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We continue our list of the Top 15 Softball Stories of 2018, which will run through December 31st when we’ll present our No. 1 story of the year.
We’ve surveyed the softball community and talked internally as well to come up with what were the most impactful and relevant stories in 2018 pertaining to the world of fastpitch softball.
Here are the previous stories:
- #15… Alexia Carrasquillo: The Shot Heard Round the Recruiting World (Dec. 17, 2018)
- #14… Ashley Rogers Overcomes Tragedy to Become National Player of the Year
- #13… High School Senior Sydney Supple Approaching $100K To Build Hometown Field of Dreams
- #12… NFCA’s StrikeOut Cancer Initiative Provides Unity & Half Million-Plus For Research
Today is #11, and continues a story that began in the fall of 2017 when highly-successful Louisiana-Lafayette Head Coach Michael Lotief was fired unexpectedly and in controversial fashion. The coach, and many of his players, have spoken out against the firing and filed a lawsuit against the university that is still pending and could get ugly before it’s resolved…
To provide comments, insights or thoughts, email: [email protected].
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There are some facts that are not in dispute.
Michael Lotief began coaching the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns softball program in 2003 and during the tenure his teams won 14 Sun Belt Conference titles and won seven NCAA Regional Championships and went to the Women’s College World Series three times (2003, 2004 and 2014).
In October of 2017, the coach was placed on administrative leave and on November 1st was terminated.
The reason, according to the university, was because “Lotief violated University and UL System policies by subjecting student-athletes and coworkers to violent, vulgar language and verbal and physical assault, creating a hostile learning and working environment.”
Eventually, long-time college assistant coach Gerry Glascoe was hired and in 2018 led the Ragin’ Cajuns to a 41-16 record and recently picked up All-American pitcher Megan Kleist, who is transferring from Oregon.
However, the story and resulting reaction by Lotief and several players who competed for him throw doubt on the reasons behind the university to fire Lotief.
Prior to being placed on leave and being fired, Lotief had reportedly issued complaints about gender equity at the school, notably that their were Title IX violations including allegations of failing to pay salaried coaching staff, provide equal facility maintenance and training and medical care.
And after his firing, nine ULL players would hire an attorney and issue a press release to “file complaints with the Office of Civil Rights for Title IX violations.” (see complete release text below).
Subsequently, Lotief filed a lawsuit in September which included charges of “conversion of Coach Lotief’s property, retaliation against the coach for reporting Title IX violations, defamation, breach of contract, and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act” (the coach has battled cancer since the 1980’s and speaks with a trach).
Today, Extra Inning Softball reached out to Coach Lotief and received the following strong-worded statement from his legal representatives:
Suit was filed and a press conference was presented wherein Lotief asked for a return of his personal property including photos of his family and deceased father and an autographed picture to him from Mother Teresa and Father Brennan; a return of his intellectual property while at ULL including power points he presented on hitting at clinics and some of his hitting gadgets, etc.
The suit also calls into serious question the way ULL handled “the investigation”, more notably, refusing to interview most of the student-athlete/players and the President’s rush to judgment and interference during the process.
Since Lotief’s firing, it has come to the attention of the public that the University President & the Athletic Director are under their own investigation after federal Civil Right’s Complaints surfaced wherein they were accused of unwanted touching and groping of student-athletes. Unlike Lotief’s investigation, this investigation has lingered on for over 4 months now.
Also, it was revealed that ULL, more specifically, this President and this AD hired a defensive football coach on October 02, 2017, who plead guilty to domestic abuse just 4 days before placing Lotief on administrative leave; the lawsuit details texts sent from Lotief to ULL administrators questioning the wisdom of such a hire.
Lastly, most of the softball players who were on the team at the time of Lotief’s termination have contradicted every claim ULL made against their coach– see the Daily Advertiser article of October 1, 2018 — and see the lawsuit filed by 5 of these former players.
There is a strong suggestion of Title 9 violations and abuse of power by ULL in how these student-athletes were treated, most glaring of all is the intentional locking of these players out of the locker room and denying them access to their property the day their coach was fired.
In the spring of 2018, Lotief would become involved with a Dallas/Ft. Worth-based club program which was covered in a story on Extra Inning Softball titled: Legendary Coach Mike Lotief’s Next Challenge: Building Club Program Excel Elite
In time he would also do consulting work including helping the Chinese National team and several colleges as well as do individual hitting and pitching practice with the Excel players.
Kristell Williams, the Program Director for the Excel Elite program, explains: “We currently have 13 players in college, 15 signed, 15 who have verballed and around 20 in the organization with pending offers. We have based our program in the Dallas/Forth Worth and Louisiana areas with the intention to grow, but for now we are focused on building and developing strong young women and helping them achieve their dreams of playing softball at the next level while focusing on their education.”
“Coach Mike and I weekly go over athletes in our program, evaluate video and discuss on things to improve. Coach Lotief also works with high school players and consults with college coaches almost every day. With the knowledge Coach Mike brings, we could not have chosen a better founder for our growing program.”
Below are the two articles we did this fall presenting the ULL college player and Coach Lotief stories…
— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball
