NCAA actually published a research article about coach-athlete relationships. It's called Staying in Bounds. Here are some excerpts:
"In the context of sports programs within institutions of higher learning, sexual abuse can occur regardless of
the minor/adult status of the student-athlete, and regardless of the age difference between the perpetrator
and victims. Whether the student-athlete is 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, or older, she or he is significantly less powerful
than a head coach, assistant coach, athletics trainer, sport psychologist, athletics director, or other athletics
department staff with supervisory control or authority over student-athletes. It is this power differential that
makes such relationships inherently unequal, and when relationships are unequal, the concept of “mutual
consent” becomes problematic.
Because of this power differential, any amorous or sexual relationship between coaches and student-athletes
constitutes sexual abuse. In other words, the dynamics of the coach-athlete relationship in intercollegiate sport
make any sexual contact between a coach and an athlete abusive, regardless of whether it was wanted by the
athlete and regardless of whether the athlete is over the age of consent.2"
And
"The student-athlete gets hurt. Psychiatrist Peter Rutter writes in Sex in the Forbidden Zone, “A man in [a]
position of trust and authority becomes unavoidably a parent figure and is charged with the ethical responsibilities
of the parenting role. Violations of these boundaries are, psychologically speaking, not only rapes but also acts
of incest.” Once victimized, the young woman “is likely to adapt to the victim role,” writes Rutter, “repeating
it in other relationships, each time losing more of her self-respect and enthusiasm for life.”4
Too afraid of the
authority figures to become angry, she instead suffers from depression, fear, anxiety, shame, and overwhelming
guilt.
Ogilvie, who has been called the father of sport psychology, likens the coach to “a substitute father” who has
“no right to intrude on young women his own unfulfilled sexual fantasies. The athlete wants a parent, but gets a
lover. It’s terribly confusing.” According to Ogilvie, it’s the coach’s responsibility to “help the girl grow and make
her own decisions. He must not allow sexual feelings to be expressed.”"