"Completely dishonest. They over-recruit so you are basically being invited to a try out. The JV team doesnt really exist and is only a roster of players they mentally abuse until you quit. Avoid at all costs. "
"Whip is fairly knowledgeable about lacrosse (fairly), but frankly just copies strategies and tactics from more successful coaches. He was a hell of a wrester in college and... was on the lacrosse team. He is a really, really good recruiter, and thus gathers a lot of talented players.
However he ends up with too many players, for each one to have an opportunity to contribute and. Seems to take pride in getting the team "in-shape" vs developing/perfecting knowledge, skills, abilities. ( (e.g. players run a lot). Not sure (and baffling) how he obtained the moniker "Legendary Coach"...he certainly is not even close to Danowski, Desko, Messere, B. Scott, Petro, Emmer, Schurr etc... those are Legendary Coaches.."
"Terrible communication throughout the entire recruiting process, although it increased prior to camps but once they were completed she had no follow up in place even though her instructions at ID session was to contact her for the next step. She was not very welcoming, the camp session was a waste of time and money! The experience was enough for me to eliminate what appeared to be a great school from a school I’d like to attend. "
"I swam for the UT swim team throughout some of my college experience, and I have never been surrounded by such a toxic environment. First, I would like to start off by saying the coaching staff, but Jimi especially doesn't seem to care about you as a human being and your quality of life. You are more of a number and someone who can just score points and take them to NCAAs. The coaching style of this team is absolutely horrendous. With 11 workouts a week, not one of those is a guaranteed recovery workout, so you are constantly putting your body through ample amounts of intense exercise with a lack of rest and recovery time. My teammates and I would express time and time again about the importance of us having a recovery workout or just a lighter workout during the week to break up the intense workouts we were indulging in, but that wasn't a priority for them because they viewed it as recovery was one less step closer to a win in their eyes. Another HUGE problem I have with the coaching staff is they don't have disciplinary or leadership qualities. Jimi allows any type of behavior to be tolerated throughout the team and does not have what it takes to be a coach and hold people accountable for their actions. At the beginning of every season, he sits the team down and expresses that school comes first, then swimming, and then our social life, which is definitely not the case. Jimi does not care about how his swimmers are doing academically; as long as they show up to practice and swim fast, he's happy. He also does not hold his swimmers to the academic standards that they should be held to and does not provide any resources for those who are struggling. Another major problem I have with Jimi and his coaching staff is their lack of understanding and acknowledgment of the importance of mental health. Jimi never sat me down one on one and asked me how I was doing personally and mentally. A majority of the relationships he has with his swimmers are superficial and surface level, and he does not care to change that or get to know them on a deeper and more personable level which I feel is very important as a coach at the collegiate level because that is when we as humans change the most. I know a lot of other swimmers, and I have gone to him personally to open up to him about some of the mental struggles that we are going through, and he just brushed our feeling and emotions off and never comforted us and made us feel like we could go to him again if we were having these struggles. The team culture is honestly the only thing that got me through the years that I did spend swimming for this team. The team is very close; everyone looks after each other and checks up on one another. Overall, this team has gone downhill in the last couple of years and is just getting worse. The coaching staff and overall environment are very toxic and unsettling. There needs to be a major change in how this program is run and how the swimmers within this program are treated because, at a D2 level, there is no reason we should be treated with this much disrespect. "
"My daughter left UT because of this coach. She was passionate about the game and recognized fir her skill on her HS and Club teams.
Unfortunately there are no positives to select. The coach is aloof - unreachable - I question her knowledge of the game.
These reviews are an ongoing testament to yhis coach’s impact on her student athletes.
WAKE UP UT ATHLETICS…. does this team embody the spirit and pride of your other teams?"
"Worst experience in the entire recruiting process. Expresses great interest and wastes players time to get $$ for their camps. Tells recruits to call her and doesn’t reply for days or weeks and provides little to no further information or feedback, good or bad. She leads them on and then ghosts them. We were warned about her and this program but now have seen for ourselves. Any coach that has a sign outside the locker room with multiple comments about leaving your issues and drama off the field, should be a red flag. You wouldn’t need all of those reminders about negativity if it wasn’t a serious issue. Players beware. Especially freshman. "
"Once the recruiting proces is over, this coach is a poor communicator, autocratic & uses yelling insults as a form of coaching. She is stubborn, vindictive, self-servicing & refuses to listen. She expects players to follow her without question, but is unable to provide actionable coaching especially during games. Nothing is ever good enough & because she refuses to provide any positive feedback, the players have no sense of what they are doing well vs what needs to be improved . Her team is made up of transfers & grad students because she runs off >50% of her freshman class every year. She picks favorites, and everyone else is left in the dark about their status on the team. She cares very little about the health of her players & would never go out of her way to inquire on their well being until she needs something from them."
"Very poor communicator and only cares about getting recruits to ID camp to make money not recruit. Leads multiple players on without and feedback or follow up. Almost exclusively recruits from the transfer portal. Maybe due to lack of coaching ability and once this Covid nonsense of six years is over Tampa will struggle. No culture within this team and results speak for themselves. "
"Her results speak for themselves. Tampa has continued to get worse and worse every year she has been with the program. She treats recruits with so much disrespect and she is unprofessional to club coaches thinking she is more then she is. Waiting for the UT to wake up and make a coaching change - the university and location are amazing however I would 100% tell player to run away from this program until this coach is replaced. "
"Very poor communicator and not sure what she is trying to build at Tampa. Know a number of players she led on just to get ID camp money and totally ghosted them without feedback to the player or their coaches. "
"I am convinced the players that Coach Erin ghosted are 10x better than the kids she brought on, and that’s coming from a Tampa player. She manipulates and ghosts recruits like no other and thinks she has one of the best teams in the SSC when each year we progressively get worse and worse. Maybe this year she can prove us all wrong but it’s no coincidence she has a low rating… and recruits don’t deserve to get lead on and ghosted by an adult. I’m a former player on the Tampa squad and have had recruits talk to me at ID camps and I straight up would tell them she is known for ghosting girls and that I wanted to transfer. Transferring was the best decision I could have made for myself and Ik some of the girls who quit don’t even regret it. I loved Tampa but the soccer program here is just the worst."
"Thinks she can treat recruits like she is at a top D1 program. She has not delivered results since she has been at University of Tampa. She took over a National Championship team and has not had success. The location and facilities are driving recruits to want to play at UT but all she has done is focus on the transfer portal for D1 players who couldn’t make it at that level. Would be a good strategy if she was respectful and honest to recruits. Many of them will not forget how she treated them and they will go to competing school and they won’t forget how she ghosted them. They will play with a chip on their shoulder and heart can overcome a lot. Predict UT has a hard time producing results until they fire Coach Switalski. They say coaches don’t forget but neither do recruits. "
"Communicated as if openings existed, attended camp did well and spoke afterwards as if offer would be forthcoming- then ghosted my daughter w no further feedback. Awful way to handle a prospective student athlete. Just be honest. Based on this would never recommend any player/parent trust this coach. My daughter went on to play on full scholarship at a D1 school."
"Erin is a coach who puts on a front for recruits but is toxic to her players. She has her own favorites and doesn't let others see the field. Also, she runs a VERYYY disorganized program. The program could start winning more if the coaches actually utilized the University of Tampa and its athletic facility. Or even if the coach actually cared about all her players."
"Worst coach I’ve had in my career. Uncaring, cold, little to no tactical knowledge of the game, just running and kicking the ball long. Told me that I would never play at a high level, that I should just stick to academics and forget about football. I’m now playing my 6th professional season in one of the top leagues in the world, so that should say something about her assessment of players. Toxic person on and off the field, gaslit many players on the team because she can’t take accountability for her own errors, just completely different than the front she puts up during recruiting. "
"This facility is insane. The locker room Is right across from the field so going to practice is easy. The field is newly renovated and huge. The stands and the turf are state of the art."
"The facilities at UT are state of the art. They really give you everything you need to be successful. They just redid the gym floor and it looks great. Our lockerrooms are super nice and the food is great!"
"Coach Whipple while being an extremely intense coach, provided an excellent learning experience for his players. If you have a hard working mentality and can be patient you WILL play here. Many freshmen quit because of the intense workouts but that is in them. Coach Whipple is also a very humorous guy when you get to know him. "
"Not sure how this coach has a 3.6 but let me be real for everyone.This is the worst soccer coach I have ever had. Not even sure to call her a soccer coach or more of a track/military coach. She does not have compassion for anyone, and should not be a coach.Yes fitness in soccer is important but there comes a point where you need to play with a ball"
"Terrible. Many many players leave her team because of her. She is bipolar and is very unfair. Is known for playing the wrogn players. Doesn't have a good game plan and always runs one play. It is not like playing lacrosse on her team. "
"This coach is the exact opposite of all of the categories. She is unfair, lacks knowledge of the game, de-motivational, a bully, everything you DON'T want in a coach. She will lose a game playing her favorites leaving the skilled players on the bench. Stay away from this coach! She pretends to value fitness but starts out of shape girls."
"No one should go to U Tampa to play lacrosse unless you want to go to the University anyway. I decommitted from a D1 school, because the coaches said I was a definite All-American and that they loved me. My freshman year they brought in 64 freshman, instead of the normal 11-12 players and threw almost all of them onto JV. I made it up to Varsity and got playing time, but the coaches don't give a damn about you and you're just a piece of meat.15 of us quit this year."
"She isn't who you think she is. She is a good coach and very passionate about the game. However, being recruited by her and playing for her are two completely different things. How she acts infront of parents or family memebers is not how she acts infront if you or the team, those are two completely different people. The fitness is crazy, it does help in the game but the way she gets us fit is not fun, AT ALL!! It is all just running to make crazy times while people pass out, throw up and cry"
"Successful program. Coaches are dedicated. Great scouting reports from Coach Burdick. You'll be in the best shape of your life and win a lot of games, but have to put up with a lot of BS from coaches."
"Erin is overall a good coach. She is very passionate about the sport; if you want to win, and are willing to sacrifice everything, she will be a good fit. Get ready to run! She loves her fitness...but it does help in the game. She is very intense on the field, but very approachable off the field. She does not like surprises, so make sure you are very honest. Overall a challenging coach on the soccer field, but it is worth it to get results."
"Coach Whipple is an old school coach who refuses to listen to his captains, trainers, or players. Team morale is constantly very low and players straight up hate playing for him. He does not relate to his players nor understand the importance of having a strong team morale. Players are either viewed as assets or liabilities. Turnover is extremely high under coach Whipple."
"Rory Whipple is one of the worst coaches in the NCAA. UT's record is not because of him, it is based off talent of the players alone. He runs his players into the ground, causing about 1/3 of the program to be hurt at any given time. He over recruits every year bringing in some 40-50 freshman per class. Doesn't care about academics, saying "you came here to play lacrosse, not be a student". Lacrosse careers die at Tampa"
"Coach Whipple is very outdated. His thinking process is from the 70's going back to over conditioning. Every kid is playing through injury which is why tampa loses in big games. Team is very good, motivation is always all time low with the coaching leadership. Too many recruits ruin college dreams."
"In general, Coach Whipple is very difficult to play for. During the recruitment process he will tell recruits what they want to hear, many of them come into Tampa thinking they will be 1 of 15 recruits as a normal freshman class but will surprised by the number of actual freshman that were told they would have a spot on the team. Whipple has very little if any interest in his players, some players he doesn't even know their real names."
"He is the absolute worst coach I have ever experienced. Not one player I've ever spoken to (which is several years worth) has had anything relatively positive to say about this man."
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