"Trine softball was really quite traumatic at times. I’ll start with this story. One girl decided to transfer after the fall season during her freshman year for a few reasons, one reason being because she noticed the team culture was toxic due to poor leadership. After she met with coach D, the next day coach casually told me “it’s funny how everyone who doesn’t want to work hard always blames their reason for leaving on mental health.” There have been several kids that have left the program early-on for the same reason. Coach D’s most used coaching tactic was this: he made players on the team dislike him SO much that the team was forced to come together. I feel like he knew that. He relied on trauma bonding to make everyone develop strong relationships. Basically, he would say the most CRAZY things, or he would insult someone or hurt someone’s feelings so harshly that everyone else had to pick up the pieces and come together. Imagine your teammate is crying because your coach just told everyone her private information, and you’re left there to console her while your coach is storming off. It’s extremely exhausting and traumatizing. But it brought the team together. One time after a lesson I lost something that I used for training. I left the lesson and accidentally left it there, but didn’t realize it. When I had practice later that night, I started to panic when I couldn’t find it. I knew I’d have to run for losing it and I started to get really worried. I went to coach D during practice when I had a break and asked if I could go to try and find it. I retraced all of my steps throughout the building trying to find it but had no success. It wasn’t anywhere. I got more and more worried because I was scared of the punishment for losing it. I knew all the places it could have been, and it was nowhere to be found. I went back to the practice area and went up to coach d and told him I may have lost it. Guess what? He handed it to me…While laughing. He had it the entire time. He meant this as a joke, but it was actually pretty mean. One year I was playing and the team was doing very well, but there was a player that was really struggling. Her attitude wasn’t great, but she had been struggling for years under him and she wasn’t handling it in the best ways. That player wanted to talk to the Trine athletic director about how she had been treated. Coach D came up to me at a practice and said “I told the AD that she’s a crybaby, and that he shouldn’t have a meeting with her. He’s refusing to meet with her now.” I didn’t know what to say… I was uncomfortable and laughed, but that is absolutely not okay. I think Coach thought it would be a cool way to bond with me by telling me that. Not really- just made me sort of scared. At one point I decided I wanted to talk to the AD about how Trine can better take care of their athletes mental health. I wanted to leave Trine athletics better than when I came there. I prepared tons of ideas to give the head AD for how he could help all of his athletes mentally, then sent him an email asking to meet with him to talk about it. He blew me off. I sent him a multi-paragraph email, to which he responded with two sentences and refused to have a meeting. I can only assume Coach D had done the same with me- told the AD I was a baby so he wouldn’t meet with me either. It was an odd situation and Unfortunately it seemed like the school cared more about wins over athlete wellbeing. While this coach does care about his players, it can be really hard to see that as someone that plays for him unless you help him win games. He had no relationship with me until I started playing really well. Then he started to try to get to know me. I will say though, he was very gracious in the post season. He would invite us to his home and make dinners, and we’d hang out with his kids. There were lots of positives on there too. I’m just not sure they really outweighed the negatives during my time in the program. He invited me to hitting lessons in the fall every year to give me the hope that maybe I could hit for the team. He knew I wanted to hit but he wanted me there as a pitcher, so he just invited me to lessons to give me false hope. Then he laughed at me when I swung the bat, crushing my confidence. He enforced a TON of rules. The first week you’re there, the seniors are responsible for telling everyone all of the team rules. This is the first time a lot of the freshmen even meet the team and it starts off with this red flag of a meeting. There’s a huge long list of what you can and cannot wear, and what you can and cannot do. I’m not sure if many other schools do this, but it was definitely alarming as a freshman. The meeting was long and was my first red flag with the program. I knew something had to be wrong if the coach needed to have THAT much control. It made everyone on the team anxious all of the time. There was one rule that we had to wear a hat if it was cold out, but there wasn’t a specific temperature that defined “cold”. So if I wasn’t cold and didn’t wear one but I showed up to practice and everyone else was, then I had to run all the way back to my dorm to get one in case Coach D saw it and made us all run. It created a culture where upperclassmen were always micromanaging everyone because they were afraid of what would happen if someone broke the rules. It damaged relationships on the team and made it toxic. He established too much control and created fear in us, causing SO much anxiety which contributed to a terrible culture. No coach is perfect. This coach is probably capable of change some day but I’m not sure if or when that’ll happen. I’m sure over time he has gotten better but can’t guarantee it. In summary, When you get to a school, listen to your gut, and get out if you need to. Staying in an environment that isn’t good for you is the worst thing you can do for your mental wellbeing. So Good luck, Follow your gut and do what is best for you!"

"Omg I can’t believe nobody has gone on here to tell one of the worst stories yet! The team decided to name this one “the roast session” after it happened. In the beginning of 2020-21 season we were struggling a little bit. I think I understand what the one story says a few comments ago when it said that coach would try to tear pieces of the puzzle apart and jam them together again. Because when we weren’t doing very well at the start of the season, coach decided to do just that. coach made up a two page document, front and back, with the list of players on the team on it. For each person he wrote down something (or multiple things) degrading about them. He sat the entire team down in a classroom, then went one by one, pointing at each of us, saying our name, and degrading us one by one. He told a couple girls they were out of shape. He told one girl she was so out of shape that he wasn’t sure if she even cared to play softball anymore. Out of the 20ish kids on the team, coach d only complimented two. He left several kids crying and of course never let any of the girls fire back. Because of course everything that was going wrong on the team HAD to have been ALL the teams fault. Not the culture, not the leadership, no… just our fault! And the problem with abusive relationships is that lots of kids believed him. That it was our fault, that we should be ashamed of ourselves. Coach d didn’t take any responsibility for anything!! He just blamed all of us by literally going one by one and making us cry. If that story doesn’t tell you enough about what kind of person he is then idk what will!! When is something gonna get done about this??"

"I've been a Coach at the High school and travel ball level for over 15 years. The things I've heard on how this particular Coach does things and the way he treats his players is ubsurd. Winning is all that matters, not the well being of others around him. His assistant Coaches are scared of him because he's a bully as if he holds clout in some fashion over them. Who does that, intimate your assistant Coaches who put a ton of time into your program? Calls his players names, belittles them? I'm all for tough love but there sure are different ways to teach that. Every next level athlete wants to be pushed but at what cost, is it really worth it for all the year of hard work to get to this point just be ridiculed and called names? I, as a Coach of travel ball will never suggest Trine University to another player of mine as long as he's the head of things there. I'd be doing my players who are loved and respected as student athletes a disservice by even suggesting them to play for him. I hope more come forward and show they're not scared of him and speak up so that other student athletes don't go through the same things as many others already have. Go where you're wanted, go where you're respected and go where you can play in a positive atmosphere. You have a voice, don't let him take that away too."

"It’s so funny to me how all the negative reviews on here are people’s genuine thoughts and experiences and most of the positive ones just can’t seem to handle that so many people went through this program, hated it, and decided to leave a review. To say that one person is leaving all these negative reviews is honestly wild and very close-minded. People can respectfully disagree and I think it’s very telling that all of the rude comments on here come from people who “loved the program.” That shows a lot about what is encouraged in that “family” lol. "

"Reading the positive reviews from other people is honestly so disheartening with how much they dismiss our feelings. Saying that we didn’t work hard? I didn’t spend extra hours going to hitting, lifting, and fielding practices on my own without any else there to be called lazy. I worked so incredibly hard while I was there and put all my extra hours into softball. I never expected this program to be easy. I was prepared to work. I was prepared to put in extra time outside of regular practices. I wasn’t prepared to be verbally abused the entire time. Coach D was verbally abusive. That’s all there is to it. He micromanages and will probably be asking people to give him good reviews because he’s scared of tainting his image. You can quit his program and if you say anything negative, he will quite literally text you. You can be at a completely different school and he will still text you. You’re not allowed to speak negatively on this program at all. He’s probably reading these now texting all the people who quit asking if they wrote it. He is also terrible at communication. He will spring things on you last minute and you’re stuck rushing around trying to figure stuff out. Recruit on campus? Sometimes you’ll barely get a 10 minute heads up. But if you don’t see the text? Be prepared to run! It’s your fault that he texted you with less than 10 minutes to prepare. Why aren’t you on your phone all the time? That’s exactly how he makes you feel. He makes you feel crazy. He gaslights so incredibly bad. I was dedicated to this team. I loved my teammates and I worked hard to help them as much as I could. I certainly never did it for him though. I did it for my teammates. But at some point, I started to dread going to practices. I was miserable. What is the point of playing softball if I’m miserable the entire time? I’m willing to be miserable now and then as not every practice is going to be perfect. But for 9 months straight? It’s not even worth it at that point. Don’t fall for his facade—he is so incredible when you meet him as a recruit. He’s funny, personable, and knows a lot about the game. Then, you’ll be in practice and he will manage to make the entire team cry by humiliating each person one by one. I feel bad for the team this year. With all these reviews he’s probably reading he’s most definitely taking it out on the team. Don’t invalidate us. I worked hard. I put in the extra time and extra effort. I was in the gym 7x a week. I was hitting 5x a week. By the time I left I was on high doses of antidepressants and in therapy. Oh but, mental heath isn’t real. Right, Coach D?"

"Here is a story that I wrote to help describe the exact process, feelings, and outcome that was experienced in this program. And yeah, I was a player that contributed heavily to winning several titles there. Guess what? That doesn’t matter. It was not worth my wellbeing, and hell, almost my LIFE, to play for this coach. I’d go back in an instant. You can take the trophies, I’d rather have had peace. To anyone else out there- understand that you have every right to share your story. You are not alone. Here it is: One day, a man discovered a competition for the Best Puzzle. He knew this would be a great challenge for him. “If I can win this, I can accomplish anything. My puzzle will be the best, and I will become a respected Puzzle Master.” The man searched the nation for the owners of the best puzzle pieces- pieces with bright, vibrant colors. He worked tirelessly to find these pieces, and when he did, he decided to have a meeting with each owner. The owners described to him that this was their prized possession; it was a one-of-a-kind piece. The man assured each owner that he would take great care of their piece. He even promised that he would return each one in better condition than when he had found it (aka- “prepare them for life”). The man believed he had the best of intentions; he even said he’d increase each piece’s value tenfold. The owners were tentative, these pieces were precious to them. But finally, he gained their trust, and they agreed to let him use their piece for the competition. He released a huge sigh of relief. “Finally, I have the right pieces for my puzzle.” When he reviewed the collection and saw all the glowing pieces, he thought, “this will just make a decent puzzle; if I want to win, I need to make it better.” However, he found that putting it together would be more difficult than he had expected. The pieces were very complex to him. Each one with different edges, curvatures, colors, and sizes. He often grew frustrated with the puzzle. “Why can’t I make this thing fit together?” he asked himself. Each day, he woke up early to focus on the puzzle. He knew that with more hard work, he could create the winning one. Instead of finding proper ways to fit them together, he began jamming pieces into place. He noticed that when he bent and folded the pieces, all the pieces could be put together, even when individual ones were in distress. He grew frustrated with the pieces at times, cussing at them and pointing out their inefficiencies when they were not up to his standards. When he was unable to force them together, he tore them apart, leaving a couple of pieces in very poor condition. The man did not care if he destroyed the pieces, so long as they fit together somehow. Any piece will fit if it’s torn enough, he thought. Many times, he blamed individual puzzle pieces for ruining the whole set. “This puzzle piece sucks” he would say about the piece, as he ripped it apart. When he put them into place, he noticed one centerpiece that was becoming imperative for success. It was the one that everyone was going to notice at the competition. He spent days painting several layers on it to perfect its vibrant colors and tore parts off when it didn’t meet his expectations. He analyzed the piece. “This one is not allowed to be anything short of perfect,” he said. “It'll make or break this competition.” He placed the important piece into the decrepit puzzle and said, “This is not perfect, but it’s the absolute best I can do. So long as my pieces remain together, I can win,” and he was incredibly proud of himself and his determination. To those who got to see the puzzle up close, they could see some of its holes, tears, folds, and even jagged edges. But nobody could see the imperfections behind the painted layers on the center piece. The man didn’t notice, but during his frequent attempts to perfect the piece, he made the tears incredibly deeper. In fact, it almost broke completely. The piece was only hanging on by a thread, and the only thing keeping it in place were the pieces around it. The layers of paint on the surface were hiding the true colors beneath, suffocating the piece of its natural vibrance. Beneath the layers, it was barely even existing. The man would tear it apart at any sign of weakness. So, despite its brokenness, the piece had to be perfect for the man to be satisfied. The man took his puzzle to the Best Puzzle competition. When the judges viewed it, they only saw it from a distance. They noticed the shining colors of the center piece, and they thought the whole puzzle looked amazing from afar. The man was awarded several awards at the competition, mainly first place. When he arrived back to his community, he was met with joy and celebration. Everyone saw his success and rejoiced with him. He had never been prouder of his own accomplishments. He had done something great that day- he put together the best puzzle and proved to himself that he could truly accomplish anything. He was a Puzzle Master! Yet, the pieces were folded and torn. The special piece was so abused that it nearly broke entirely. When the man returned the special puzzle piece to its owner, she was stunned at its beauty. But as she studied it further, she realized something was off. She began to peel back each layer of paint to find the true piece inside. When she finally made it to its core, her heart sank. “This is not better than before!” She exclaimed. “I can’t even recognize it anymore.” “What do you mean?” He asked. “It looked fine the whole time!” She presented the shredded piece to him. He was shocked to see just how shredded it was. “I am so sorry,” He apologized. “My deepest regret Is that I did not notice how damaged it was.” “No,” she said firmly. “Your biggest mistake was ripping it to shreds just to fit your needs.” “I trusted you and now it’s destroyed!” she exclaimed. “How could you have been so careless and unaware? Your false layers of paint did nothing to improve it!” But the man did not agree. “Well I learned a while ago that I can’t please everyone. And don’t forget, I won several awards at the competition. Clearly, I’m doing this right. Plus, my intentions were good. I tried my best to make it better, so it’s not my fault if it tore further in the process. The piece just must not have been strong enough.” He brushed off the owner as she sat with her damaged prized possession and cried. “You will thank me later when it is fixed and better than before,” he added as he walked away. “No,” she sobbed as she was brought to her knees, gently cradling her piece to ensure it did not break. “You are lucky this special piece didn’t completely break. You are lucky it still exists.” The woman cried. “Without it, my precious puzzle would never be complete again.” The man left with his pride, already thinking about his next puzzle competition, and believing no one could dispute his skill as a Puzzle Master. The woman sat there with her fragile piece, knowing that it may never be the same again. She realized that, despite any award, what could look like a Perfect Picture to some does not make it the Best Puzzle. "

"I have never lost my passion for a sport so quickly. I quit after playing for him for one year. His assistant coaches are the only good thing about the program. He will tell you straight up, he intends to make practice so awful so that game days are easy. He isn’t lying. I lived on my toes and was so scared of doing something wrong the entire time. He will make you run endlessly. The amount of commitment required is crazy for a D3 school. He is definitely breaking NCAA rules about practice hours per week. He doesn’t respect your time. Practices will run over by hours and it’ll be too late to even get dinner because the cafeteria has closed. Don’t go. Save yourself. I won a national championship with this team and I would do anything to go back in time and select any other school to go to. It was that bad."

"There's a difference between a demanding coach and a demeaning coach. The hard work wasn't the issue in this program, it was the humiliation that came with it. Coming from someone who has played and loved softball my entire life: quitting this program was the best thing I ever did for myself. This man is honestly one of the most hateful and sour humans I have ever met in my life. During the recruitment process, he was amazing. He was witty, kind, personable, and really framed the program to look like one of fun and hard work. I will never forget, after the VERY FIRST PRACTICE of my freshman year, Coach D told one of the juniors to meet him after practice to chat. No big deal, right? Well, after he left the huddle, the whole team started comforting this girl and telling her it was going to be okay. I was just thinking, "What? This guy is so cool, why is everyone freaking out?" I texted my dad that night and told him how weird it was. I told him how the whole team seems scared of this guy. He told me not to worry, that I read the situation wrong. After all, this guy was amazing during recruitment. He wouldn't hurt a fly. Wrong!! It only got worse from there. The best word for this man is: heartless. Coach D enjoyed humiliating girls in front of the rest of the team (and I don't mean correcting mistakes. I mean screaming at girls about personal faults when he got angry. For example, he once yelled at a girl for her "low GPA" in front of everyone because she had a rough practice). Speaking of GPA, one of the previous posts says that he worked around academic schedules. This is absolutely not true. I specifically remember one of the starting players (who was an engineer, no less) asked Coach D to miss a practice to attend a study group for an upcoming exam. He refused to let her go. Softball comes first, above ALL. The whole atmosphere of the team is centered around fear. If someone makes a mistake, they just keep multiplying because everyone is so uptight and awaiting whatever punishment and harsh words he has planned. On multiple occasions, Coach D left a girl (or girls) in tears and just left the team to pick her up. It was awful. I grew up with some tough, no-nonsense coaches, but nothing like this. The amount of tears I shed freshman year over this man and his program was insane. My friends were worried about me. My parents were worried about me. I had never struggled like this before. It was the worst and most unhealthy environment I have ever gotten myself into and I am eternally grateful that I had to courage to leave. I don't expect anything to come out of this (as said in a previous review, it never does), but I absolutely believe he should be called out and I wanted to share my piece. To the girls considering this program: this team will do well during the season, but at what price?"