A Coaching Conundrum?

Todd McCorkle, the women's golf coach at Georgia, resigned recently following allegations of inappropriate sexual remarks and behavior to the female golfers on his team.

McCorkle, who had coached women's golf teams to two national championships, engaged in a wide range of offensive behavior. Among other things, he showed the Paris Hilton sex video to the team, shared "offensive jokes and comments, including remarks about bras and underwear color," and referred to team members as "sexy" as they were going to team functions. Some of McCorkle's remarks also referred to "male anatomy."

One player wrote that "he is randomly rubbing your back or flipping hair, or pat on butt - and otherwise not think anything about it - but with all the other stuff feels wrong."

In reading the SI.com article (which I reprint in full below), I got the impression that McCorkle was engaged in "male bonding" with his female golfers rather than explicitly heterosexual behavior. Like other forms of pornography, the Paris Hilton sex video would be something that guys would share with each other. Because the primary object of guys watching the video would be to "share" the fetish of watching Paris Hilton have sex, the primary sexuality would be the homoerotic bonding with the other guys rather than attraction for Ms. Hilton.

The same is the case with the comments about bras, panties, and "male anatomy." From John Amaechi's book on life as a gay man in the NBA, it turns out that heterosexual basketball players often talk about "male anatomy" in homoerotic ways. Likewise, what's more homoerotic than patting someone on the butt all the time?

McCorkle's problem seemed to be this. He wanted to treat his female golfers like "the guys" in the sense that he wanted to share his homoerotic fetishizing about women with them. As a women's golf coach, McCorkle was in a homoerotic paradise of female objects that he could fetishize over with "the guys" and he seemed to be extremely eager to do so. But the downside was that McCorkle was sharing his fetishes with the women he was fetishizing. He was demeaning women and effectively bragging about it to the women he was demeaning. It was sexually inappropriate and unprofessional.

Interestingly enough, the University of Georgia viewed McCorkle as salvageable. Besides suspending him and putting him under a "no tolerance" mandate, George also ordered him to undergo a lot of sexual harassment training. McCorkle ultimately decided to resign on his own. From the perspective I outlined in the previous paragraph, however, Georgia's approach was a good idea. I'm not sure that McCorkle understood the harmful character of much homoerotic male fetishizing in general or why female athletes would not be willing to share those fetishes with him. Sexual harassment training might have done McCorkle some good.

The conundrum here is whether McCorkle's behavior would have been appropriate if he had been coaching a men's golf team. If male homoeroticism was inappropriate in the context of a female sports team, would it be any more appropriate for a male team.

Some of McCorkle behavior was unprofessional whatever the context. Showing the Paris Hilton would be inappropriate for a coach to show players in any circumstances. But I'm wondering if a male coach would be viewed as inappropriate if he shared the whole range of standard homoerotic behaviors with the male members of his team. These would include the comments on "male anatomy" and talk about female underwear as well as the whole range of butt-patting, towel-snapping, chest-bumping, high fiving, and other kinds of homoerotic bonding associated with sports.

My sense is that some male homoeroticism would be seen as inappropriate from a coach (talk about male anatomy and female underwear) but that the butt-patting, etc. would be seen as just being "enthusiastic."

But I still wonder what would happen if someone complained. Maybe it's all inappropriate.


ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Todd McCorkle's sudden decision to resign as the women's golf coach at Georgia last week followed complaints from players about his inappropriate sexual comments and jokes, according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

McCorkle's resignation was announced May 7 and came three days after a memo in which he was told he would have to go through extensive anti-harassment training and would be suspended without pay for July. McCorkle instead quit, but athletic director Damon Evans said he would remain employed in another undisclosed job.

In the memo, University of Georgia executive director for legal affairs Steve Shewmaker told McCorkle several players had complained about the coach's behavior.

"We also recommend a close supervision of your interactions with your team, as any further conduct on your part that is a violation of this policy should result in immediate additional disciplinary action, up to and including termination of your employment with the university," the memo reads.

McCorkle said Monday he was not asked to resign, but acknowledged the "situation has placed a cloud over the program and I felt like it was in everyone's best interest for me to step down."
"In my tenure at Georgia I have unintentionally made comments that have made some of my players uncomfortable," McCorkle said in a statement. "I want to be clear in saying that this was not my intention or desire.

"I have learned through this experience that I must be 100 percent professional at all times. I would like to thank the University of Georgia for all the opportunities they have afforded me. Life is full of learning experiences and unfortunately this experience has cost me something that is dear to both me and my family."

The memo was one of several documents obtained in response to an open records request by the AP. Other documents included handwritten statements from several players, whose names were blacked out.

They reported that McCorkle shared a sexually explicit Paris Hilton video from the Internet with the team. There were a number of reports of McCorkle's sexual comments to players and a brief mention by one player of inappropriate physical contact.

"He is randomly rubbing your back or flipping hair, or pat on butt - and otherwise not think anything about it - but with all the other stuff feels wrong," the unidentified player wrote.

Players reported McCorkle shared offensive jokes and comments, including remarks about bras and underwear color. Some remarks were more explicit, referring to male anatomy.

The university's investigation began in April. Art Leon, the father of Georgia's No. 1 player, Taylor Leon, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution his complaints to Evans led to the investigation.

"I'm the person that initiated it," Leon told the paper. "He doesn't need to be a coach of women's golf anywhere. He got what he deserved."

The memo from Shewmaker informed McCorkle he violated the university's Non-Discrimination Anti-Harrassment Policy.

"This finding is based, in part, on your statements made during our investigation," Shewmaker wrote. "For example, you admitted you told one of the team members she looked 'sexy' on the way to the SEC tournament banquet."

Added Shewmaker: "Your comments had the effect of creating a hostile or offensive environment which interfered with the team members' ability to participate in or benefit from an educational program or activity."

McCorkle, who coached the Lady Bulldogs to the 2001 NCAA championship, said last week he was leaving the team to assist his wife, LPGA golfer Jenna Daniels, with her career. McCorkle also coached Arizona to the 2000 NCAA championship before becoming Georgia's coach in June of 2000.