"I am submitting this information because I believe the data warrants public awareness and because parents and swimmers are afraid to come forward. The data must speak because the people behind it will not go to the coach or athletic department. The numbers: Colorado College's swimming program, not including diving, lost 13 athletes from the roster from the 2024-2025 season to the 2025-2026 season: 7 men from a roster of 21, and 6 women from a roster of 26. This represents a 33% attrition rate on the men's side and a 23% rate on the women's side. These figures are verifiable through roster data published on the Colorado College athletics website cctigers.com. This figure includes athletes who were listed on the 2024-2025 roster but who do not appear on the 2025-2026 roster. The roster data is publicly available as of March 20, 2026. Should it be taken down, that absence will speak as loudly as the data itself. For context, the attrition across Coach Buffin's entire tenure tells an important story. In her first season, the program lost 3 men and 1 woman, a total of 4 athletes. In her second season, that number jumped to 7 men and 6 women, a total of 13 athletes. Across her full tenure, 10 men and 7 women have left the program. That is 17 athletes in two years. 17 student athletes who spent their lives working toward the dream of competing in college, who chose Colorado College, and who are no longer there. Regardless of how any individual departure is categorized by season, the cumulative picture is undeniable: the rate of departure did not just continue under Coach Buffin, it accelerated dramatically. Why this is not ordinary attrition: What makes this attrition pattern notable is not just the volume but who left. The departures were concentrated almost entirely among upperclassmen who had already committed multiple years to the program. Further, accelerated attrition did not occur under Coach Buffin's first season roster but her second, suggesting the environment within the program did not improve with time but worsened. On the men's team, one swimmer departed going into or during his senior season, and three departed going into or during their junior seasons. On the women's side, all six of the departing swimmers had invested at least two years in the program. Two of the most accomplished swimmers on the women's team did not finish their swimming careers at Colorado College. One departed mid-season 2025-2026, just before Christmas break of her senior year. The other was listed on the 2024-2025 roster, did not compete, and did not return for the 2025-2026 season. Between them, their credentials speak for themselves: one is a school record holder and SCAC champion, the other is the only swimmer in the program to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships in the 2023-2024 season, a distinction neither the men's nor the women's team has achieved since. Both were multi-year SCAC Academic Honor Roll recipients. These were not marginal contributors. They were the best the program had to offer. Losing upperclassmen and decorated athletes at this volume is not a pattern consistent with ordinary attrition. The argument that the coach is reshaping the program with athletes who do not fit her vision does not hold weight. These are not athletes who were underperforming freshman. You do not rebuild a program by losing your most experienced and decorated athletes. If these athletes do not fit her vision, who then does this vision serve? A program that loses 17 athletes is not being rebuilt, it’s being dismantled. The concern: Those close to the program have indicated that swimmers and their families do not feel they have a meaningful path for raising concerns within the athletic department. Fear of retribution has kept people from coming forward formally. Whether the departed swimmers transferred, were pushed out of the program, or simply did not return, the through line is the same: they are no longer in the program. The data is all that remains. Any explanation that characterizes these departures as ordinary transfers or personal decisions should be weighed against the sheer volume, the seniority of those who left, and the fact that those individuals no longer have a platform or a team to return to. A relevant precedent: Colorado College's athletic department has already demonstrated how it responds when concerns about a coach are brought forward. In 2025, The Catalyst reported that men's lacrosse players, parents, and alumni submitted a 147-signature petition to Athletic Director Lesley Irvine requesting the removal of head coach Mike Horowitz, including 28 pieces of testimony documenting concerns about coach behavior and player mental health. Despite that effort, the college confirmed Horowitz would return for the 2026 season. The athletic department cited internal surveys and promised supplemental observation. That situation was covered on this site: https://www.2adays.com/blog/colorado-college-lacrosse-coach-under-fire-after-petition/. This athletic department has watched 13 students leave the swimming program in a single season (17 in 2 years) and has taken no meaningful action. The athletic department's role is to protect student athletes, and at Colorado College, it is doing the opposite, functioning as a barrier between students and any meaningful resolution. The swimmers and their families are too afraid to come forward. There will be no petition, no signatures, no testimony. There is only the data. The question is whether the athletic department will act on behalf of athletes who cannot advocate for themselves, or look the other way. A note on the 2026 SCAC championship: Before accepting either result at face value, context is essential. Trinity University, which had won 22 consecutive SCAC women's swimming championships, and Southwestern University, which consistently finished in the top three on the women's side, both left the conference after the 2024-25 season to join the Southern Athletic Association. On the women's side: In 2025, Trinity won the women's title with 1,114 points to Colorado College's 815, a gap of nearly 300 points. In 2026, with both programs gone, Colorado College's women's team won its first-ever SCAC conference championship with 1,032 points. The second place finisher was Asbury University, a conference newcomer. The field the women's team beat to claim its historic first championship was not the field it had competed against for years. That title reflects the departure of the competition, not the strength of the program. On the men's side: The men's team defended their SCAC title in 2026, also in a weakened conference without Trinity and Southwestern. The SCAC championship meet includes 17 scored swimming events, 12 individual and 5 relays, each relay requiring a minimum of 4 swimmers. At 14 swimmers, the men's team cannot cover every event without swimmers competing in multiple races outside their specialty. Winning a depleted conference with 14 swimmers is not a sign of a healthy program. It is a sign of a shrinking one. To any prospective swimmer considering Colorado College: These are the numbers. If nothing else, take this away: 17 student athletes left this program in 2 seasons, before their time. Should additional athletes exit the program, updates will follow. At 14 men and 20 women, the program is already at a critical threshold. "

"Over the past two years, the team has lost half of the members. Incredibly bad retention rate. The entire team is miserable and depressed. She has no regard for mental health, only cares about athletic performance, and the athletes hate her. She picks favorites and enforces a negative team culture. The men’s and women’s teams are incredibly segregated. No one is motivated to swim nor care about the consequences of punishment. This is a survival game not a team sport. "