St. Thomas 2024-2025

[washedup_00]

He stormed into the locker room while the young women were undressing. Some were still in full gear, some half-naked, some fully naked and showering or just about to enter the shower. He burst in while the women were clearly in a vulnerable state. To make matters worse, he shouted profanities and belittlements while throwing sticks and other objects at the women, including the ones inside the showers. That is all the information and truth I know for now, and I won't be outing my sources because they deserve to be protected.

 

[bobthomasiselite]

Everyone connected with the league in any way knew this way going down last weekend. It was just a matter of how/when St. Thomas was going to release the info. I was actually surprised Mark mentioned anything in his presser. As far as those waiting for the dirt to come out, I really hope it doesn’t. Give Joel some space. Good people make mistakes and good people have issues they need to deal with. Also, when Mark referred to “issues outside the rink” in his press conference, he was referring to what the team has been dealing with all week in regards to the change in the coaching staff, not anything crazy that people need to speculate about.

"as far as those waiting for the dirt to come out, I really hope it doesn’t"

Dirt? This guy should never be around a women's hockey team again and is lucky he wasn't arrested.

 

[Crankyape]

He stormed into the locker room while the young women were undressing. Some were still in full gear, some half-naked, some fully naked and showering or just about to enter the shower. He burst in while the women were clearly in a vulnerable state. To make matters worse, he shouted profanities and belittlements while throwing sticks and other objects at the women, including the ones inside the showers. That is all the information and truth I know for now, and I won't be outing my sources because they deserve to be protected.

Not true and you should be ashamed for spreading fake news! If you were told this information directly from a player or a players parent, they are over exaggerating what really happened. Nothing was thrown at the girls and the majority of the team was out of the locker room. When he threw some sticks in the locker room the one player that was present was dressed. The other girls that were naked or half dress were in the shower room at that time.

 

[washedup_00]

Not true and you should be ashamed for spreading fake news! If you were told this information directly from a player or a players parent, they are over exaggerating what really happened. Nothing was thrown at the girls and the majority of the team was out of the locker room. When he threw some sticks in the locker room the one player that was present was dressed. The other girls that were naked or half dress were in the shower room at that time.

"the other girls that were naked or half dress were in the shower room at that time."

As someone who's been inside and used BSUs visiting locker rooms in the past, I guarantee that no "half dress" players were inside the shower room while this event occurred. They were undressing in the locker room with the "one player that was present," not the shower room or the bathroom. Anyone who's played a team sport (especially collegiately) where undressing and showering are involved would know not to undress inside the shower room or bathroom for that matter. Duh.

If you truly think this was an exaggeration from the players and parents, why did he resign so fast?

 

[robertearle]

Correct me if I am wrong, but to me the details here seem less important than the larger "truth":

There are times when a women's locker room is "off limits" to the male coaches, and there are "protocols" in place to ensure that that "off limits" status is properly maintained and protected. And Johnson violated that status and those protocols.

Is that a fair summary?

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

With contradicting versions this is exactly why I urged caution on rushing to judgement.

 

[Johnny Five]

Correct me if I am wrong, but to me the details here seem less important than the larger "truth":

There are times when a women's locker room is "off limits" to the male coaches, and there are "protocols" in place to ensure that that "off limits" status is properly maintained and protected. And Johnson violated that status and those protocols.

Is that a fair summary?

That is a fair summary. You wait until a female coach gives the all clear anytime you enter the locker room. And once your peace has been said postgame, it is off limits completely.

 

[Crankyape]

Correct me if I am wrong, but to me the details here seem less important than the larger "truth":

There are times when a women's locker room is "off limits" to the male coaches, and there are "protocols" in place to ensure that that "off limits" status is properly maintained and protected. And Johnson violated that status and those protocols.

Is that a fair summary?

That is a fair summary and 100% accurate.

 

[Crankyape]

"the other girls that were naked or half dress were in the shower room at that time."

As someone who's been inside and used BSUs visiting locker rooms in the past, I guarantee that no "half dress" players were inside the shower room while this event occurred. They were undressing in the locker room with the "one player that was present," not the shower room or the bathroom. Anyone who's played a team sport (especially collegiately) where undressing and showering are involved would know not to undress inside the shower room or bathroom for that matter. Duh.

If you truly think this was an exaggeration from the players and parents, why did he resign so fast?

Washedup_00 I did play collegiately and every locker room is different. You are correct I have never stepped foot in the locker room at BSU, so I don't know the layout. You are picking a part a non relevant part of my point. My point was you put false narrative to what actually went on. You painted a picture of a coach in rage throwing objects at a locker room of naked, half naked women. I know a player directly involved and there were no objects thrown at the players at any point. Yes Joel did throw sticks and a laundry bin. But at no point was anything directed at any players. When he was throwing sticks there was only one player present and was fully clothed. The rest of the girls were in the shower room. At one point Joel did catch some girls in a vulnerable state. He was in and out of the locker room multiple times during his tyrant. Not trying to say what Joel did was right, but please don't spread rumors making it worse than it was. You have to be careful on what you spread, especially because your sources may have an alternative motive. Who know, you may have your own alternative motive being this is your first post on this forum!

 

[CROSS BAR]

Washedup_00 I did play collegiately and every locker room is different. You are correct I have never stepped foot in the locker room at BSU, so I don't know the layout. You are picking a part a non relevant part of my point. My point was you put false narrative to what actually went on. You painted a picture of a coach in rage throwing objects at a locker room of naked, half naked women. I know a player directly involved and there were no objects thrown at the players at any point. Yes Joel did throw sticks and a laundry bin. But at no point was anything directed at any players. When he was throwing sticks there was only one player present and was fully clothed. The rest of the girls were in the shower room. At one point Joel did catch some girls in a vulnerable state. He was in and out of the locker room multiple times during his tyrant. Not trying to say what Joel did was right, but please don't spread rumors making it worse than it was. You have to be careful on what you spread, especially because your sources may have an alternative motive. Who know, you may have your own alternative motive being this is your first post on this forum!

Your defense of spreading inaccuracies is that he didn't throw sticks "at" players? What the coach did was an extreme violation of trust, privacy and leadership. He entered the locker room on three different occasions, after the initial post game talk was concluded. in each incident, there were players either not fully dressed, half dressed and/or naked. Players in these vulnerable states were within eyesight and were very afraid. He was throwing items and not in control. He belittle players to their face that were not fully dressed. Do not defend the Indefensible.

 

[bobthomasiselite]

Washedup_00 I did play collegiately and every locker room is different. You are correct I have never stepped foot in the locker room at BSU, so I don't know the layout. You are picking a part a non relevant part of my point. My point was you put false narrative to what actually went on. You painted a picture of a coach in rage throwing objects at a locker room of naked, half naked women. I know a player directly involved and there were no objects thrown at the players at any point. Yes Joel did throw sticks and a laundry bin. But at no point was anything directed at any players. When he was throwing sticks there was only one player present and was fully clothed. The rest of the girls were in the shower room. At one point Joel did catch some girls in a vulnerable state. He was in and out of the locker room multiple times during his tyrant. Not trying to say what Joel did was right, but please don't spread rumors making it worse than it was. You have to be careful on what you spread, especially because your sources may have an alternative motive. Who know, you may have your own alternative motive being this is your first post on this forum!

"really guys he didn't throw sticks AT naked players, he only threw sticks around a locker room with only SOME vulnerable women around!!!!" odd to be defending this in any kind of way when you allegedly know what happened.....

BUT having said that, please tell us more how a 50 year old male coach went into a violent anger led tirade in a locker room with not fully dressed vulnerable 18-21 year old women, and please also let us know how long this was after his initial post game yelling session and exit from the locker room.

 

[Crankyape]

"really guys he didn't throw sticks AT naked players, he only threw sticks around a locker room with only SOME vulnerable women around!!!!" odd to be defending this in any kind of way when you allegedly know what happened.....

BUT having said that, please tell us more how a 50 year old male coach went into a violent anger led tirade in a locker room with not fully dressed vulnerable 18-21 year old women, and please also let us know how long this was after his initial post game yelling session and exit from the locker room.

Not defending Joel's actions by any means, which was stated in my previous post. In my opinion there is a big difference between throwing objects at women vs throwing items in display of your anger.

 

[Lindsay]

Sorry for the turmoil on the team and everything that’s transpired.

I hope Brausen gets an immediate big time raise, while she has the interim title. At this point she’s been asked to be the head coach in 2 years of the short history, both time with very little advance warning and never inheriting a well oiled machine.

 

[CROSS BAR]

Not defending Joel's actions by any means, which was stated in my previous post. In my opinion there is a big difference between throwing objects at women vs throwing items in display of your anger.

Unfortunately, you ARE defending his actions. Throwing items in anger is a example of someone out of control and done to strike fear. It does not matter if they were thrown at a player. The action of throwing items was done after the violation of privacy, trust and leadership was obliterated, so with that, you are defending the indefensible.

 

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

Certainly don't know any of the details but the fact that he resigned is telling. If in fact he lost his temper and behaved in the manner that has been speculated, it really is such as shame to have lost his coaching career (which had been pretty good) in a few moments of weakness.

 

[washedup_00]

Washedup_00 I did play collegiately and every locker room is different. You are correct I have never stepped foot in the locker room at BSU, so I don't know the layout. You are picking a part a non relevant part of my point. My point was you put false narrative to what actually went on. You painted a picture of a coach in rage throwing objects at a locker room of naked, half naked women. I know a player directly involved and there were no objects thrown at the players at any point. Yes Joel did throw sticks and a laundry bin. But at no point was anything directed at any players. When he was throwing sticks there was only one player present and was fully clothed. The rest of the girls were in the shower room. At one point Joel did catch some girls in a vulnerable state. He was in and out of the locker room multiple times during his tyrant. Not trying to say what Joel did was right, but please don't spread rumors making it worse than it was. You have to be careful on what you spread, especially because your sources may have an alternative motive. Who know, you may have your own alternative motive being this is your first post on this forum!

"You may have your own alternative motive being this is your first post on this forum!"

Nope, there is no alternative motive. I have been coached and trained under Joel at national camps before entering collegiate play, and during those times, I very much enjoyed being under his leadership. Whenever I played against the U or St Thomas, he was always kind, funny, and respectable whenever I got to talk with him. I like Joel Johnson and think he's a great coach. But I don't particularly appreciate it when people like yourself try to justify a man's bad behavior. Those young women were shocked and scared by this violation of trust, an emotion I'm sure you'd experience if your coach of the opposite gender walked in on you unexpectedly in a time of vulnerability.

It's clear that he just snapped, and there's got to be some underlying reason that probably has nothing to do with the team or the loss itself but is something he's dealing with personally. I won't speculate on that, but we can all agree that this incident was uncharacteristic of him. I hope he gets whatever help he needs, but because of what he did and the severity of the situation, I don't see him being able to coach women's hockey for a long, long time.

 

[Crankyape]

"You may have your own alternative motive being this is your first post on this forum!"

Nope, there is no alternative motive. I have been coached and trained under Joel at national camps before entering collegiate play, and during those times, I very much enjoyed being under his leadership. Whenever I played against the U or St Thomas, he was always kind, funny, and respectable whenever I got to talk with him. I like Joel Johnson and think he's a great coach. But I don't particularly appreciate it when people like yourself try to justify a man's bad behavior. Those young women were shocked and scared by this violation of trust, an emotion I'm sure you'd experience if your coach of the opposite gender walked in on you unexpectedly in a time of vulnerability.

It's clear that he just snapped, and there's got to be some underlying reason that probably has nothing to do with the team or the loss itself but is something he's dealing with personally. I won't speculate on that, but we can all agree that this incident was uncharacteristic of him. I hope he gets whatever help he needs, but because of what he did and the severity of the situation, I don't see him being able to coach women's hockey for a long, long time.

I really appreciate this response. I agree with you 100%!!!! I'm not trying to justify any behavior of Joel's. He was definitely in the wrong and think the school handled it properly. Hopefully the girls can move forward from this and something good comes of it.

 

[Crankyape]

Unfortunately, you ARE defending his actions. Throwing items in anger is a example of someone out of control and done to strike fear. It does not matter if they were thrown at a player. The action of throwing items was done after the violation of privacy, trust and leadership was obliterated, so with that, you are defending the indefensible.

Nope I never defended his actions. So please don't accuse me of such an act. I never typed that he had a right or justifiable cause in doing what he did. I just felt there is a big difference between throwing items at players vs throwing some sticks from the rack on the floor. Too me it goes from an act of anger to an act of intent to harm someone physically. If he was throwing items at players there would be charges off assault coming. Pretty sure there won't be any such charges made.

 

[ARM]

This seems like a situation where everybody loses. Not good for the program -- see UNH, not good for the former coach, and certainly not good for the current team. Personally, I just hope for better days down the road for all concerned.

In the bigger picture, I understand that it has gone on for years across many sports, but if you can't teach/motivate without throwing objects around like a little kid, then one needs to look at their own coaching methods. Here, the stories being told don't exactly align, but it's hard to say how much that matters. As robertearle said, the protocol violation alone, given here it seems to rise above an accidental breach, would be enough for termination. Throwing objects ... yes, it is better if the indirect target is at least clothed, but in my mind, having a solitary target of such a rant almost makes it worse (a team is better protected from a physical rant than a single player would be). Sad.

 

[Timothy A]

It's clear that he just snapped, and there's got to be some underlying reason that probably has nothing to do with the team or the loss itself but is something he's dealing with personally.

I have the answer! I know why he snapped. Have you seen their next 16 games on the schedule?

at UW
Clarkson/PSU
MN
At MN
UW
UMD
at St. Cloud
at That Other Team

That's 16 straight games against ranked opponents and 4 in a row vs UW and UM. Someone in the wcha sure had an axe to grind with JJ. They were looking at a run on maybe 3-12 at best. That's why the last 4 loses were so devastating.