"Swimming on this team was one of the worst decisions I've ever made. The money that was offered/given was not worth spending as much time in her program as I did. She definitely created an environment where her were favorites were known and if you were not one of them, you were pushed to the side. The team culture was awful and the day to day vibe of the team was based on if she was in a good mood at practice or not. She was disorganized and took a lot of her frustration out on the team during practice. She would single people out in front of the whole team instead of having a one on one conversation with the athlete privately. Singling an athlete out was not always done directly by her but also by making the athlete themselves stand in front of the team and explain to them why they missed a practice (normally for sickness), had to make a certain decision about the sport, etc. This made it very challenging to enjoy the sport and practices because you were always on edge about making her mad or making a mistake that you would have to explain later on. The actual work that was done in practice was tailored towards the sprint/mid-distance freestylers and backstrokers on the team and left a lot of the stroke swimmers falling behind on sets and intervals that did not provide any benefit to them. While she has background swimming for the team and coaching for several years, she never understood the concept that every swimmer responds differently to different coaching styles. She struggled to get through to many swimmers on her team which resulted in that loss of connection with her athletes and in turn the athletes themselves as many would quit or leave. In about the span of a year, more than a few swimmers either quit or left the team. The overall team environment was very negative, because instead of creating a space where athletes uplifted their teammates and cheered each other on, Lilly created a space where the athletes hated the sport and couldn't wait until their time in the program was over. You play a sport in college because you strive to be better or because you just aren't quite ready to say goodbye to the sport you love. You do not, however, play a sport to be torn down by your team let alone your coach, which is what would happen weekly during my time in the program."

"I hope that Lilli has matured as a person and coach since my time swimming a few years ago, however, my experience with her was terrible and I cannot recommend that anyone goes here to swim in good conscience. Even if it is free. Lilli played extreme favorites and created a culture where bullying was acceptable. She treated people like me who were struggling with disabilities, mental illnesses, severe medical issues, or injuries as lesser. During my time swimming at URI, multiple people quit the team and I considered it many times. My own medical issues were never understood or accommodated and the bullying that I experienced from teammates was never addressed even after it was brought to the attention of the coaches. I experienced bullying along with both verbal and psychological abuse, which took years to recover from. As a swim coach, Lilli was not successful and never took feedback. She did not know how to taper or cater to different athletes. There was no plan for the season's training and it showed. To her credit, she is very knowledgeable about breaststroke and very capable at coaching breaststrokers. But, being able to coach one stroke is not enough to build a team. Our team was not competitive in the A-10 conference and many athletes got worse while only a few improved. While we had a decent record winning meets, we did not go against the same caliber of teams as those in the A-10 so it should not be used as a marker for success. We were last or second to last 3 out of 4 years at conferences, and this trend continues. I hope that Lilli no longer treats her athletes like this, has learned to successfully coach all athletes to help them improve, and has learned to create a better team culture. However, I wish I could go back in time and choose to swim anywhere else. I hope no one ever has to experience what I went through. She was a great swimmer, but that does not make her a great coach or person. "

"I hope that Lilli has matured as a person and coach since my time swimming a few years ago, however, my experience with her was terrible and I cannot recommend that anyone goes here to swim in good conscience. Even if it is free. Lilli played extreme favorites and created a culture where bullying was acceptable. She treated people like me who were struggling with disabilities, mental illnesses, severe medical issues, or injuries as lesser. During my time swimming at URI, multiple people quit the team and I considered it many times. My own medical issues were never understood or accommodated and the bullying that I experienced from teammates was never addressed even after it was brought to the attention of the coaches. I experienced bullying along with both verbal and psychological abuse, which took years to recover from. As a swim coach, Lilli was not successful and never took feedback. She did not know how to taper or cater to different athletes. There was no plan for the season's training and it showed. To her credit, she is very knowledgeable about breaststroke and very capable at coaching breaststrokers. But, being able to coach one stroke is not enough to build a team. Our team was not competitive in the A-10 conference and many athletes got worse while only a few improved. While we had a decent record winning meets, we did not go against the same caliber of teams as those in the A-10 so it should not be used as a marker for success. We were last or second to last 3 out of 4 years at conferences, and this trend continues. I hope that Lilli no longer treats her athletes like this, has learned to successfully coach all athletes to help them improve, and has learned to create a better team culture. However, I wish I could go back in time and choose to swim anywhere else. I hope no one ever has to experience what I went through. She was a great swimmer, but that does not make her a great coach or person. "