Texas Christian University

"TCU Women’s Soccer has an extremely concerning culture that deserves a closer look. Players are afraid to speak out because they fear repercussions involving playing time, travel, financial support, and their future in the program. Over the last year, there have been serious incidents involving drug use. Multiple players openly acknowledged recent use to teammates and discussed it on private social channels. Players believed subsequent testing would be positive, yet the team was told everyone was cleared. The discrepancy created significant distrust. There are also serious concerns about the mental and emotional treatment of athletes. Players have left, recruits have been lost, and there is a lawsuit pending. Read the Two-a-Days reviews from 2023–2026 and speak confidentially with current and former players and families. There is a pattern. Over at least the past two years, there have also been multiple instances where players understood financial support had been committed during recruiting, only to have that money reduced or eliminated after commitments were made, sometimes with little or no proactive communication. Families made significant decisions based on those representations. The most concerning part is that players do not believe they have a safe avenue to speak honestly or seek recourse. Please investigate independently and protect the identities of anyone willing to speak with you."

"Every review warning families about this program should be taken seriously. The reality is worse than I ever could have imagined. Eric seems like a genuinely kind person, but being a good person is not enough when you are entrusted with the safety and well-being of young athletes. Whether through silence, avoidance, or an unwillingness to intervene, he has allowed a culture where serious verbal and emotional mistreatment of players has become normalized. A coach does not get to separate himself from the environment he oversees simply because he isn’t always the person creating the problem. More concerning, however, are the player-safety issues within this program. There have been situations involving substance use, dangerous behavior, and deeply troubling conduct between teammates that go far beyond normal college mistakes or a difficult team culture. Young women have been placed in situations that could have had devastating consequences, and circumstances that should have demanded immediate intervention and accountability appear instead to have been minimized, ignored, or handled quietly. I am intentionally not sharing those details publicly because they involve the privacy and experiences of individual athletes. But parents and recruits deserve to know that the concerns surrounding this program extend far beyond playing time, harsh coaching, or whether a team is winning. They involve the most basic responsibility a coaching staff and university have: protecting the young women entrusted to them. I don’t know where the institutional failure ultimately lies, whether with the coaching staff, athletic department, university, or some combination of all three. But silence is also a leadership decision. When serious behavior is known and nothing meaningful appears to change, those in charge have to be held accountable for the culture they allow to continue. Unless there is significant change, I believe this program is heading toward a reckoning of its own making. If you are an athlete or parent considering coming here, I strongly encourage you to look elsewhere. There are programs where athletes can compete at the highest level, be held to extraordinarily high standards, and still have their dignity, mental well-being, and physical safety protected. No athlete should have to sacrifice those things for the privilege of playing the sport she loves."

"He doesn't run the program. Ryan does. Ryan leads with intimidation, degrading players and breaking their confidence. Eric enables and allows him too. Don't assume his quiet behavior means more understanding or compassion. Eric cares only about Eric only. And, Ryan shouldn't be the leader of young women. Do your research. "

"Ryan Higginbotham is the worst human I have ever met in my life. He does not respect women and it shows in his personal life and on the field. He takes pride in the belittling of his players and thinks he is a God at knowing soccer but in reality does not take the time to care for and develop his players. He is inhumane he will make remarks that are uncalled for and strip a talented player of their confidence and love for the game. If I had advice to someone thinking to play for him DO NOT DO IT! Doesn’t matter if you are a starter or ride the bench you will hate him. Proceed with caution! "

"Eric is not the real coach here… his assist Ryan runs everything behind the scenes. Eric allows Ryan to scream, intimidate, curse and belittle the girls regularly. If Eric didn't align with these “coaching” tactics-he wouldn’t allow them. But he does. This is where creativity on the pitch goes to die-through screaming, yelling and pressure, you will watch your player turn into a shell of herself. Eric just lets it all happen. Unless of course you go into Ryan’s office daily and glaze up his ego. The girls are afraid to make one mistake, get a small injury, their playtime is GONE. No conversations, no player development… just gone. My daughter went in highly recruited, confident, creative and she was a shell of herself after year one…. As were many girls on the team. "