College News: Ole Miss Clears Softball Coaching Staff Following Investigation

Ole Miss will retain the program’s full softball coaching staff, according to an article by David Johnson for the Ole Miss Spirit that was released earlier today.

An official statement from Ole Miss was released and included quotes from Athletic Director Keith Carter and Head Coach Jamie Trachsel–here is the text from those releases:

Athletic director Keith Carter’s statement:

“Following a comprehensive investigation by the university’s Title IX office, the anonymous allegations of inappropriate behavior by the softball staff are unsubstantiated.

In addition, other anonymous allegations involving the culture of the softball program have been thoroughly reviewed by Athletics Compliance staff and were determined not to be in violation of any policies.

The well-being and experience of our student-athletes will always be our top priority, and through this extensive review, we discussed these anonymous claims with our players and all were unsubstantiated.

Coach Trachsel and her staff are committed to building a healthy program and are working to address any issues to ensure a positive team environment.

The staff has our full support, and we look forward to continuing our trajectory as one of the rising softball teams in the sport.

This has been an emotional ordeal for our coaches and student-athletes, and we will assist them in moving forward from this matter.”

Head coach Jamie Trachsel’s statement:

“We would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to our university leadership for thoroughly reviewing this matter and reaching a conclusion.

The outpouring of support from family, friends, staff, colleagues and current and former student-athletes has not only been overwhelming but given us courage and strength through this situation.

It has been an emotional time for our entire program, but I have no doubt our coaches and players will grow stronger together as we move through this shared experience.

We look forward to putting this behind us as a team, as we continue to build our championship culture and compete for more titles here at Ole Miss.”

Trachsel and assistant coach Katie Rietkovich-Browder will remain with the program in their current roles; pitching coach Ryker Chason’s position on staff also remains unchanged.

The news comes after the school conducted an investigation into various allegations of impropriety that were originally made in written complaints in May and July and which were further amplified online over the past two weeks.

— Justin McCleod, Extra Inning Correspondent