those incredibly impactful head coaching roles. SwimSwam.com did a very good job recently in playing a role in the firing of Teri McKeever at Cal. It was not surprising that among the few people supporting McKeever in those threads was another prominent swimming coach who has always been known as verbally abusive.
Also quite sad that another coach referenced in this article, Walter Johnson, the "new jumping coach", pled guilty to possession of child pornography in 2019. No suggestion that he was ever in any way abusive as a coach, but it does make you wonder about character.
FYI Alison Wade no longer praises him. She feels horrified having not known at the time. In this most recent article she says a statement against him. She also mentioned on social media that A.) her negative statement in the article about the coach was not harsh enough B.) She is processing everything and will have more thoughts in her newsletter on Monday.
Wow. Very powerful article and good for Lynn Jennings. Terrible to have to carry all that pain for all those years. Obvious parallels between Lynn and Wellesley College and Wiley/Huntington College. Makes me less willing to judge Wiley though there is no excuse for Wellesley or Huntington.
I just read up on the McKeever story. Totally different than this. In coaching, asking what is acceptable or not for motivation is an ongoing debate. I remember being stunned when in my first week at Cornell my boss said to me, 'If some of them have to hate you to be motivated, that's fine by me.' I didn't want to coach that way and never did.
But has it gone too far where if any athlete is upset nowadays, they coach gets fired?
What's interesting is McKeever emphatically denies the allgations.
But this stat stunned me.
26 of 61 swimmers (42.6%) who joined the Cal women’s team as freshmen between 2013-14 and 2020-21 left the program before completing their NCAA eligibility. Four swimmers who competed in 2021-22 have transferred or entered the transfer portal.
She sounds like a modern-day Bobby Knight.
This story seems a lot different. The coach was nice to many people - too nice - and used that to get them in positions where he could become sexually involved with them.
Harrowing allegations have surfaced as a number of current and former Cal swimmers allege that McKeever verbally and emotionally abused them for years.
There are countless Wellesley runners who can relate John Babington stories; his influence runs far beyond being a coach. “I grew up most of my life without a father,” said Randelle Boots. “John has been the strong mentor I n...
What a sad tale that these accomplished women had to carry this burden silently for so many years. It’s heartbreaking. What kind of impossible convergence was it for Darlene Beckford to be on the receiving end of that call from Lynn Jennings? There should be no statute of limitations for this kind of abuse. Babbington should face criminal and civil charges.
Thanks. That got me to the article too. Grew up in that area and met Lynn when I was a Sr in HS, she a Sophomore, she a friend of a friend in small-town Harvard, MA. Became a friend. No girls XC at her small school so she ran boys XC. And won the boy's league meet. Super talent. I knew Babington as well, and he was odd, something seemed odd, but we are runners and many of us odd. Thought maybe it was disagreements over training. Somehow this revelation put a number of things in perspective. Horrible to hear, but worse that it happened to her. Not just a talent, she was (and I am sure is) a gem!
Was graphic detail required? I thought the article was pretty clear without being graphic. Regardless, the guy was a predator and he's admitted it. Sickening that Wellesley chose to sweep it under the rug.
Was graphic detail required? I thought the article was pretty clear without being graphic. Regardless, the guy was a predator and he's admitted it. Sickening that Wellesley chose to sweep it under the rug.
The article claimed sexual abuse. What does that mean? Rape? Statutory rape? Inappropriate massages? Inappropriate remarks? What?