Cal swim coach Teri McKeever placed on paid leave following reports of bullying, verbal abuse

Some of the alleged abuses made at least six athletes consider suicide, according to the Orange County Register

UC Berkeley swimmers walked out of practice on Wednesday, one day after Scott Reid of the Orange County Register published an investigation of head coach Teri McKeever. According to the report, McKeever has verbally abused and bullied at least 19 former and current student-athletes and pressured some of them to compete despite injuries and chronic illnesses.

The university has officially placed McKeever on indefinite paid administrative leave and the coach is being formally investigated by SafeSport.

McKeever has been at the helm of the school's swimming program for 30 years, leading Cal to six Pac-12 swim championships and four NCAA championships. Her reputation with athletes and parents has never been great, though. According to Southern California News Group, in 2010, Cal chancellor Robert Joseph Birgeneau was made aware of allegations against McKeever that dated back to 2001. In spite of that, the new report claims the university has failed to fix what is described as a "toxic" culture or done any significant attempt hold her accountable.

The university also released a statement on the allegations, saying they were "deeply concerned" with what the student-athletes have reported but will be "unable to address" them.

"The allegations described are serious and deeply disturbing in that they describe behavior antithetical to our values and policies..." the statement read. "Unfortunately, due to stringent laws and policies protecting personnel issues and privacy, we are unable to address these allegations. We wish that were not the case given how serious these allegations are."

Some of the alleged abuse has even led to at least a handful of athletes to consider suicide, according to the Orange County Register. One of the six is former Cal swimmer Danielle Carter, who McKeever reportedly accused of lying about having epilepsy. She said her coach often referred to her as "lazy," "worthless," "a waste of time"  and "a piece of s---" during practice, often in front of her teammates. During the next practice, McKeever asked Carter about the incident, laughed and said it was "pathetic."

The issue involves more than just Cal swimmers, too

According to the Los Angeles Daily News, the sport's national governing body turned the other way when learning about allegations involving McKeever -- the first woman to serve as a U.S. Olympic swimming head coach. Former Olympic swimmer Katherine Starr reported allegations in 2015 to USA Swimming's director of SafeSport Susan Woessner. Starr told her that McKeever verbally abused two Cal student-athletes during the 2013-14 season.

However, USA Swimming still appointed McKeever to the 2019 World Championships.