Kennesaw State University

"Families should do extensive research and ask detailed questions about communication, injury management, player development, leadership, and how athlete concerns are handled within this program. Our experience left us with significant concerns regarding transparency, consistency, accountability, and the overall student-athlete experience."

"Whether she chooses to acknowledge it or not, Maness bears direct responsibility for the physical, mental, academic, and athletic well-being of her players. Leadership culture is not abstract; it materially affects athlete retention, performance, recovery, morale, and long-term outcomes. In this case, the evidence suggests a systemic failure in all of those areas. Neither the coach nor the Athletic Department has demonstrated a meaningful commitment to supporting student-athletes beyond the minimum operational requirements. The disparity in institutional investment is difficult to ignore. One can reasonably conclude that sports generating greater revenue receive substantially more protection, resources, and oversight, because if every program operated under the same conditions as KSU Women’s Lacrosse, the athletic department would not be sustainable. It is also difficult to ignore the sheer volume of injuries within the program. At some point, repeated injuries stop looking like bad luck and start raising legitimate questions about player management, conditioning, training methodology, recovery oversight, and overall coaching competency. The pattern strongly suggests a lack of knowledge and leadership in areas critical to athlete health and performance. The new trainers, therapists, and support staff appear to be doing everything possible within the limitations imposed on them, and frankly, they are the only reason some athletes remained in the program at all. However, support personnel cannot compensate for leadership failures indefinitely. The core issue is administrative accountability. The Athletic Department has failed to establish or enforce meaningful performance and leadership standards for this coach. As a result, mediocrity has become institutionalized. Until personnel and cultural changes are made at the leadership level, KSU Women’s Lacrosse will continue to underperform competitively while failing the athletes it is supposed to serve. "

"Coach Maness needs to step down! She has been at Kennesaw State University for 10 years, with no growth or change in the Women’s Lacrosse program. Her losing record, her inability to prepare for games, the mental beating she gives her players is unacceptable and Kennesaw University Athletics should not tolerate such behavior in their program. She has told her players in more than one occasion that “she is embarrassed to wear Kennesaw across her shirt” when players lose a game. What kind of Coach says this to her players? On more than one occasion, she has screamed profanities AT her players. How does this motivate and develop players? She does this because she does not know how to empower, inspire, lead, develop lacrosse women. Coach Maness’ recruiting is waiting until there is finding a tournament in either her local area or home state of PA and picking up leftover players. We don’t have depth beyond the first string and can’t keep up with other ASUN teams. The number of players who quit the team each year is concerning and distracting to the girls. Each year there is always drama around who is the next player to leave. During practices, she sidelines her 2nd and 3rd string players, not giving them the reps they need. In games, she has zero trust in her 2nd and 3rd string players and keeps them on the sidelines. This game plan only lasts through the second quarter where she has exhausted her first string. We have no offensive plays that are successful and we lose due to lack of coaching strategy. Kennesaw’s offensive plays is how many times can we pass it around the 8 meter and then turn the ball over. It is extremely painful to watch but Coach Maness has no tools or IQ to make a change. Playing at the D1 level is difficult and taxing physically and mentally. Each season we lose players to injury, and injuries that take players off the field for a year… how many ACL tears dos it take before someone realizes Coach Maness’ run ‘em til they can’t doesn’t win games? Coach Maness has poor interpersonal skills and is socially inept. She has no connection with her players, or their parents, and often her players are struggling mentally from the workload of school, pressures to perform or sit in lacrosse, and other things a 20 year old girl deals with. Her response to these challenges isn’t to provide a place of comfort and check in with her players, her response is go see Latrice, the school counselor. I will say one positive thing Coach Maness has done is bring in Coach Morgan. Coach Morgan has played D1 level lacrosse. Coach Morgan knows the game of lacrosse, Coach Morgan has an appreciation for mental health, Coach Morgan connects with her players, Coach Morgan is a true head coach!! It is time for change and it’s time to find a coach who demonstrates KSU’s core values. "

"The assistant coaches (who have actually played the game and who were the driving force in KSU Lax actually getting some momentum and landing some recruits that were considered long shots at best) all disappeared by the time the year started. What we arrived to was a poorly run, poorly coached program that promptly dropped all plans and communication and went right back to what they have been doing for the last decade. Losing. Not just losing, but often getting embarrassed by schools that half our girls turned down offers to attend. No changes, no adjustments, no subs worth mentioning. Every game the same thing, Sloppy play, Can't clear, turnovers, Can't score. Not because the girls were not capable but because they had no plan, no plays, no adjustments, and no support. Blown out in the same fashion by the same teams over and over. And consistently out coached when the girls managed to keep things close. Our last game summed it up perfectly. Embarrassing loss, mirror image of first loss, no game plan for their speed, terrible penalties. We had to take time outs and have 1 specific player clear the ball solo, that is embarrassing. The Coach has not only lost the team as evidenced by the mass exodus of players the minute the season was over, but worse the program is losing the Lax Community. We do not have an exciting, growing D1 lacrosse program. What we currently have is a poorly funded, poorly run, glorified club team that seems to be a checkbox for the Title 9 folks and the marketing department. 1, Gear was late or never arrived. The gear that did arrive was either low quality junk the girls hated or was unbranded and had to be taken back. The club team at UGA is far better outfitted than our D1 program. 2. The school picked one of the most poorly rated, unsafe cleats in the history of sports as the mandatory cleat. 1000's of online reviews of the soles coming off within weeks and with season ending injuries on the rise I can only assume the girls well being was not as important as saving $20 a pair on shoes 3. No nutrition guidance worth speaking of, the girls lift in a shed but are not provided or even counseled on proper footgear. 4. I myself, and several family members tried to contact the school about attending the home games. Not a single call or email was returned or acknowledged. Again, embarrassing. and we are to believe that the school takes this program seriously? 5. The only explanation for this coach still being here, is that I have seen ZERO indication that anyone at the University above the head Coach level has any interest in or idea of what is going on in this program. This programs reputation after this year is the lowest it has been in years. Without serious changes and a real commitment from the University that this program is going to be as least as much of a priority as the other women's sports, it will be years before any more quality recruits decide to come here, if ever. While the football team was drawing all that attention last year KSU could not stop bragging about their commitment to equity, but on the very same field they have a women's lax team being treated like second class citizens. Maybe this year we should have a bake sale so the girls can pay to get the logo on their jackets, and glue their cleats back together. The truly terrible part is that the poor coaching, lack of program structure, inconsistent and unreliable gear, all make a dangerous sport, far more dangerous. "

"Coach Maness has a different standard for every player. No one is held to the same standard which creates frustration amongst players. She allows players to create hostility amongst each other and does not create a feeling of belonging or comraderie. Once a player is hurt they are basically of no interest to her. No communication, no check-ins or anything. The continuous losing seasons is a point of frustration. GA has some of the best lacrosse players in the country but none want to play for KSU. That team should run by GA players from Milton, Lassiter, Creekview, etc that have some great programs but instead all those athletes opt out of playing for KSU. Any coach that is “embarrassed” to wear their schools name should be excused of their duties as they cannot have the best interest of the program at heart. "