"college sports are supposed to be difficult, not isolating, depressing and manipulative. For a while i genuinely thought that i just couldn’t handle the difficulty and stress that comes along with college sports, but the team environment that is created by this coach is not normal and definitely very toxic. He will talk badly about other teammates to people on the team, he will isolate people who are either very talented or not the fastest. He has had many title 9 cases filed against him, and potentially one lawsuit involving title 9. Running was my favorite thing, i loved to work hard and go to practice and this experience genuinely ruined the sport for me for a while. I have since talked to many girls who compete for other colleges and can say with 100% certainty that the way we were treated and the environment on this team is not normal."

"Do NOT let David Lawrence coach you. He pins runners against each other, gossips about others to you, plays favorites, among other aspects a coach should never engage in. He has a football background, not a running one. It is clear that he has never competed or ran at this level so it is hard to respect his word. He makes inappropriate comments and has negatively affected many runner’s collegiate experience. Many athletes have spoken out about him, but we have all been ignored. He is good at charming you at first and uses manipulative tactics to get you to believe what he wants. He is not a genuine coach and should not be trusted with female athletes. He isolates top athletes, overtrains his team, and does not cultivate a positive team atmosphere. "

"was not a normal experience at all. isolates you from everyone, extremely controlling and manipulative. This coach will tell you everything you want to hear when your being recruited then everything changes once your there. Should not be a head coach or have any kind of authority over these young adults. It’s not the matter of “he’s just strict” it goes far beyond that line. If he continues to another school and none of these problems are acknowledged it will hurt more students down the line. Many students have been manipulated or made to be scared to speak about their experiences because of how he is. I have never had someone completely alter the way I think and make me have such a low self esteem. It’s horrible to see athletes lose their light for something they were once so passionate about because of their experience here. It’s always tense around him to where you have to walk on eggshells, extremely uncomfortable to be around. Try’s to get way too involved in athletes personal lives and isolates you from everyone. You’re not allowed to speak to people from other teams, not even different sports from our own school. If you do, your interrogated on why you were talking to them and what you were talking about. It was so mentally exhausting having to explain myself because everything i did was always wrong. If there’s a problem, he will never address it but instead, make being at practice feel uneasy and tense. If anyone says they want to leave the team, he cuts them off coldly."

"was not a normal experience at all. isolates you from everyone, extremely controlling and manipulative. This coach will tell you everything you want to hear when your being recruited then everything changes once your there. Should not be a head coach or have any kind of authority over these young adults. It’s not the matter of “he’s just strict” it goes far beyond that line. If he continues to another school and none of these problems are acknowledged it will hurt more students down the line. Many students have been manipulated or made to be scared to speak about their experiences because of how he is. I have never had someone completely alter the way I think and make me have such a low self esteem. It’s horrible to see athletes lose their light for something they were once so passionate about because of their experience here. It’s always tense around him to where you have to walk on eggshells, extremely uncomfortable to be around. Try’s to get way too involved in athletes personal lives and isolates you from everyone. You’re not allowed to speak to people from other teams, not even different sports from our own school. If you do, your interrogated on why you were talking to them and what you were talking about. It was so mentally exhausting having to explain myself because everything i did was always wrong. If there’s a problem, he will never address it but instead, make being at practice feel uneasy and tense. If anyone says they want to leave the team, he cuts them off coldly."

"was not a normal experience at all. isolates you from everyone, extremely controlling and manipulative. This coach will tell you everything you want to hear when your being recruited then everything changes once your there. Should not be a head coach or have any kind of authority over these young adults. It’s not the matter of “he’s just strict” it goes far beyond that line. If he continues to another school and none of these problems are acknowledged it will hurt more students down the line. Many students have been manipulated or made to be scared to speak about their experiences because of how he is. I have never had someone completely alter the way I think and make me have such a low self esteem. It’s horrible to see athletes lose their light for something they were once so passionate about because of their experience here. It’s always tense around him to where you have to walk on eggshells, extremely uncomfortable to be around. Try’s to get way too involved in athletes personal lives and isolates you from everyone. You’re not allowed to speak to people from other teams, not even different sports from our own school. If you do, your interrogated on why you were talking to them and what you were talking about. It was so mentally exhausting having to explain myself because everything i did was always wrong. If there’s a problem, he will never address it but instead, make being at practice feel uneasy and tense. If anyone says they want to leave the team, he cuts them off coldly."

"I don’t recommend running at the school under this coach. He is very mentally abusive and always made you feel badly about yourself and if you didn’t do well at a meet he would barely look or talk to you. He constantly pushed us to our breaking point both mentally and physically when we had practice we often times went over hours and we were exhausted but we couldn’t complain because he would say things like you should be grateful or things to make us feel badly for sharing our opinions. He also would isolate us from other teams and even our families at meets and we had to stay in one location the whole time. He lacked empathy for his athletes and didn’t listen to how we were feeling and when we felt a certain way he would make us feel like we were the problems."

"When I first met coach he was very welcoming but as the season went on the more and more emotionally abusive he became. You weren’t able to tell him how you were feeling because he would always find a way to break you down and make you feel badly about yourself. He pushed the team so much both mentally and physically many times and exceeded the hours. When we came forward to express our concerns we were always shut down and blamed which made it difficult for many of us to come forward. Although I am not on the team any longer, I still struggle so much now with my confidence and the way I see myself because of the experience I had with the coach."

"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. "