On January 19, the Southern Miss softball team endured a heavy workout in the middle of the program’s “Hell Week.” After completing deadlifts and a heavy cardio exercise, multiple players reported to the team trainer that they were having quadriceps problems.
At the end of the workout, Southern Miss softball coach Brian Levin paused and said, “Excuse my French” and referred to his players as a sexist and derogatory word that references the female anatomy. The instance is one of several examples that provide context as to why 12 Southern Miss softball players left the program by the end of the 2021 season. The Golden Eagles finished the year 22-31 with a 4-16 conference mark and missed the C-USA tournament. Before Levin’s hiring in 2020, Southern Miss posted a 76-84 record in the previous three seasons and missed the C-USA tournament in two of those three years.
“I feel that it’s just not appropriate, especially an older male authority figure,” said one player. “It’s just demeaning, especially when you are talking to women.”
Multiple players said they later confronted Levin about the incident, which players said he denied ever saying.
Southern Miss investigated the incident and multiple others, and while the school stated its commitment to improving the program, it found nothing that merits disciplinary action.
Pine Belt Sports requested interviews with Levin and Southern Miss Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain but instead received a statement.
“In situations like this one, it is important to conduct a deliberate and full review of the program - while including as many people as possible within the program in the process - to understand the circumstances and the challenges,” said McClain in his statement. “As part of this process, our athletics administration discussed the challenges with almost 20 people around our team - and most importantly listened - in an attempt to get a full picture. First, any inappropriate comments that surfaced have been addressed and handled through the proper channels at the University. And second, while we found varying perspectives on the year, including areas in which we will improve, many student-athletes we visited with on our current roster expressed a positive relationship with Coach Levin and an excitement about the future. With that in mind, we will work closely with our coaches and student-athletes to continue to improve and grow our program.”
However, nine former Golden Eagles have come forward to provide context as to why so many players left the program. Those nine players brought forth allegations of mistreatment that created mentally abusive conditions and an unhealthy environment.
The incident, along with multiple others, were later reported in emails to Senior Associate Athletic Director for Olympic Sports Sonya Varnell, Sr. Associate Athletic Director for External Operations Brad Smith and Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain. Both McClain and Smith had meetings with multiple players before and after the season regarding the various issues.
In total, Ryleigh Cawby, Madison Rayner, Maddie Vasquez, Breana Blakenship, Caroline Casey, Taylor Middlebrook, Reese Earlywine, Kaylan Ladner, Makenna Pierce, Rylie Atherton, Karsen Pierce and Kaley Fruge either left the team or entered the transfer portal. Pine Belt Sports spoke to Casey and Ladner as well as five other players who asked to stay anonymous due to fears of negative impact on their recruitment. In addition, Pine Belt Sports interviewed two seniors who asked for anonymity due to repercussions they could face with their jobs.
All nine players that Pine Belt Sports spoke to claimed Levin was manipulative, demeaned players and created a “divisive” and “toxic” culture that brought on such mental stress that three players were diagnosed with nausea, insomnia and depression as a result of the stress brought on to them from softball.
Since Levin’s hiring in 2019, 16 players have left the Southern Miss softball program before finishing their eligibility.
According to D1softball.com, as of May 26, just one day before the NCAA softball Super Regional, 545 players have entered the transfer portal. That comes to an average of 2.4 players leaving a program in the 2020-21 season. Of Southern Miss’ 12 departures, nine chose to transfer, with three quitting softball altogether. Southern Miss’ nine players choosing to transfer ranks the Golden Eagles as having the second-largest number of players to transfer from a softball program in the country this year. The highest was La Salle University which had 16 players enter the transfer portal after the school announced it was cutting the softball program due to financial restraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our goal is for all 400 Southern Miss student-athletes to complete their degrees and grow as individuals, while having a positive experience within their respective sports. Unfortunately, several student-athletes within our softball program this year did not have that experience and made personal decisions to continue their academic and athletics pursuits elsewhere,” said McClain in his statement.
The first of several incidents of allegations that depict the divisive culture begins in the fall of 2020, with all nine players accusing the coach of using insulting and divisive language towards the juniors and seniors. In the incident, Levin met with all of the underclassmen, and in that meeting, he explained how the underclassmen were the future. However, Levin then said in the meeting that the upperclassmen had their legs cut out from underneath them and were handicapped. He went on to add that the upperclassmen were that way because the previous coaching staff had not taught them how to win or coached in a way that taught them how to win and therefore the group was not conducive to winning. Three players corroborated the story, while six others said that they learned of the remarks from underclassmen later on.
“I remember sitting there and thinking that he shouldn’t be saying this to us,” said one of the transfer players that Pine Belt Sports spoke to. “You don’t tell your other players that their upperclassmen, the girls you are supposed to look up to for guidance, are handicapped.
“I felt that the people he made the comments about, the upperclassmen, pitted the older girls against the younger girls.”
Ladner, Casey and six other players also accused Levin of creating a further divide within the team that multiple players called “mentally abusive” which occurred in the spring. Players were told to write “confident statements” that they were to read before each at-bat. Statements included sayings such as “You’ve been here before do it again,” “Stay relaxed,” along with bible verses, while others were more explicit.
However, Levin read aloud and mocked the statements that did not use explicit language and told his players that those who did not use such language would amount to nothing in life and had a minnow mentality.
Ladner and four other players also reported an incident of Levin continuing to develop division within the program the week of April 5, in which Levin asked and required his team to fill out a four-page packet that had players give their personal thoughts on each teammate.
The first page included the entire roster of players that was broken up by classification. The second page had players rate their teammates by name to the following questions: who buys into the program and who doesn’t, who has a good work ethic and who does not, who is an off the field risk, who are leaders and bad influencers. The third page then asked who the team’s positive and negative informal leaders were and then asked to list each of their connections within the team. Then on the final page, it asked the 9-11 scenario, which asks a person who they would follow out of the World Trade Center buildings on 9-11. Players were asked to name who they would and would not follow.
“I think it was poor timing was the initial problem,” said a senior who chose to stay anonymous. “We are in the middle of the season and on a 12-game losing streak and have had four players leave the team recently.
“He stopped and asked some of the seniors what we thought of that, and we told him we were really uncomfortable and thought it was inappropriate. He acted shocked that we felt that way and said he always used that. I felt it was inappropriate, not that it was a peer review, but that it asked you to call out all of the bad habits of your teammates. I feel like that’s not the players’ job, but a coach needs to pay attention and be watchful. I felt that it was divisive.”
A combination of the problems and stresses caused from practice and off the field resulted in eight players claiming their grades were affected and had feelings of depressions, with three other players being diagnosed with mental health issues as a direct result. One player, who was diagnosed with insomnia, said that the concerns from practice and the “unhealthy culture” resulted in her sleeping problems.
“(Levin) just tore down our mental health,” said one of the transfer players that Pine Belt Sports spoke to. “It took such a toll that it put me in the worst mental health of my life. I wasn’t sleeping and was put on sleeping medication because I was so anxious that I was going to be late to practice or do something wrong or miss something. I had never felt so stressed and anxious in my life until I played for him.”
