After spending 18 years at the helm of the Ohio University swimming and diving program, Greg Werner was fired before the Bobcats’ first meet of the season, despite no evidence of violating OU or NCAA policies.
Werner is the winningest coach in program history and led the Bobcats to each of their 11 Mid-American Conference championships, but was called into a meeting with Director of Athletics Jim Schaus on Oct. 24; later that day, he was suspended for the ensuing week before being notified of his firing a week later.
Werner is still receiving his $77,320 salary to not coach the Bobcats this season, while his successor, interim coach Derick Roe, is making $41,820 annually—what he was scheduled to earn as an assistant coach.
“Having one meeting, being suspended within hours of that meeting and being pulled off the bus before competition the next day was something that I was hoping wouldn’t have happened,” Werner said. “I would hope that a little more time was taken.”
The suspension resulted from an Oct. 23 meeting Schaus had with 17 of Ohio’s 18 swimming student athletes. They expressed concern that they were “extremely unhappy and stressed” and that “the team was beyond repair.”
The swimmers in attendance claimed Werner’s leadership caused problems with communication and training methods and that a sense of distrust had developed between the team and its coach. No student athletes or coaches on this year’s team were made available to The Post to comment on the matter, however.
“I was blindsided that the termination was handed down because I felt that we were moving forward and in a much better position than last spring and last year,” Werner said.
Despite not being notified of his firing until Oct. 31, Werner’s letter of termination is dated Oct. 24 — the same day Werner initially met with Schaus about the matter and was informed of his suspension.
“I was told there were about eight people that were unhappy and that there were seven or eight that were down the middle and didn’t know what to say,” he said.
“I was also told the administration assumed those (in the middle) were not on my side because they didn’t speak up.”
The swimmers felt if Athletics didn’t offer help, they would feel abandoned, according to notes from their meeting with Schaus. A major concern was the type of training methods Werner employed, which they said were focused on “quantity over quality.”
However, Werner said his workouts were actually focused on performing quality repetitions through dryland routines and cross training.
“At the time of my termination we hadn’t even gone an entire two-hour swimming practice yet, which is what we normally would do,” Werner said. “We hadn’t started our competition yet and that’s key, because competition adds meaning and purpose to our daily training.”
Amanda Cecere, a swimmer who spent five years with the Bobcats, including captaining the team in her senior 2011-12 season, was disappointed to hear the news of Werner’s termination.
“I don’t think that he coached long enough this year—especially for the freshmen—I don’t know that they necessarily would be able to form an opinion on (him) yet,” Cecere said.
Deidre Geroni, an alumna and one of the Bobcats’ 2012-13 captains, agreed with her former teammate in saying that the timing of Werner’s termination was too sudden.
“With any team you’re going to have problems during the preseason,” Geroni said. “When I was (on the team), training was training no matter what. There are days where you don’t want to be there, but in the long run Greg was a good coach and there were results.”
During Werner’s tenure, Ohio earned a 220-113-3 record; he coached seven MAC swimmers of the year and 20 academic All-Americans.
“Greg Werner has had many successful teams during his tenure at Ohio University and has performed his responsibilities with integrity and professionalism,” Schaus said in a statement. “However, we have decided to take the women’s swimming program in a different direction.”
cl027410@ohiou.edu
@chadlindskog
This article appeared in print under the headline "Coach firing details emerge"
