"my experience as a student-athlete under Coach David Lawrence Jr. at Sonoma State University. In light of the recent decision to shut down the athletics program, I feel a responsibility to speak out—not only for my own healing, but in the hope of protecting future student-athletes from the harm I experienced under his leadership. Coach Lawrence cultivated a toxic coach-athlete relationship that severely impacted my mental health and overall well-being. His behavior was manipulative, inappropriate, and crossed professional boundaries on multiple occasions. Below are specific examples of my experience: -He consistently broke me down mentally, creating an environment rooted in fear, emotional instability, and dependency. -He sought to take on a paternal role in my life, blurring the line between coach and confidant, which I now understand to be a calculated manipulation tactic. -He targeted athletes from vulnerable backgrounds—especially those from low-income, first-generation, or single-parent households. -Despite knowing that I financially support my family, he gave me unsolicited and inappropriate financial advice that was not only unhelpful, but invasive. -He forced me to wear uniform items, that did not fit me, ignoring my personal boundaries and bodily autonomy. -When previous complaints were filed against him, he manipulated me into becoming his emotional support and defender. At the time, I was unaware of the manipulation, and I deeply regret the role I played in invalidating the concerns of my fellow teammates. These experiences have left lasting damage on my mental health. What’s most alarming is that, unless this pattern is acknowledged and addressed, Coach Lawrence will likely continue this harmful behavior elsewhere—potentially affecting more young athletes who trust him with their careers, dreams, and emotional wellbeing. This is not a matter of a “tough coach” or “miscommunication.” This is about the abuse of power against women, manipulation, and crossing personal and professional boundaries in ways that no student should have to experience. Ask any coach that has met him, he gives off an unusual attitude, and cold shoulder to everyone. Traveling with the team felt like a ball and chain around your ankle. You were not aloud to interact with other teams and would be interrogated if he noticed even a conversation at the start line. He isolated us from the rest of Sonoma state’s athletics and did not like us attending athletic events and made us sit away and did not like us interacting with other sports. We could not walk around at track meets. Before I had graduated from Sonoma there were about 9 HR formal complaints towards him. His narcissistic behavior is hard to explain but as soon as an athlete knew of his manipulation he would ghost you, not formally cut you from the team, this was a repeated issue in the department. There is a stigma on campus when being apart of the track team because of David, and students often would stop athletes and ask what is with the coach or if we were ok. I urge any institution considering hiring Coach David Lawrence Jr. to conduct a thorough investigation into his conduct and the complaints filed against him. The safety and health of student-athletes must come before all else. For athletes that are thinking to committing to the next program he runs, I urge that the way he runs a program is not normal. I now work in a job where I work across multiple collegiate teams and my experience was not ok, but I would have never known that, this was my only collegiate team I had been apart of. "

"He’s is a very good coach and cares about his athletes."

"Make’s inappropriate comments about women’s bodies, doesn’t make environment feel safe and puts his athletes at risk for injuries and doesn’t get along with athletic trainers or coaches from other teams. He makes Sonoma state university look embarrassing and isolates us from other teams. He also embarrasses his student athletes in front of other teams at meets too. He also disregards mental health issues. Unless you’re looking to burn yourself out mentally and physically, don’t join this program. I agree 100% completely with the other person who complained. Way too many group chats and forces people to respond even while you’re in class. "

"Very dissorganized with very bad communication skills and multiple groupchats for the team in which some are left out. Doesn't really seem to care about his athletes. Often belittles people and plays favorites. (For example he will ignore certain people after races whether they do good or bad) Extremely hard to talk to since he ignores your thoughts and it's his way or no way at all. Can't even ask simple questions because he will get mad at you. Tends to lie about things and is hard to tell when he's telling the truth. Puts on a good show and can act really nice at times but other times he's very mentally manipulative. Everyone on team is scared to say anything or speak up do to the toxic environment he creates. "