Rutgers Softball Players Allege Abuse From Coach: Report

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Seven former players say they were physically and emotionally abused by the husband-wife women's softball coach at Rutgers University in this bombshell story from NJ Advance Media reported Wednesday.

Kristen Butler, 35, is in her first year of coaching Rutgers women's softball, and she brought her husband, Marcus Smith, in as a volunteer assistant coach.

In the most glaring instance, the players said they were made to run six, 100-yard wind sprints (each in less than 17 seconds) after they went $6 over their food budget during a travel game, according to the report. That is about the length of a football, excluding the end zones. The players had to run the wind sprints for every dollar they went over ($6), accordng to the report; some of the players collapsed during the drill.

Another player said they were made to do "trust fall" exercises where they stood on a table and fell into other players' arms. One player who had recently had knee surgery was reluctant to do it. “That is when I heard (husband) Marcus Smith say to her, ‘Get up there and do the fall or I will push you,’” the same player said according to the report.

Read the whole article: Rutgers softball players say they were physically, emotionally abused by wife-husband coaching team and school did nothing