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Theodore softball coach says female athletes treated unfairly at school
By Rena Havner Philips
November 15, 2009, 10:15AM
Theodore High softball coach Tyler Murray said that she's the one who filed the anonymous Title IX complaint against Mobile County schools, believing that her team was mistreated in comparison to the football team.
She said that female athletes in sports such as softball lack access to training facilities equal to those of football players.
Theodore High School softball coach Tyler Murray Last year, she said, her softball team's weight machines were removed from a weight room used by several teams, and the girls were forced to work out in stray locations like a stairwell and the shower area.
Murray, who has been a coach at Theodore for 11 years, said the football program has received an unfair portion of funding donations to the school's athletic department, including those by Mobile County Commissioner Mike Dean.
Murray's disputes are primarily with Theodore High Athletic Director and football coach Bill Meredith, who said he has been instructed by his principal not to discuss the matter.
"I was in compliance," was all that Meredith would say.
Principal Ronald Rowell did not respond to Press-Register attempts to reach him for comment.
Murray also said that it's unfair, in her opinion, that football coaches earn more than coaches of other sports in the form of supplements and summer pay.
"I could deal with not getting the same stuff," Murray told the Press-Register, "but it's when they started taking my stuff away that I had to do something."
Murray said that about 40 percent of her equipment was damaged as it was removed from the weight room. Some was put outside, and it rusted.
She said football players kicked girl softball players out of the weight room when they tried to use it.
"We worked out all last year in the showers," Murray said of the 17 girls on the team, who still became the first softball players from Theodore High to advance to the state tournament.
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By Rena Havner Philips
November 15, 2009, 10:15AM
Theodore High softball coach Tyler Murray said that she's the one who filed the anonymous Title IX complaint against Mobile County schools, believing that her team was mistreated in comparison to the football team.
She said that female athletes in sports such as softball lack access to training facilities equal to those of football players.
Theodore High School softball coach Tyler Murray Last year, she said, her softball team's weight machines were removed from a weight room used by several teams, and the girls were forced to work out in stray locations like a stairwell and the shower area.
Murray, who has been a coach at Theodore for 11 years, said the football program has received an unfair portion of funding donations to the school's athletic department, including those by Mobile County Commissioner Mike Dean.
Murray's disputes are primarily with Theodore High Athletic Director and football coach Bill Meredith, who said he has been instructed by his principal not to discuss the matter.
"I was in compliance," was all that Meredith would say.
Principal Ronald Rowell did not respond to Press-Register attempts to reach him for comment.
Murray also said that it's unfair, in her opinion, that football coaches earn more than coaches of other sports in the form of supplements and summer pay.
"I could deal with not getting the same stuff," Murray told the Press-Register, "but it's when they started taking my stuff away that I had to do something."
Murray said that about 40 percent of her equipment was damaged as it was removed from the weight room. Some was put outside, and it rusted.
She said football players kicked girl softball players out of the weight room when they tried to use it.
"We worked out all last year in the showers," Murray said of the 17 girls on the team, who still became the first softball players from Theodore High to advance to the state tournament.
Read Full Story