“Pray for Play”

So, apparently the recently fired women’s basketball coach at Oakland University (a public university in suburban Detroit that used to be a part of the MSU system) ran the team as some sort of winger reeducation camp.  The lowlights are summarized here. Here’s a bit more detail on her treatment of a Muslim player:

Bachrouche described a day in October 2011 when Francis told the team it would watch film. Bachrouche said Francis pulled her aside to say, “Jenna, we’re going to be watching my testimony in church. I think it would be really, really, really good for you if you came in and watched it. But you don’t have to, but I think it would be a really, really, really good idea if you did.”

Bachrouche said she felt pressured to say yes and to be with her teammates.

Bachrouche also said Francis “encouraged” her to attend Christian church services with her, and Francis would not speak to her when she refused. Bachrouche said Francis made her attend a Christmas party at her home at which Bible verses were read.

Somehow, I don’t think that people who think that it violates the free exercise clause for organizations who perform secular functions with taxpayer money to carry insurance that provides basic medical coverage to employees in exchange for their premiums are going to get too exercised about this.

It’s also a story about the NCAA cartel and the Glorious Ideals of Amateurism:

This past season, in which the Golden Grizzlies went 9-20, she made $126,381.

Yeah, well, talk to me when there’s a real scandal, like a booster buying a player who generates hundreds of thousands of dollars for the university a Slurpee or something.

Update [PC]

This isn’t so great either:

According to former players, Francis was overly concerned about the weight of her players.

This past season, four Oakland players battled eating disorder symptoms developed since they joined the basketball program, according to four people with knowledge of the situation.

“She was fixated on my weight; she was fixated on what I ate,” said Bachrouche, who played two seasons before transferring to Western Michigan in 2012. “I would have to have my teammates sneak me snacks on the road. She would subtly tell me, but most of the times it was through the captains. She would tell the captains to tell me to cut down on my eating because I was eating too much at meals.”

Anybody involved with women’s college athletics knows that eating disorders are endemic, with estimates of the prevalence of EDs in some sports running as high as 80%.