Keiser University (Fort Lauderdale)

"They always seems to be a lack of communication between the athletes and coach and does not try to understand what aspect the athletes are talking about jumping to his own conclusions causing injuries to the team"

"Frequent injuries throughout team constantly. Pure speed work is rare for sprinters."

"Complete and utter idiot. Worst golf coach in the history of coaching. Such a huge autistic and empathy lacking person that nobody out of his 40 so players likes him. "

"I am not a player but my daughter played for coach Roger’s. I have played college volleyball and have coached volleyball at all levels to include college for 30 years. I’ve seen it all. I owned and operated my own club for several years and employed coaches. I will say with all honesty that all of my club coaches were better coaches than coach Rogers and his assistant. Both lied to my daughter and me, and others about their coaching style and what they did for the team. Neither of them coached. Practiced were track practices. When they tried they told them the WRONG things to do. I sat in the stands with amazement and frustration as the girls were not playing defense correctly or even running any version of an offense. My middle school teams ran a faster offense than his college team. NOT a joke. Never ran anything but highs and 1s that were not successful because he didn’t coach his setters , Even freeballs were all high, never ran anything play the whole season. The girls ran a handful of slides (the whole year) that were successful, kills, and then got yelled at. He made his setters set to the ceiling. If you don’t believe me go watch film. When the girls were having issues all they did was threaten them and tell them “they sucked”. “They spent a lot of money on them and they better perform”. Constantly threatening instead of coaching. He told the girls “I don’t coach, if you want coaching you’ve come to the wrong school”. He definitely had a favorite, the only player he would talk to during time outs. He allowed that player to be verbally abusive to the other girls, laughing and encouraging the behavior, many of the girls went on anxiety medicine and started to deal with depression. Come to find out past players dealt with severe depression stemming from them. Definitely did not promote a team environment. Definitely was not a healthy environment. Definitely not leaders you want leading our young women, or men. I would never hire this coach to coach in my club much less college. "

"My experience with this coach was not what I had hoped for. During my visit, he clearly outlined his expectations and how practices would be run, which I appreciated. However, many aspects of his coaching style did not align with what I was looking for in a supportive and effective coach. One of my main concerns was finding a coach who genuinely cared about the players' well-being and team success. While he mentioned having strong relationships with all the players, it felt like his focus was only on two specific girls, which created a divide within the team. I value a coach who challenges players to grow and improve, even if it means stepping outside their comfort zone. However, the approach often felt excessive and unrelated to volleyball development. For example, practices sometimes involved over 50+ suicides that left players physically drained but didn’t contribute to skill improvement at all. There were also instances where players sought guidance but were met with dismissive comments, such as being told they should already know what to do. rogers said "I don't know how to coach". It was disheartening to see players struggling without receiving the support or encouragement they needed to succeed. Team morale was affected as well. Practices often created a stressful environment where players felt anxious about the amount of running or conditioning rather than focusing on improving their volleyball skills. Finally, while the team had successful seasons, he ONLY HAD SUCCESSFUL SEASONS BECAUSE HE HAD TALENTED GIRLS ON THE TEAM, NOT BECAUSE HE IS A GOOD COACH! "

"I honestly didn’t care about the conditioning or dress code. It was about there being absolutely no respect anywhere. His inability to respect any of his players caused the players to disrespect each other and it was an ongoing cycle of people arriving, getting treated poorly, and either leaving, losing self confidence , or adapting to the toxic environment and becoming a disrespectful person themselves. I understand harsh coaches, I’ve had them my whole life, but I’ve never seriously questioned how one of them was allowed to be a coach at this level. If it were a NCAA D1 school, he’d have been gone the first season. Parents and players spend years saving up for the college volleyball experience just to have it be a nightmare . There is absolutely no family environment around him, and he did not try to make it like that at all. You would expect a group of girls coming from all over the country to need someone to look up to, or go to if they needed something. I spoke to my mom on the phone more than I spoke to anyone the entire time I was there. I have never seen teammates treat each other so cruel, but I don’t blame them because it was tolerated. I will say, I am thankful for the experience because I was at such a low place and through that, I found a relationship with God. "

"Coach Roger’s is definitely an amazing coach. I’ve known him since like I was 13. I played club with him and played at Keiser with him. He’s super dedicated and really cares about pushing his athletes to improve. He really becomes like another dad that you can go to and have fun with while keeping that respect. He knows how to push us in a way that gets results. He’ll make a losing team become a winning team. "

"“My feelings towards playing NAIA volleyball having 5:45-7:45am practice with 8am lift and practice consisted of running 50 suicides a day without water if we couldn’t finish a drill and our coach called it a dictatorship. We also had dress code that consisted of us carrying our contract and a specific water bottle around or it was 3 30 sec suicides and 7 basketball length down and backs” “I had an asthma attack running 50 suicides and couldn’t finish the last 6. He made me start over the next morning…” "

"A truly awful coach. Mentally abusive to all his players. He allows his favorite players to disrespect the rest of the team. I have played for him for a couple years and I was going to quit volleyball completely because of him. Luckily he got fired so I ended up staying here at Keiser. I continuously lies to his players and finds anyway to punish his players. Whether it be a player being 7 seconds late to class to having a girl fresh out of acl surgery run to the vans before he leaves her and other girls behind. Everything we did would be considered a punishment and we would have to be on the baseline running no stop suicides back to back to back at 5:45am. He openly told us that metal health doesn't mean anything and that is is "bu!lSh!t". He is an awful coach to be helping young girl grow into their young adult lives. "

"Rogers and his sidekick Sydow were absolutely disgusting coaches and relied on the two girls to give them everything they wanted. He allowed the two to cuss out fellow girls for them, and on multiple occasions during practice, they threatened "to kill" other players or "to beat the **** out of them." Rogers actually laughed when either one would say these statements and even told some girls that he encouraged this behavior. This coaching staff created the most disgusting and pitiful environment I've ever seen. He even allowed ONLY those two players to go to their houses, have lunch with them alone, and Rogers had even visited them in their dorm rooms ALONE. He does not deserve to be a coach or in any respected field where he can use his position of power to abuse women. They are disgusting"

"I have played for Coach James Rogers and I was the worst coaching experience I have ever had in my life. I completely lost my love for the sport. He made multiple of his players, including me, play through injuries and would never check in. I had high hopes coming into college volleyball but I was highly let down. He had me and my parents fooled as he lied straight to our faces when we came on a visit. He doesn't care about anyone on the team unless your a 5th year or the player glazes him. It is unbelievable how he got away with so many years of metal and some could say physical abuse. Girls that have played under him have even ended up taking there life. It is disgusting that it took 2 players that once played for him to take their life to shine the spotlight on him to finally get him fired. I pray for any of the girls he is going to end up coaching next, I feel so sorry for them all. I have had so many good and bad coaches throughout my career and he is the worst one ever."

"Coach Rogers is a coach, with a winning record, who holds his athletes accountable and demands excellence on and off the court. As we went through the recruiting process, we found Coach Rogers to be honest and direct. Some of the first words out of his mouth, after introductions and a bit of information about the program were, "We don't journal or braid. We are business partners, not friends. We work hard and we win." These words were music to our athlete's ears. Rogers was 100% honest from the very beginning and ran and managed his program exactly as he had promised. Rogers made the expectations for his program and expectations of his players, very clear. On the court, whether in practice or during games, Rogers pushed his players to bring their best every single day. Off the court, Rogers expected his players to be ambassadors of the program and of the school. Rogers placed emphasis on academics and required players to attend all classes, show up on time, and be prepared. He focused on developing his athletes as people and preparing them for the future. Rogers cared about each of his athletes and would jump in where there were challenges with academics, which could happen during season when athletes were missing classes to travel for volleyball. Athletes knew they could reach out to Coach Rogers, and his assistant coach, if they were ever in a jam and needed help. Broken down on the side of the road, call/text coach. Having trouble with a part time job, call/text coach. Not from the area and need a recommendation for a restaurant, doctor, dentist, safe hotel for visitors, mechanic, etc., call/text coach. Those who chose Keiser simply for the location (close to the beach and great weather), refused to work hard, couldn't follow rules, were disrespectful to the program and their teammates, and were not willing to accept the successful coaching were not a good fit for the program. Those who chose to be successful, have flourished on the court, in the classroom, and into their futures beyond Keiser Volleyball. During our time at Keiser, we watched many players come and go. Some simply because they really didn't want to play volleyball anymore. Some because they refused to put in the hard work and dedication required by the Keiser Volleyball program. It's easy for parents to blame the coaches, and make excuses, when things don't work out for their athlete. As a parent of an athlete who chose success over excuses, I am happy that my athlete was able to grow and learn under the care and direction of Coach James Rogers. "

"My daughter played for this coach in both club and college. She had offers at all levels to play at the college level, but chose to play for Coach Rogers for many reasons. After going through the recruiting process all over the East coast, it was her #1 choice. After it was all said and done, we were surprised that she chose Keiser but we trusted her judgement. Coach expected the girls to represent themselves, the team, and the school in a dignified way. He did not tolerate disrespectful behavior on or off the court. He expected them to go to class and be on time. He expected them to come to campus in shape from the summer and do what was necessary to perform at the college level—both as students and athletes. He provided these expectations UP FRONT. Players all knew what consequences would be prior to showing up late to practice, late to class, partying, etc. Bottom line, my daughter learned so much from playing volleyball in college. She absolutely knew her parameters on and off the court for this coach. Did she like every decision he made? Nope. Did she like all the rules? Probably not. What she DID know was that if she was in a jam, broken down in the side of the road, or just struggling with a life issue she 100% had his support and his backing. As a parent, that knowledge was worth its weight in gold. If you want to party, gain weight or not make the effort required to play at the college level, he is not the coach for you. Ironically, even all said and done, if any of them called him today—or in 10 years—he’d do everything he could to help them. He would get in his car and change their tire or write them letters of recommendation. He’d be nuts in my book for doing it, but he would do it anyway. If your daughter wants to play for a coach that prioritizes hard work, strong academic efforts, and loves to win games, this is the coach for you. Parents, he’s not going to be dishonest, he’s not going to sugar coat, and he doesn’t give “participation” trophies. The best players play, the rest are encouraged to get better. Welcome to college sports. "

"All this guy cares about is winning. He is mentally abusive towards players along with Coach Sydow, Assistant Coach (now former). He is a narcissist at best and does not need to be coaching any young women or men for that matter! He has the king mentality where you can’t even eat a meal or walk into a public restaurant without him going first. He must exhibit total control, and power over players. He keeps them in a state of anxiety to maintain his control. He is absolutely disgusting. Complaints were filed on him at the school. I pray no University hires this guy. "

"I played for Rogers for two season and it was a nightmare. I don’t even know where to begin there was so much inappropriate behavior. He made it very clear his bottom line was winning and he would do anything to achieve his target record. My first year I wasn’t a starter so I don’t really think I had a full conversation with him the entire year. I was completely disregarded as a person. As a team we literally ran so many suicides the majority of us ended up with injuries from toenails falling to shin splints to even stress fractures. If anyone especially a starter got injured, they were pressured to return to the court much sooner than was healthy. Whatever suicides were missed counted as debt and had to be made up. If you missed three suicides five would be added to total eight in debt. If the team lost he would find any excuse to make the next practice a living hell. Every minute we were late to classes, practices, weights, or team meetings added suicides. One girl was .004 seconds late to class meaning we had to run. One time after a close loss girls took four steps towards the Chick-fil-A in front of him resulting in an extra 4 suicides. If we ordered before him, suicides. If we ate a single bite before him, suicides. If we didn’t fully clean the table, every piece of trash or straw wrapper resulted in suicides. The team especially freshmen lived in a constant state of fear because he had created such a toxic environment that the rest of the team would turn on anyone that added suicides to the bank even if it was for ridiculous reasons. The dress code was so strict. There were certain jackets shirts and water bottles meant for specific occasions that could result in extra running if worn wrong. The environment was military and cruel. I was only treated as a human being when I started my second season. There is so much more like him staring at our butts while we bear crawled and laughing when girls cried or puked. All the reviews before mine are true as well and I hope he gets fired. He doesn’t deserve any position around young women. "

"Fitness is important. But not to this coach- given his much higher than average bmi. The chick fil a he makes the players eat 3 times a day has obviously gotten to him. It must’ve affected his brain as well- given he is a complete and total @**wipe. He preys on young girls which is the only reason he started coaching volleyball. Very creepy and weird behavior overall. Wouldn’t trust my kid around this guy to save their life. I would rather watch my child go away to war then to deal with this predator."

"Not the best person to try to give advice on how to grow in life and on the mat. Reminds me of a robot who gets water poured on him ."

"Loved my time playing for Coach Finn and Keiser. Played a great schedule and challenged me to become who I am now. "

"Had a great experience playing for one of the best programs in all of small college. This is a top level program!"

"He only cares about the starters, in fall of 22 in an interview, he pointed out key players that we’re going to make all conference with that being said he identified certain girls that were going to play all the time in the other girls basically were benched for most of the season. He had nine key players out of 22."

"Poor coach, show’s favorites and if you aren’t his favorite you’re put to the bag burner and forgotten about. Also uses his athletes as a punching bag for when he’s mad about anything. "

"He doesn’t allow you to ask questions. He is constantly manipulating players. He doesn’t care about you unless your a starter. Only cares about winning. He will pressure you for grades, but he believes that you should put volleyball first. You are constantly walking on egg shells around him."

"He is a good all around coach but does not take suggestions well and does not like for others to be right if it means he is wrong. Very good defense coach but has a lack of offense knowledge and is not great at accepting others input when it comes to offense. He is very good at creating opportunities for the team to bond and get to know each other off the field, he likes to set something up almost every week. "

"Observing this coach’s brutally honest style was challenging at first. His harsh, blunt feedback often left me feeling discouraged and questioning my abilities. While it did push me to work harder, I noticed it hurt team morale, with some athletes shutting down completely. This experience showed me that while honesty is important, a lack of encouragement can damage confidence and motivation if not balanced with support and understanding."

"I find some of these comments laughable. Both “former” Coaches drove many of these young athletes into the ground with their physical and mental gymnastics. Some into depression. These young women couldn’t enter a public restaurant or take a bite of food until they ate first, even if their food was cold. And so many other BS reasons they both came up with to punish them. Too many to list here. Military style. Now the tables have turned and they are both being exposed. What’s done in the dark will come to light. Neither of them deserve to be coaching young women…ever! This is not a matter of these young women acting bitter. They finally feel empowered to standup for themselves because of the “former” Coaches poor behavior. It’s unfortunate that it’s taken this long to become public. I would hope that any of these young women would never allow their future husband, boyfriend or manager to treat them the way they both have. It’s despicable. The coaching style was always about control and power. Finally, numerous complaints were filed and caught up to them. They might want to consider another profession. "

"It is also laughable that girls who SIGNED UP to play for him and KNEW what to expect regarding training and expectation to win are now complaining. No one forced anyone to go this school and play for him, THESE ATHLETES CHOSE THIS. Being a college athlete isn’t easy, you are held to a higher standard and will endure more than you did in high school. I have known Coach Roger’s for 7 years and he has always been honest about his conditioning regimen, off court/travel expectations and to each his own. A college coach runs a program and can set standards and expectations in place that they feel will make their program elite and set apart from others. "

"If there is any speculation on what to believe about James Rogers. Since the voices of young women who have endured years of power abuse are barely ever heard. Let’s look at statistics! James Rogers began his career at Keiser University in 2018. He has collectively been in power over 67 total players at Keiser University. Guess how many of his players stayed 4 years and graduated as a Keiser Volleyball player. Only 7…. Only 7 girls out of 67 players were able to withstand this man for 4 years. Every other player transferred/left. Which means 89.6% of his players leave. So if you don’t want to believe all of the reviews from his players/victims go ahead and find out for yourself. Let me ask you this! Do you think your daughter, player, sister, or friend has what it takes to be a part of the 9.5% of girls who ride out this man’s abuse for 4 years?"

"“My feelings towards playing NAIA volleyball having 5:45-7:45am practice with 8am lift and practice consisted of running 50 suicides a day without water if we couldn’t finish a drill and our coach called it a dictatorship. We also had dress code that consisted of us carrying our contract and a specific water bottle around or it was 3 30 sec suicides and 7 basketball length down and backs” “I had an asthma attack running 50 suicides and couldn’t finish the last 6. He made me start over the next morning…” "

"When this coach was fired or “forced to resign” from Keiser, most of the volleyball program screamed “the war is over” because that is how he runs his program. I played for this coach and was able to earn all the accolades despite how awful he made me (and the rest of the girls) feel physically and emotionally. He never celebrated these wins or accomplishments. He did not train me or any of the girls one bit. You come in and out of this program with the talent you already had. He doesn’t coach, he just runs you till you cannot anymore. Personally, he ran me until my foot was broken from an overdue stress fracture that turned into a bad break. Ignoring my limp and direct emotional breakdowns over the pain, he told me I need to play on it until the season is over in two weeks because we needed to go to championship with me. If I didn’t play, my team would suffer. Listening to this man and the fear he instilled in me over my own body for a chance at winning cost me surgery, 10 weeks of non-weight bearing college lifestyle, room transfers, physical therapy, and unbelievable amounts of drama. He enjoys drama and wraps himself in the girls’ fights even if it does not involve him. He will lie and lie and lie to get out of uncomfortable situations. He talks to girls privately about what other players tell him in confidence. My biggest issue was that he favorited the setter and would only communicate with her about inside coach decisions. A good coach would communicate with all of his team at one time like he valued all of them, but he didn’t and was pretty open with his players about who he did not value. We learned from our mistakes (on and off the court mistakes) by running suicides (the most ironic name for a punishment issued by this man). He makes it up as he goes, ignoring rules he created in his 16 page long contract (that we had to have on our person at all times - or else it was 3 suicides and 7 down and backs for “out of dress code - I can’t make this up). So ridiculous that other sports and professors knew how insane the players were for abiding these rules and this treatment, but what they didn’t understand is that scholarships were on the line. The amount of running is so unacceptable that the NCAA wouldn’t allow it. We played NAIA so he could run us till we were throwing up with no questions asked. We also asked no questions - because he would add on punishments, criticize you for wasting time, or call you stupid (or have your captain call you stupid) for not understanding the first time. Don’t play for this man if you value a drama- free team. Don’t play for this man if you value your body and rest. Don’t play for this man if you’re looking for an understanding, respectful, and/or personable coach. "

"Every Coach has there flaws. Yes practices were intense and dreaded but no player loves to practice when we only desire to play. I do believe he has some room for improvement. He does care about his players. Yes he is very direct and comes off intense. But i was able to grow mentally and physically and achieve things i didn’t think i was capable off. Yes he was hard on us but we were successful. "

"I had the privilege of playing for Coach Rogers for three years. To say he is dedicated to his program and his athletes would be an understatement. Coach Rogers pours everything he has into creating a successful program, which he has done year after year. From the very first conversation I had with Coach Rogers, he was honest with the way he ran his program. There are rules and expectations players are required to follow. These rules were put in place to ensure the success of our team on and off the court. Coach Rogers promotes being timely, respecting those around us while traveling, and being dedicated to something bigger than yourself. All of these are lessons I am going to carry with me for the rest of my life, even when my volleyball career ends. Practices may seem redundant to some, but they are part of the reason his program has been so successful. Few players will admit it, but our success as a team was not luck. Our success came from Coach Rogers' dedication to our team. Off the court, Rogers will drop everything to help any of his players. Whether it's car problems, troubles with a professor, or even just a bad day, Coach Rogers will help his players in any way he can. As Coach Rogers says, he will always go "Up to bat" for his athletes, no matter what. Coach Rogers has created a successful program, but more importantly, he has equipped all of his athletes for success outside of volleyball "

"I played for Rogers my freshman year of college, now here’s a completely honest review. My freshman year was the hardest year physically I have went through in college sports. we ran A LOT, HOWEVER, I would absolutely give an arm and a leg to repeat my freshman year. Rogers isn’t a super emotional guy and he’s not necessarily a coach that everyone can be personally close to but the bottom line is he cares about his team and our reputation. I didn’t agree with every single rule that was set in our contracts but I understood them. I saw a lot of people commenting on him not caring about you unless you’re a starter and to that I say, work harder. Rogers doesn’t play favorites, I went in my freshman year not starting at the beginning of season but instead of getting comfortable riding the bench I worked harder in practice. I was never late to a practice and I didn’t slack off in drills. Some may say his drills are repetitive but I think volleyball is all about repetition. After transferring from Keiser I played D2 for 2 years and the atmosphere was very very different from Keiser. It wasn’t as strict, there was no dress code, we didn’t run suicides but it showed in our games. My D2 school had tall very talented players but not everyone had the heart. not many people would agree with the way Rogers runs his program but I think it made me mentally and physically tough and it truly brought me closer to my team. In the 10 years I have played volleyball I have never had a team I was as close to as my freshman year team and I have him to thank for that. I don’t think he is a bad guy and I don’t think he’s a bad coach. does he have a few flaws? absolutely but what person or coach doesn’t? However he ran his program obviously worked because we went 36-2 and we were the first FL NAIA team in history to make it to nationals, whether that be because of the talent or the coaching, the fundamentals for that record was from the way Rogers set up his program, his lineup, his defense, and his trust in us to walk onto every court knowing we had each game. Also, as far as running for classes goes. I was very thankful for that rule, as much as it might’ve sucked to run for other people when they were late, it made me show up to class which is something I found myself later not doing when I had the option. Many student athletes skip class because they’re tired or had a long weekend but I actually got my education at Keiser because of this rule."

"Coach Rogers is the reason I went to Keiser University. I played for him all 5 seasons I was there and have nothing but great things to say. He has pushed me harder than any coach I have had before and has believed in me more than any person. Coach Rogers’ program at Keiser University is not for the weak, he pushed us hard but what he does works. His program is a program you must buy into to really benefit from it, if you cannot buy into this coach or this team then you simply didn’t belong. Keiser is known for winning, Keiser volleyball was no exception, excellence was expected. I am a stronger athlete, leader, and person because of my time with Coach Rogers and Coach Sydow. Volleyball aside, Coach was my rock here at Keiser. He was there for me whenever I needed him, he was there for my highest of highs and lowest of lows and I cannot thank him enough for what he has done for me and for my family. "