"How is it possible this guy is still coaching? GWU is not a hard school to recruit to, especially for rich kids from California (main demographic of college water polo). It is a good, well-respected university that can pull the trigger and accept a student based on their skill in water polo (because it’s d1 with average admission standards). Barry has taken multiple trips to Europe to recruit, typically one each summer. Somehow, the recruiting classes are always tiny and the team is undermanned (13 people on a D1 water polo roster, also only 1 goalie). This guy just does not care. He drinks a bottle of jack daniels or some other whiskey when we go to Wegman’s on a team trip (payed for by GWU). Practices are boring, and useless. The only good part of the whole program is the strength & conditioning staff. Also, not water polo related, but he would constantly flirt with women on the lacrosse, soccer, and volleyball team at GWU and make them uncomfortable while doing so. His salary is too high for what he does. During the spring season, he didn’t show up to one practice, and our borderline abusive assistant coach ran the entire spring semester. Fire Barry King. I promise it will not be difficult to find a head coach that is better in every facet of coaching and water polo (not that it’s a high bar whatsoever). One memorable experience is when he ran a stop sign while driving the team van, and crashed. I was left with a concussion, and was shamed and forced into playing through it, because we only had 13 players for the whole season (which is his fault again). Fire Barry King, and allow GWU to rise to the heights of other universities in the east (Fordham, Princeton, Navy, Bucknell). Avoid this guy like the plague"

"Uses head games with players. Is not honest about anything. ATTACKS PERSONALITY OF PLAYERS! Sideline behavior is unprofessional and embarrassing "

"I have 3 daughters who played college soccer. Combined the 8 coaches. I coached 40 girls over 15 years that played college soccer and Michelle Demko was by far the most professional caring coach. She stayed committed to my daughter after an ACL tear and continues to be there for her long after she was her coach and was always honest with her! Coach Demko and I spent a few nights watching games and breaking down the game and her knowledge and understanding of the game is superb! No coach is perfect, in the modern landscape she is a rare coach that cares more about players, education, and development than she does keeping her job. Our family loves Coach Demko. "

"Grumpy guy, he has no business being a D1 coach, zero experience as a head coach with anything 11v11 competitive before being hired. GWU now one of the worse teams in the country."

"Coach that retaliates against players she doesn’t like, picks favorites, runs players into the ground by ignoring injuries. She only truly cares about her career growth and how important people view her. Probably the fakest person I’ve ever encountered, will say anything to get what she wants or stay in power. She also doesn’t coach her players, only makes people self conscious and uses manipulation to control the narrative"

"Inspires her players. Players want to do well for her. Is direct but kind in giving coaching. "

"Chrissy Schoonmaker is the worst coach I have ever had in my 18+ years of softball. She is a poor communicator, disorganized, volatile, and unprofessional. I would not wish this coach on any player as she picks favorites, over uses and injures players, and destroys their mental game. She does not value defense and this season we had 2 defensive practices. She makes up excuses for her downfalls and blames outside instances for in-game mistakes. She will never take responsibility for her own actions or mistakes and makes every effort to put blame on anyone but herself. Christina Schoonmaker is also dishonest and not worthy of your trust. Unless you are a favorite on the team, you cannot trust her with any information about yourself or struggles you are having; she will hold them against you. She is also incapable of having a spontaneous, candid conversation. If you ask her to speak, she needs 1-2 days before she can meet, will bring in another coach to make you feel small, and only listen to respond, never to hear. Over all, I would not recommend Chrissy Schoonmaker as a coach to any player looking to play college softball. The George Washington University is a wonderful school but not worth the mental, physical, and emotional tolls the softball coach puts players through. "

"Her lack of care for mental health was awful. The only care was winning, at any cost. In addition having her husband on the coaching staff created uncomfortable fights and an awkward dynamic. "

"We were told that GW soccer were “family” during recruitment but once the season started we felt that it was all false. This coach had her favorites and made it very obvious, which creates resentment. She will play the same players even when losing and many really good players never had the chance to play. When approached by players to find out why, she never offered explanations. Her boundaries need a lot of work. "

"Eric has always been a coach that has chosen favorites and I think he's gotten worse about hiding it over the years. As someone who was recruited by him, I was equally as excited as he was about the new experiences and opportunities for growth as he seemed to be coming to UMass. After the first year though, his intentions became more clear. Emphasizing his excitement for the incoming classes have served as a scapegoat for him for the past three years of stagnant conference performance (4th in 2021, 2022, and 2023). He has tried to move past these years of failure by excitedly looking forward to the classes ahead, and in the process ignores the hard work and adversities that the classes he did not recruit have put in. This continues now even with the athletes that he recruited himself, continuing his trend of hypocrisy and lying. As a previous rower, it breaks my heart to watch over and over again as freshmen who are so excited to row well and improve have their dreams and potential ruined by a coach who chooses his favorite athletes not based on how well they move a boat, but by how much they go and talk to him in the office and "build a relationship." While I agree it is important for coaches to have a relationship with their athletes, it starts with how much of a safe, trustworthy, and reliable space a coach provides to there athletes, and Eric provides no such thing. Additionally, after years of being coached by him, my confidence in him as a coach on a technical and athletic level has diminished. Every year, he has switched the type of rowing stroke that he considers the "UMass stroke" around winter time, and then switches back in the fall at the beginning of the next year. By doing this, he creates different strokes within boats and tension between athletes because no one adjusts quickly enough to his drastic changes (ex: pause at the finish changed to fast hands around the back end last year and the year before). There is also tension created between the athletes because of his selection processes. Eric's favorites are put in the top boat, coxswain or rower. They are certainly fast because there is not a lack of speed on the team, but the way in which he selects the top boat inflates the heads of the athletes that he choses and belittles the dedication of all those placed (not ranked-placed) below the 1st Varsity 8+. Eric also has a tendency to inflate egos by making lineups that are requested to him by his favorites, collaborating with them over the training plans, and considering their opinions in selection processes; all things that athletes should essentially have no say in. Overall, Eric is an indecisive man with a love for drama among his teams and I would not recommend him as a coach to any young athletes or any programs looking for a coach."

"One of the hardest working coaches!! Always believes in being positive. "

"he’s an amazing coach that works his hardest to promote team culture and develop the athletes as people"

"He is a great coach, very easy to talk to and accommodating. Very transparent and is willing to have a conversation with anyone if something is unclear. I have never had a single issue with him or his style of coaching. "

"Eric has created a team continuously building for the future and an environment where we all love practices and pushing each other to be better. I completely disagree with some of the other comments but I think it’s because he was still so new in this role and had to set a foundation for the future. Eric is someone who is willing to work with anyone, you just have to go in and ask. He took a lot of our feedback last semester and implemented it into the training plan this year. And the difference is already so noticeable. A level of buy in is necessary for any team and I honestly believe that the negative comments have come from people who didn’t even try to put any trust in the training plan or in the coaches. He is genuinely one of the only coaches in the game who works and has such a close relationships with many of his athletes and genuinely cares about them."

"in my personal experience he uplifts athletes and has created an amazing team culture at umass"

"Definitely the best coach I’ve ever worked with "

"A pleasure to work with!! "

"Coach needs to be replaced. Pits players against each other to pass blame. Poor leader. Makes poor decisions on lineup. Makes unnecessary cuts on good dedicated players. No effective strategies to improve team aside from having players and coaches point fingers. Not strong technically. Weak conditioning. "

"Not a great experience with her. Did not communicate expectations well. Poor teaching skills. My daughter will not be playing for her."

"This coach lies to her players an recruits. Not good at all and her team is always at the bottom of the confrence. "

"Ruined rowing for me, made the most questionable and unfair decisions, played favorites and dragged the team down"

"Brian made me believe in myself and gave me the courage and confidence to put „make the German national team“ on my goal sheet. He pushed me on a daily basis, inside and outside the pool and I couldn’t be more grateful for all he did for me and my athletic career. He even came to German Nationals in Berlin with me - where I achieved my goal of making the national team and qualified for world university games. This was almost 8 years ago and I still keep in touch with him from time to time and cannot wait to see him at my wedding this summer :) This is the relationship Brian builds with his swimmers because he cares about them as athletes AND people! He is a great coach - one of the best I’ve ever been coached by! "

"Being one of the only coaches that really gave me a shot at competing at a D1 level, I had much higher hopes for the program than what I had experienced. Never have I ever been a part of a more disorganized team; every single time we traveled, something went wrong. And don't even get me started on the level of coaching. Our team probably would have been better off coached by Helen Keller. Not only did we not have a single viable tactic to use in all of our matches, but we also were out-coached in each and every game we played; it seems like the only thing that kept our record alive was a token player on the team or just pure luck. Hopefully, GW figures out how to hire a coach that knows the sport they're coaching instead of brown-nosing an out-of-touch incompetent."

"Barry is a straightforward coach that sort of knows outdated water polo. He is extremely disorganized with game tactics (there is none), as well with traveling with the team. He makes a really fun sport and unpleasant experience. If he cared about the sport and his players maybe there is potential on him, but he clearly wants to be done with coaching. "

"A lot of ups and downs in my tenure. Often times felt lied to & misled, many more times than I appreciated. On the other hand, other times we got along and seemed like he cared for me a lot. "