Ali Mann Resigns!

[gmartin]

Ali Mann, one of the best players in the history of the Bowling Green State University women’s basketball program, resigned as an assistant coach after she admitted she was involved in a “consensual amorous relationship” with a student in the program.

Mann, 27, who was in her first season as a coach for BG, tendered her resignation Feb. 21.

BG athletics director Greg Christopher was asked if the situation involved an NCAA violation, harassment of a student in the program, or a criminal violation, he said, “We have no reason to believe that this situation [violated] any of those.”

Christopher said the situation first came to light on Monday, Feb. 18, when several members of the team met with head coach Jennifer Roos about a relationship between Mann and a “student” within the program.

Christopher made it a point to refer to the individual involved in the relationship as a “student,” with the inference that it could be a player, student manager, student trainer or practice player. The team’s practice players are males.

That evening Roos spoke with Mann and the student involved, and Tuesday morning Roos notified Christopher and associate AD Leslie Irvine, the school’s senior women’s administrator, about the relationship. Irvine later spoke with the members of the team that were involved with the situation.

On Wednesday the BG administrators met with Roos, Mann, and the student individually, and at the conclusion of those meetings the school decided to initiate a formal inquiry involving the university’s human resources department.

“We informed both Ali and the team about this inquiry, and what it meant,” Christopher said. “We told them that it was tied to a university HR policy, and it would start in a day or so.

“We also emphasized that this was a process, and we needed to be thorough and fair. We also noted that Ali’s status had not changed — she had not been suspended or anything like that.”

BG’s Consensual Amorous Relationships Policy states that supervisors and faculty "are not to have supervisory, evaluative, instructional, coaching or other relationships with student or employees with whom they have or have had a consensual amorous relationship."

Among the disciplinary actions listed for those who fail to abide by the policy are a temporary suspension or "other measures as the case may warrant."

Mann was not with the team that night for the a home game against Akron. She was sent to a high school contest between Notre Dame and Bowsher for recruiting purposes.

Late Wednesday night Mann asked for a meeting, and at that meeting last Thursday she confirmed the consensual relations with a student and then resigned.

Her one-paragraph resignation noted that Thursday, Feb. 21 was her final day, and, “I appreciate the opportunity that Jennifer and the department have given me and good luck moving forward.”

Christopher accepted the resignation that day; and he said Mann was not asked to resign. With Mann’s resignation, the inquiry regarding the incident was over before it had begun.

Christopher said the university used the term “personal reasons” to explain Mann’s resignation in deference to the student involved as well as the program.

“This is a very sensitive topic, and it is emotional for everyone involved,” he said. “The decision to delay laying out the timeline was based completely on the welfare of the team.

“If we had done everything on Friday, I believe that real damage would have been done to the team.”

When asked about the “damage” that could have been caused, Christopher said, “I didn’t want the parents of those involved with our team … to read this in the newspapers before their kids had a chance to touch base with them. We’re trying to be as transparent as we can within the law. But we wanted everyone to take a deep breath and process everything. We didn’t want to make the emotions even more raw than they were.”

Christopher declined comment on whether the student involved would face any type of discipline, citing privacy issues.

“This is still a sensitive topic, and we still have very real privacy issues,” he said. “But now everyone has had a chance to catch their breath and start processing what we’re going through. The players have had time to talk with parents, and we have had time to talk with parents.

“I don’t think anyone has tucked this away and forgotten about it. We have some very real emotions that we need to work through. Ali was a huge part of this program.”

Mann was one of the top players in the program's history, leading BG to Mid-American Conference regular-season and tournament titles in each of her final three seasons, helping the Falcons become the first team to advance to the Round of 16 in the 2007 NCAA tournament.

The native of Chelsea, Mich., finished her career ranked second in school history in scoring and third in rebounding, with 1,825 points and 911 boards. She earned all-conference honors in each of her four seasons, and became the sixth player in MAC history to be named MAC Player of the Year, MAC Freshman of the Year, and MAC Tournament MVP during her career.

The program will not hire a replacement for Mann until after the season. An attempt to contact Mann at her parent’s house was unsuccessful.

[Flipper]

Wow...really disappointed in the lack of good judgement. To force your fellow coaches and the rest of the team to deal with that situation is inexcusable

[guest44]

Dear Mr. Fundraiser,

The train is headed off the tracks. Please don't Louis Orr this program too.

[Flipper]

Yeah...that's just what this situation calls for...reactionary comments from people with an axe to grind against the AD. This is a serious issue...I would hope that the AD and coaches are reviewing the University's policies on the boundaries re proper and improper relationships if they haven't already. I would hope that there will be a heightened sense of awareness on this topic going forward and I think it would be a good idea for the University to publically state as much.

Unless there's more to this story than meets the eye...I think the long term implications will be worse for Ali Mann than BGSU. This could be a giant step backwards in what looked to be a very promising career as a coach...and that's a real shame because she never struck me as anything other than a quality individual.

[guest44]

Of course it's a serious issue. A serious issue for everyone involved including the athletic director and even more so for the head coach. The head coach creates the culture. This isn't and shouldn't be a Ali Mann resigns and hope it goes away issue.

[nwofalconfan]

Once again, thank you Flipper for being the voice of reason.

As for the head coach "creates the culture"...it appears that Coach Roos did not know about this relationship, hence the players coming to her about their concerns. It seems to me that she has created a culture where the players were comfortable in coming to her about a serious situation...that is a good thing. Neither a coach or AD can be aware of everything that is happening in everyone's personal life, especially when they are keeping it a secret.

So far it appears that this situation has been handled pretty well...it is just a shame that it happened in the first place.

[ccollin13]

So far it appears that this situation has been handled pretty well...it is just a shame that it happened in the first place.

I think they did a particularly good job by keeping everything under wraps while initiating proceedings. As was stated in the article, it would have done more damage to the program to immediately released the news on the day of the resignation. Instead they let the players talk to their families first, before being bombarded with media attention. Good move.

[Flipper]

Of course it's a serious issue. A serious issue for everyone involved including the athletic director and even more so for the head coach. The head coach creates the culture. This isn't and shouldn't be a Ali Mann resigns and hope it goes away issue.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that "this should all go away"...again, I would encourage the coach and AD to outline what steps will be taken in the future to prevent this type of occurence from happening again.

I also agree that the fact that the players came forward to coach Roos speaks well for the culture she's created within the program.

It's such a shame...Ali Mann was an anchor on one of the greatest teams in MAC history...she came back to her alma mater as a coach and had a real opportunity to build on her legacy here. This incident ends her association with the University for the forseable future. That's just....sad....

[orangeandbrown]

100% correct Flip. The players stepped forward and took action....this board is unbelievable some times.

[CrazyFan]

100% correct Flip. The players stepped forward and took action....this board is unbelievable some times.

This board is unbelievable? Some of the posters are unbelievable. Take off the orange and brown glasses for a second. This is a serious, serious situation. A coach had a “relationship” with a student athlete that she was responsible for!! From a parents standpoint, do you want to allow your child to go to a university and participate in their athletic programs when you find out one of the coaches is dating an athlete under their supervision? This ruins a lot of the trust that parents and student athletes have when coming to our university. This should NOT be swept under the rug and say “oh well, it won’t happen again.” That’s what everyone said about the womens soccor scandal, and granted it’s a little different situation, its still the same outcome. My opinion is Roos should be canned. Her program; Her watch; Her hire of an assistant coach, and possibly her recruit. The buck stops at her. This university’s athletic department needs to take a stand and make it clear that this university WILL NOT accept conduct of that nature. But we have the same mentality for all programs; keep it quite, don’t ruffle the waters and let it go away. And that mentality shows on this board. That why Roos will keep her job, that’s why Louis Orr will keep his job and that’s why this athletic department is “directionally” heading nowhere under Greg Christopher. And that’s why people on this board will continue to wear their orange and brown glasses and not see the real picture of what’s going on. Fire Roos. Fire Orr. Don’t renew the Fundraising Clowns contract in July and BRING IN SOME REAL LEADERS!

[bgsufn]

CrazyFan... Roos didn't know about it. When she found out about it she handled it in the appropriate way. She cannot possibly be expected to know about EVERY movement of EVERY player and EVERY coach. That's just not a possibility.

[CrazyFan]

And now the story is national. Check out USA Today's sport section (have no clue how to post links on here).

[Redwingtom]

Just paste the link between the following "paste link here"

[bgsufn]

Here's the USA Today link:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... n/1953965/

[factman]

100% correct Flip. The players stepped forward and took action....this board is unbelievable some times.

This board is unbelievable? Some of the posters are unbelievable. Take off the orange and brown glasses for a second. This is a serious, serious situation. A coach had a “relationship” with a student athlete that she was responsible for!! From a parents standpoint, do you want to allow your child to go to a university and participate in their athletic programs when you find out one of the coaches is dating an athlete under their supervision? This ruins a lot of the trust that parents and student athletes have when coming to our university. This should NOT be swept under the rug and say “oh well, it won’t happen again.” That’s what everyone said about the womens soccor scandal, and granted it’s a little different situation, its still the same outcome. My opinion is Roos should be canned. Her program; Her watch; Her hire of an assistant coach, and possibly her recruit. The buck stops at her. This university’s athletic department needs to take a stand and make it clear that this university WILL NOT accept conduct of that nature. But we have the same mentality for all programs; keep it quite, don’t ruffle the waters and let it go away. And that mentality shows on this board. That why Roos will keep her job, that’s why Louis Orr will keep his job and that’s why this athletic department is “directionally” heading nowhere under Greg Christopher. And that’s why people on this board will continue to wear their orange and brown glasses and not see the real picture of what’s going on. Fire Roos. Fire Orr. Don’t renew the Fundraising Clowns contract in July and BRING IN SOME REAL LEADERS!

It was not said that it was a student ATHLETE. They were very careful to say that it was a student involved in the program and that could include trainers, student managers and practice team. I think some people are jumping to conclusions that may or may not be true.