Re: UNH Wildcats Official Wait til Next Year...14/15 thread
From the
Union Leader:
"Brian McCloskey, the former University of New Hampshire women's hockey coach who was fired in December 2013, has admitted that he grabbed a student-athlete by her jersey, causing her to land on her back on a bench and hit her head. Under a "diversion agreement," McCloskey did not plead guilty to criminal threatening or three counts of simple assault. The charges will be dismissed in a year if he gets counseling and performs 100 hours of community service. According to Strafford County Attorney Thomas Velardi, the charges were based on the student-athlete's statement, which was corroborated by several other players and staff members, as well as video footage.
McCloskey, 60, admitted to grabbing the hockey player, pulling her and causing her to fall on her back on the bench and hit her head on Nov. 30, 2013. According to the diversion agreement, McCloskey held her face mask with his hand and put his knee on top of her hip while she was in a horizontal position on the bench.
"To the extent that he has made contrary statements in the past, his formal admissions now set the record straight on what truly happened," Velardi said in a news release. He said the hockey player, whose name UNH and Velardi both refused to release, was comfortable with the diversion agreement.“It met everyone’s expectations,” Velardi said.
He said he hopes McCloskey’s admission will “shed some light on an issue that all too often is ignored — the use of
inappropriate physical contact in the scope of coaching." Frequently, Velardi said, the victim of that contact is ridiculed for stepping forward and informing authorities. “Doing so is often seen as breaking the code of being a member of a team, even when teammates acknowledge that the conduct at issue is unacceptable,” the county attorney said in a statement.
"The student-athlete in this case faced significant unfair scrutiny and questions from people who were not privy to the facts of what happened," Velardi said. "Rather than being questioned about or blamed for what happened, this courageous young woman should be thanked for standing by her belief that what happened to her was not acceptable behavior for an adult in a position of authority, such as a coach. In doing so, she showed great strength." The county attorney also praised other student-athletes who stood by her for showing that same strength.
McCloskey was fired days after the incident. “It’s my understanding he is not in the field of coaching,” Velardi said. The agreement did not require McCloskey to appear in court or enter a guilty plea, according to Velardi. "
