Campbell University

"Does not care about players, do not go here"

"Although my daughter only got to play with her for a year she was awesome to watch from the stands and was a great coach"

"Super warm with the girls, seemed really nice"

"so easy to get along with and honestly feels more like a friend sometimes which is awesome"

"Decent mid-major-level coach. Power5 conference is beyond her capabilities. Michigan State “settled” when they hired her & her staff. Needs to get to know her players better. You won’t feel like a family under her watch. "

"Being in this program is emotional warfare. If that is what you want for yourself or your daughter, then by all means this program is for you. These are real, serious issues that have plagued this program for years. Trying to cover it up with articles about program culture won't work this time. Student athlete mental health has not been considered or protected, and it is time this administration takes it seriously before something bad happens. This type of toxicity is present in some other programs across the country, sure, but it is NOT everywhere. You or your daughter can experience better, healthier coaching and support. Sexuality is used as a weapon within this program. People are outed and shamed, which is never acceptable no matter what your views are. Every aspect of student-athlete lives are under the coaching staff’s control at an unhealthy level. Nothing is private. The coach will share personal information at their leisure, and then use it against people when it is convenient. This cultivates a toxic, controlling environment similar to that of an abusive relationship. The staff is scared, the players are scared, and everyone is simply trying to push through and survive the year. It is a constant cycle. Players are scared to leave because this coach has cultivated a fear that no one else will want them, and that this program is as good as it gets. That is false. Injuries are not taken seriously or respected. The coaching staff believes they know better than their athletic trainers at times, and this is dangerous and negligent. That probably explains why they have had three different trainers in the past 4 years. All of whom would and do agree with these concerns. Coaches also comment on health and nutrition in a manner that is dangerous. Body shaming is consistent and is done in public. Student-athletes' careers and health off the court are put at risk often here. Campbell - do better. These details are documented and on the record within your offices. Please know that this is not going to go away. Many within the athletic department know about this, and aren’t sure how to move forward because they know the wrong group of people are being protected. Your JOB is to protect these student-athletes, not your coaches. It’s time to do so. If you do choose to finally address this, protect the players from the coaching staff first so that they aren’t retaliated against or threatened to say what the coaching staff wants them to say. Years of therapy haven’t unraveled the damage this place has done to me and so many others. Threats of what can be done to me and lies that never seem to end about everyone won’t silence me anymore, and I hope eventually many others will gather the courage to take up for themselves too. "

"Players be aware. This is not someone you can trust. Will make false promises during recruiting process and then have a different tune after the fact. Allows mistreatment of players by Head Coach and does nothing. Instead actively consoles players to diminish the behavior. Parents do your research. Talk to parents of players they will let you know. Ask the questions."

" Every one of these players is dealing with manipulation and abuse daily. The laundry list of people who will tell you the truth about this just keeps growing. Read the reviews. Medical abuse. Emotional abuse. The list is long. What goes on here is not normal, not healthy. and the administration and coaching staff are responsible for it. I witnessed what happened in this program for a couple of years, and I am encouraged that people are starting to speak out. "

"While I do think she has good intentions, at the end of the day she is mainly concerned with protecting herself. Often times this is at the expense of her players. The other players all see this and know. They do not know who to trust or when they can trust them. Survival mode 101"

"This coach is simply malicious and uncaring person He deliberately uses his power to manipulate, emotionally abuse, and to create toxic environment for everyone around him. ‘’Sweat and Serve’’ motto of his program is a cover up so he can control his players and staff members. According to him everyone must serve him. He makes empty promises to his players to gain their trust. He dismisses mental concerns that players share with him. He makes fear inducing statements to the players and the team. Gaslighting and singling out player is normal for him. He retaliates against players and staff members on all levels. Be aware mental health of your daughter is not in good hands!!"

"I did not have a good experience with this coach. I have had hard strict coaches throughout my time in club and high school and was used to having to compete at a high level and have a strong work ethic to earn playing time. At Campbell I felt as if I did everything right and played well but because coach did not like me as a person she would play mind games with me. When I committed I thought she had a tough personality but I knew it was a D1 school and I believed if I continued to do the work and play well I would be successful. This is not the case with Dawn. She does not value work ethic and will choose her favorite players over the most skilled. I started as a Freshman and played very well and she still told me in my end of the year meeting that I was invisible. If I was playing well in the game or at practice she would get mad at the girl I was going against for not stopping me and she rarely gave a compliment that wasn't back-handed. Before one of our big conference games she told me she finds herself rooting against me sometimes. Comments like these were common and no one had any idea how to respond to that. After she started to play mind games with me and I lost my starting position, she asked me if I was happy that "said person" was starting over me. These are the questions she liked to ask because there is no correct answer. If I said I am happy for her as a good teammate she would be mad that I was not competitive enough and if I say I'm upset she would call me selfish and a bad teammate. She would hold grudges against people if they ever opened up to her or said they were upset about something whether it was about lacrosse, school, or life. If you had a family emergency she would show no empathy and be upset with you for having emotions about it. Her communication was very poor and she would deny saying things that the entire team heard her say while at team meetings, film sessions, and at practice. She would pull people aside for one on one meetings and say hurtful things. She told me the reason I wasn't playing was because my relationship with god wasn't good enough since I did not go to church every Sunday growing up. There were many comments made in front of the whole team making fun of people for their hair, their weight, their religious views, sexuality, etc. and she would target people continually until they got upset. I have coached lacrosse for many years and would never allow someone I have coached to go to Campbell until there is a coaching change. This school checked all boxes for me in terms of athletics and academics so it was incredibly frustrating to have one person ruin an experience for me. The bond between the team was very strong because we were all frustrated with the way we were treated by Dawn which is probably the only positive that came out of this. Many talented girls were targeted continually until they quit, transferred, or pushed through to graduate and be done with her. Many girls lost their love for the sport and graduated emotionally exhausted rather than thankful for their experience. She took little to no interest in our academics. She did not know what year people were graduating and would not know what our goals were in the future. I graduated without her knowing what I planned to do next even though I discussed it with the assistant coach in my first meeting as a Freshman. The players with difficult majors with long labs were treated poorly because we didn't have as much time to do individuals with the coaches outside of practice time. We could never voice our feelings if we were overwhelmed or needed academic help. One of the big turning points for me with coach was when there were about 10 girls that almost drowned in a rip tide in Florida the day before a tournament where we played Stetson, Florida, and Jacksonville. The team was not supervised and there were no lifeguards on that area of the beach. Coach let everyone go in the water after a recent hurricane which made the water very dangerous with large waves and riptides. Many players got dragged out trying to help one another out of the water and about 10 girls were saved by lifeguards after about 10-15 minutes of treading water. My parents were very upset when I gave them a call later that day and not one email or phone call was made to any of our parents from the Campbell staff. The next day was very difficult for many players that were physically exhausted after the day before. A young boy drowned at the same beach the day after our team had to get saved. In terms of lacrosse I was frustrated with Dawn's poor communication, poor decision-making, and lack of lacrosse IQ. We played High Point and were playing man down for 4 minutes without any cards being given. I was trying to tell the coaching staff from the sideline but they refused to let me speak to them during a game. One game I was benched for the entire second half after starting all season and coach wouldn't say one word to me during or after the game about why I was pulled out. The next day she told me I was fouling too much even though I did not have one foul or card in the entire game. She then told me that she will not watch film with me and that I am rude for trying to dispute her because she is the coach. Our captains were the only ones that had some say in the way we ran our team and many years the captains wouldn't stand up to her because she would hold it against them personally and impact their playing time. Dawn is a manipulative coach that lacks the maturity and empathy to coach women's lacrosse. She is not concerned about helping girls beyond lacrosse and she only cares about the wins and losses. She encourages "selfish" lacrosse and has a poor understanding for strategic play-calling and situational lacrosse. Many games were lost due to poor coaching decisions and the players couldn't go against her calls or they would be benched. The team culture was only made by the tight-knit group of girls on the team. The only positives I took out of being coached by Dawn were that I learned mental toughness and how to stand up for myself."

"Do your homework before committing to this program. This coach is Toxic. Creates unhealthy culture Creates Emotional abuse Unapproachable Manipulation Instability with players Confidence killer No regards of well being of players "

"Straightforward coach who doesn't sugarcoat things to his players. Likes to talk about Campbell's success."

"Run away from this at all costs. Discrimination, racism sexism and others are daily things for him. My daughter and her friends have experienced horrible things at his behest. No care for player safety or their physical health. He talks to women including his players and staff in the most disrespectful way. I wish we had seen this before signing "

"does whatever the head coach wants no matter the cost to her players. allows abuse to happen at all levels. mind games happen every day. cannot be trusted "

"Very smart football IQ. Cares about players and our journey. Puts in the work day in and day out."

"Coach Lauren was horrible. She bought into and allowed abuse by the Head Coach and did absolutely nothing to stop, prevent or report it. It included body shaming of players and homophobic comments. She has since moved on to Campbell University and when playing Wofford, showed ZERO class during the game. Caught on several occasions by fans in stands mocking the team and laughing constantly on the sideline, then inappropriately texting former players after the game saying how fun it was to see them play (same girls she was mocking during game play). She was extremely disorganized. As an example, did not inform players prior that only turf shoes were allowed for play at Longwood's astro turf field and as a result, the girls only brought non-supportive travel shoes and regular cleats that they use on the natural grass & field turf field. (By the way, Wofford never provided cleats or turf shoes for the season,, so cost for both totally on the players). Girls had to frantically call multiple parents to pick up shoes that were coming to watch so they could actually play the game and afterwards never thanked a single parent that made it so they had enough players to even play. Did horrific job organizing and/or even providing team meals. Half the time encouraged the mentality of the psycho head coach that girls shouldn't eat prior to games so they could run faster and be lighter. Travel meals and snacks were an absolute joke and this was her responsibility to organize. Same Longwood game, she ordered food and asked parents to help with pick up and when the parents arrived, the food had not been paid for by her and parents had to buy and wait weeks to be reimbursed by the program. Should not even be called a coach, disorganized and has no backbone to stick up for players when needed...only a "yes" girl with assistant coach title. Behaved like a child at most practices and threw tantrums when practice or her unorganized drills didn't go as planned. Allowed head coach to belittle & berate girls regularly and went right along with it. Watch out! "

"Plays mindgames with her players to pit the against each other. During games she likes to mock opponents."

"Unfortunately, my experience with this program and this coach was not positive. From the beginning, I felt like this coach only really cared about looking good to other people than actually caring for her team. She gave me 4 days to make my decision to commit to that school. She also told me I would be a big impact to the program as a freshman. As a young 16 year old, I fell into her trap and said yes to her offer. She never once reached out to me for the next two years, I honestly even wondered if I still had a spot on the team. Truthfully, if you do not play during games, then you do not practice. Only starters practice and only the starters play because she barley subs. If you are not one of her favorites or starters, there is no push from her to the athletic training department to get you back on the field. She likes to ask weird questions and then make you feel dumb if you answer in a way that she was not expecting. Once asked me what I thought my best athletic achievement was and she told me my answer was wrong... like what??"

"The worst coach! Promises all recruits a starting position then benches them! So many transfers, he threatened my teammates scholarship for her attitude. Kicked another teammate off because he told her to lose 20 pounds in 6 weeks and she didn’t. Kicked another teammate off for coming back from tearing her ACL “not as good”. She sued. Tells players they’re doing great and will play then never plays them. Overall detrimental to mental health"

"Cares about her players beyond the field and motivates them as overall humans so they can find success everywhere. Knows how to coach in all the right ways. Ensures everyone knows their purpose on the field and encourages a fun culture. "

"Lacks ability to see other opinions and ways but her own which makes it difficult to succeed in a sport culture that is constantly growing and changing. Struggles to express/show emotion and motivation towards players causing playing to feel/find no purpose in themselves and where they stand on the field. "

"Experience at all levels. He has been a volunteer, a recruiting coordinator, an operations/development guy and a Head Coach"

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"Very personable and fair"

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"Coach Minter is a great mentor that wants you to succeed on and off the field."

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"There is a lot of turnover on the team, one before the season even started. Coach is a bully, he intimidates, belittles and threatenes. He will get in your face and yell with spit flying out of his mouth and expects you to be respectful at all times. Tell pitchers when they have a bad outing they are f****** pathetic. Toxic atmosphere! Don't go!!!"

"Frech man who is very straightforward, can be harsh at times but knows the sport."

"Great guy on and off the field. Still keep in touch with him today. A great father figure away from home. Enjoyed my time playing for him"

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"She will make you a better person mentally and physically. If you are a lazy player or have a bad attitude, you usually don't last in her program long. I loved playing for Coach Peel. She pushed me to be a player and I grew to be a stronger woman. I wish I could have player for her for all four years. I'm thankful for the time I had with her."

"Don't try to play for her if you're not willing to work for your position. There is no such thing as seniority and favorites. The best 9 or 10 play. End of story. Winning is everything and if you lost you better of learned from it. Absolute amazing coach. Wish I would have had her 4 years instead of my two when she got hired. Made me a better player overall. She knows her stuff. Queen P is where it's at!"

"My best advice is to observe a game...watch his verbal and non-verbal communication with female vs male referees, coaches and players. He is constantly derugatory and demeaning to females. He is the master of all the mind games between players and between coaches and players. He has no interest in player development - no nutrition, mental health or off season support. His word (verbal or written) means nothing. His lying is so common that the program excepts it! Coaches and support staff are afraid of reliation (based off of previous years turn over) that they let it all happen. The assistants are just playing "follow the leader". This leaves players with no where to turn for support! The lack of transfer portal players speaks volumes for what the word is on the streets! I wish I would have known!"