"My experience playing under Coach Gail Wallach was extremely difficult emotionally and mentally. The environment often felt hostile and unpredictable, and many players constantly felt like they were walking on eggshells. It seemed like individuality and personality were discouraged rather than embraced, and over time I watched players lose confidence in themselves because of the way communication and criticism were handled. Instead of feeling supported through mistakes or growth, there was often a sense of fear surrounding practices, meetings, and day-to-day interactions within the program. A large part of the culture also felt emotionally manipulative. Accountability seemed to fall almost entirely on players, while coaching decisions or communication styles were rarely acknowledged or reflected on by the staff. It often felt like concerns were dismissed rather than addressed, which made honest conversations difficult. Instead of constructive coaching and development, there were many moments where players were left confused about expectations and felt more torn down than genuinely guided or taught. At times, it felt like maintaining control of the environment mattered more than actually helping athletes improve and succeed. Another challenging aspect was the feeling that favoritism heavily influenced the team culture. It often felt like respect, communication, and opportunities were tied to how much personal attention you fought for from the coaching staff. Many players felt they had to repeatedly insert themselves into conversations or go out of their way to “prove” their value just to be acknowledged. That dynamic created division within the team and made it difficult for everyone to feel equally valued. While the program pushed athletes competitively, the emotional environment made the experience draining for many players who simply wanted to feel respected, supported, and able to grow both as athletes and people."

"Similar to what someone else previously spoke of here, it is hard to figure out how to start. Gail Wallach is a truly mean, deceitful, and divisive human. Gail is not a coach. She is an unhealthy adult who preys on young women. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a coach as the following: "A coach is a person who instructs, trains, or mentors individuals or teams to improve performance, skills, or personal development (e.g., sports, acting, or life coaching)." Nobody (other than Gail in the reviews she likely wrote about herself on this site) would describe Gail as any of these things. There is a lot of talk about mental health, which is 110% the most important part, but she is not even a skilled lacrosse coach. This faculty member (Gail) was asked to leave her old program and suspended from Furman last summer after her first season. Please ask your club coaches or consultants what they are hearing. This is a real issue and is becoming more and more socialized. To Gail's next employer...please don't do it. You have a responsibility to these young women. If that is not enough, you will also probably find your school at the center of a much needed change with the NCAA to include a mental abuse policy. "

"An all around awful human who has no business coaching girl lacrosse. This is not about who is on the field but how she treats the girls overall as humans and how the lack of compassion and empathy just for another human is just plain lacking. The AD at Furman better do his job and do the right thing otherwise Furman will have a black mark on its athletic program. "

"I genuinely do not have enough space to explain how damaging and toxic Gail is as a coach and as a person in a position of authority over young women. She has an unbelievable ability to take confident, talented athletes and completely tear them down emotionally within minutes. The environment she creates is built on fear, favoritism, manipulation, humiliation, and mind games. She plays favorites constantly, and everyone knows it. The treatment players receive often depends on who their parents are, who is funding the program, or who benefits her personally. Her decisions rarely feel based on what is best for the team or the athletes themselves. She isolates players, pits teammates against each other, gossips about players to other players, and creates a culture where nobody feels emotionally safe. It is painfully obvious she has “moles” feeding her information within the team. She openly talks about athletes’ bodies and weight, dismisses mental health struggles, and has mocked anxiety instead of taking it seriously. Watching young women be made to feel weak, invisible, or worthless under someone who is supposed to mentor and support them is heartbreaking. Players are constantly walking on eggshells, never knowing which version of her they are going to get. Her emotional breakdowns, inconsistencies, and manipulative behavior create an exhausting and mentally draining environment. What makes it even worse is the complete lack of professionalism. While athletes are being pushed past emotional limits, she prioritizes her own personal matters and behaves in ways that would be unacceptable in most professional environments. No young athlete should have to endure the psychological damage that comes from being coached this way. College athletics should build confidence, leadership, resilience, and trust — not destroy self-worth. I would strongly urge any family considering this program to think very carefully before placing their daughter in an environment that so many players have found emotionally harmful and deeply damaging."

"To say that playing under Gail has been disappointing would be an understatement. The environment she creates is emotionally exhausting, inconsistent, and damaging to players’ confidence. One day a player can be praised, embraced, and made to feel valued, and the next they are completely torn down without warning. The inconsistency in communication and feedback leaves players constantly anxious, confused, and questioning themselves. There is a clear favoritism problem within the program. Certain players are protected no matter how they perform, while others are criticized relentlessly and blamed for situations that stem from poor coaching decisions. If you are not one of her favorites, you are often ignored entirely unless it is to criticize you. Instead of developing every athlete equally, she creates an environment where players feel disposable and isolated. What makes it worse is the feeling that loyalty and outside relationships matter more than actual performance or effort. Some players are treated as though their value to the program extends beyond the field, while others struggle to receive even basic support and respect. Watching teammates go without proper care while others are prioritized sends a message that not everyone matters equally. The damage goes far beyond lacrosse. Constantly being torn down, overlooked, and made to feel unwanted affects players mentally and emotionally. A college athletic experience is supposed to help athletes grow in confidence, discipline, and character, but under this environment many players leave feeling defeated instead. If I could give one piece of advice to any recruit considering this program, it would be to seriously think twice before putting your trust, mental health, and college experience in the hands of someone who leads this way."

" treating players inconsistently and unpredictably, talking gossip about players with her favorites, team sessions where she screams and acts completely unprofessional, lack of knowledge of anything other than attack in the game, openly negative about athletes she doesn't like or who are not part of the popular clique are all true. When the game isn't going well for furman (like losing draws 46 to 97), coaching adjustments are not made and then she becomes unhinged and takes it out on the players. She provides a great example for what NOT to do for these young players. My hope is the assistant coaches do not learn these awful leadership examples and prolong the same treatment of future players. Maybe Furman takes a little more time with the next hire. I don't think they had much of a choice with this hire due to the last hire having compliance issues. "

"Every girl playing for Gail is truly at a personal risk, which is why she was asked to leave her former program. This is not an issue of a coaching style, which might not be compatible with some players. Gail is a truly unhappy and unhealthy person, who is a risk to her players and to the university. The fact that girls were upset that a member of the staff was leaving, because they felt "safer" when he was around, is just hard to think about as a parent. We have not had direct communication from the AD, but I can only hope they are taking these things seriously. Gail is not a "tough coach". She is an abusive adult who uses her authority to hurt people she thinks cannot or will not fight back. She finds happy young women who have been given an incredible opportunity to be a student athlete at an amazing university and tries to take all of that away from them. The administration should be addressing this very real problem and liability."

"As a parent of a highly ranked motivated and respectful athlete, I have serious concerns about the coaching environment under Gail after our experiences. Unfortunately, her leadership has resulted in significant damages physically and emotionally to many of her former players. She acts one way to some and is completely bi-polar with others. Many talented players have been alienated, their confidence eroded rather than nurtured and her approach to team management has been inconsistent and unpredictable. While discipline and structure are essential to a successful team - this is what they all signed up for - there have been instances of complete chaos then imposed rigid ridiculous controls that are not even enforced, but we have heard recorded team sessions where she was screaming and acted completely unprofessional and ranting like a banshee...again never addressing the root problems and allowing her favorites off from serious ream rule violations. She absolutely has inappropriate relationships with certain 'favorite' students - discussing other players confidential information and approaching situations as if she is a wannabe teenager still, looking to bully others and retain her queen bee status. She is the queen of Relational Aggression and encouraging her favorite athletes to do the same. There are dozens of instances of this we have now heard of and experienced. She is known to engage in gossip regarding players' personal lives, fostering a culture of distrust and negativity, again she justifies this to herself and others I am sure as some form of weeding out those unworthy, but it's far more divisive than that underneath the 'coaching' banner. The way she speaks to athletes is crazy to hear from the distance across the field and from the many recordings we have of her interactions, we kept hanging in there hoping it would all pass - you work hard you play hard you earn your way but that never seems to matter once she targets you. From a parent/spectator perspective, Respect toward opposing teams, players, and other coaches should be a fundamental expectation in collegiate sports. However, Gail displays regularly disrespectful behavior, open mockery, and negative interactions with her athletes, and competitors speaking openly badly about other teams' players to her own team and parents. During our time there we watched her mocking and laughing at another team's senior day making fun of an athlete's Asian ancestry and using a mock fake accent to disparage their heritage. It has clearly become her unfortunate norm from reading other the reviews here. Continuous mixed signals in coaching style, lack of knowledge of anything other than attack in the game, constant comparison to her own supposed athletic prowess many years ago, frequent open negativity about athletes she doesn't like or who are not part of the popular clique, and an inability to maintain a professional distance from student athletes, or create any type of supportive environment have contributed to a toxic and narcissistic atmosphere surrounding her. Furthermore, interactions with parents have been dismissive at best, with a troubling pattern of gossip about both athletes and their families. A strong team culture requires leadership rooted in integrity, encouragement, and mutual respect—qualities that, regrettably, have not been consistently demonstrated. She once said that they were better off without those who had left but that fell flat after dozens of solid athletes left the program. She told me once horrible things about a top athlete's parent and about specific students. I could only imagine the lies she has spread about our athlete to others. We can only hope her new program takes these concerns seriously and monitors her actively after reading these reviews, and considers necessary changes to ensure a positive, constructive experience for current and future athletes. Unfortunately, it seems a pattern on repeat with this coach. She absolutely reads these then asks others to put in positive reviews to counteract the negativity. There truly are too many negatives to ignore now. She's already demonstrated again recently why she isn't widely respected or liked as a coach by not communicating or attending recent clinic where she had rsvp'd - showing a complete lack of respect for the club hosting, the athletes attending and the organization planning. These pattens are RED Flags that anyone closely associated in the lacrosse community should see. Regrettably many parents do not have that level of insight to recognize or hear these to see this side of things until their athlete is hurt by her inability to successfully manage a team as a professional coach. "

"It is hard to support Furman when Gail is the head coach, playing her manipulative games. The only word to describe her is crazy. The culture that was built previously is so far from what it was. "

"Gail was the worst. The biggest joke of a lacrosse coach I have ever had and I had many. I don’t even know if I can call her a coach because not once did she coach. She spent all her energy yelling at us about trivial things. Gail sat on the sideline eating her snacks during halftime while the players were coaching one another. Funny she was eating snacks because she first requested donations for snacks from the parents and then proceeded to put a camera in our snack room because we were “stealing the food.” Gail claims she played three sports in college, but I’m not sure she really understands how college sports work. Players were expected to lead the team through the season both in practice and in games. These were the same players that she talked poorly about and degraded within earshot of others. She will not support you and lift you up, but rather scream at you and think you are not worthy of her time. If you were successful despite her not investing energy into your development, she would not dare acknowledge it. According to her, there is no time for feedback and all she cares about is the future. Don’t be fooled by her mental health matters t-shirts, all that matters to her is winning an argument… including things that can be proven wrong with receipts, facts, and eye-witnesses. You will not win against her and she will not help you win on or off the field. If you are considering playing for her think about meals, money, scout, and gear… GOOD LUCK. "

"Gail is a not only a terrible coach, but a terrible person too. She created a TERRIBLE team culture on her team by having groups of favorites that would sit in her office with her for multiple hours before and after practice, these girls would also be allowed special privileges that other ppl didn’t receive.( like getting certain gear, picking her children up from school, special trips with her when we travel, trips to her house, ect) Gail would tell her favorites private information like about an injury or personal information that you had shared with her that you wouldn’t want shared. This created extreme toxicity on our team and eventually lead to it falling apart causing 25+ transfers. She was even like this to her other staff. I will admit she does have a good lax IQ but does that really matter when you’re miserable all the time at practice/lift/games/ and travel? When we traveled she would specifically put groups of girls in rooms close to hers so she could listen to them outside their door ( yes she actually did this.)You will CONSTANTLY catch her giving you dirty looks if you aren’t one of the favorites then turning to her group of girls laughing. She acts like a high school bully to bunch of 18-23 years olds which is really pathetic as a 50+ year old. She does not create a supportive environment and does not care about her players. She will mentally abuse you if you aren’t one of her favorites. Also would only play the people she liked, doesn’t even matter if they should be starting or not, as long as you were on her good side you would be playing. During the recruitment process she sounds great and like she really truly cares for you but it’s all b.s. If I could go back in time I would NEVER commit to play for her knowing the way she treats people. "

"You commit to a program based on trust knowing your child is being taken care of and the coach helps them on and off the field. Can’t say anything positive about the experience as this coach played head games with her players and had girls always stressed and unhappy. All we ask as parents be honest tell your players where they need to work harder and do better. Don’t tell th one thing them do another. You lose all trust and confidence. Not a coach I would have my kid play for … very disappointed in the facade presented to parents. "

"Horrible person all around. Manipulative, Dishonest Mind games, anything horrible you could think about a coach .. she has. Hoped for a career ending injury with her"

"She has genuinely been one of the worst coaches I have ever been coached by. She treated most players horribly and created an environment where teammates couldn’t trust each other. She turned such an amazing school horrible and ruined my first two years of college. She forced over 20 players to either quit or transfer at her previous school because of how terrible of a coach she was. She had favorites, not even her best players. It was players who loved feeding into Gail’s toxicity and betraying their teammates. She not only did this at her last institution but at the one before that one as well. She has not changed in the 10+ years that she has been coaching. I would never recommend her to coach anyone. I feel bad for the girls at her new school. "

"I heard through many people that this coach was toxic. She would make many people cry after games because of her spreading rumors, talking down about players when they had minor slip ups, and overall a disrespectful and manipulative coach. I myself was not on the team, but I have heard enough about this coach to not recommend her to be a coach to anyone. "

"Manipulative, lies, steals. Tells players they need to lose weight. She will be so nice to your face and then turn around and talk bad about you. Results in a poor team culture where everyone talks bad about each other, other teams, and other coaches. "

"I do not recommend playing for this coach. She is dishonest, talks poorly about players to other players, and has no boundaries or moral compass. A great deal of players have removed themselves from her leadership because of the toxicity she creates with her little group of favorites. She has many narcissistic tendencies and very clearly views herself above all others. She cries on the sidelines when her team is losing, and has very little control over her emotions and actions. She hides her true self decently to players, but it was very clear that she had poor relationships with other coaches and staff, which speaks volumes. Unless you want to be lied to on a daily basis and learn how to be a kleptomaniac, I would not play for this woman "

"Overall was a terrible coach and I never wish to have anyone experience the manipulation, lying, and deception that comes with having her as a coach. There were multiple times where she would outright yell and scream at her players, assistant coaches, trainers, and fans. She created a toxic environment where players were pitted against each other on and off the field. She would play favorites and would have her “chosen ones” who received special treatment on a daily basis. She would have hang out time in her office with her “chosen ones” and if you weren’t in that circle, good luck. She is fake and goes behind your back to spread lies about you to other players and parents. I hope that no one has to experience what this woman does to an athletes mental, physical, and emotional health. If you are consider playing for her I hope that this helped you decide not to. "

"Terrible coach who does not respect her players"

"Terrible coach who does not respect her players"

"She lost 20+ of the first 32 players. She alienated good players, diminished confidence, bipolar towards willing players, let team run wild but would constantly talk and scream about god & thankfulness. She was always playing people and often set rumors afloat talking about private lives to other girls. She was also very disrespectful to other teams players and coaches mocking players openly, constant negativity and bullying. She is a very negative coaching saying one thing while acting differently in private. Very mixed signals any successes are due to the assistant coaches efforts. Zero respect for parents. Gossips about girls & parents to other parents. "

"This is the worst coach I have ever played for. She is inexperienced, does not care about her athletes....unless she personally recruited you."

"Doesn't stand up to the head coach. Does whatever they say even if it is wrong. Does not have a backbone."

"This is not a good coach. She is not experienced or capable of running the Furman softball program. She is not fair, she is not knowledgeable, she plays favorites, she does not care about her players, unapproachable and the list goes on."

"Made practice miserable if you weren’t one of his few favorites "