AIRAN SCRUBY
Editor In Chief
Women’s lacrosse Head Coach Paul Ramsey has been removed from his position with the team, pending an investigation.
Ramsey said he could not comment on the situation until he had spoken with a lawyer and with campus officials.
“Right now no comment would be the best thing for everyone on the team and for me,” Ramsey said.
Dean of Student Affairs Mark Davis said he could not yet comment on the issue, but said that any concern presented about a Pepperdine employee would be handled as a student grievance, as outlined in the Student Handbook.
Associate Dean Rick Marrs said the suspension was a personnel issue that he could not discuss.
Members of the lacrosse team said they would not comment because they were told by Campus Recreation officials to keep the situation private until more was known.
Freshman Greta Miersma, who quit the team this semester because of scheduling conflicts, expressed her confidence in the team.
“The girls on the team are all great girls and excellent lacrosse players, and Paul is in love with the sport,” Miersma said.
Ramsey was hired during the 2004-2005 lacrosse season, the third season of the sport for Pepperdine. He has been coaching since 1990 and accepted a position at Pepperdine after two years as an assistant coach at Hofstra University in New York and five years as head coach at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.
Catie Royal, a 2005 Pepperdine alumna who captained the women’s lacrosse team in Ramsey’s first year as a coach, said she found nothing unusual about his coaching style or interaction with players.
Royal said she knew Ramsey as a man who spent time starting new lacrosse programs at varying levels.
Among these programs, according to the Pepperdine women’s lacrosse Web site, are the Western Women’s Lacrosse League in 1991, and the Malibu Lacrosse Association, which provides a league for first through eighth grade girls in Malibu, with teams coached by Pepperdine players.
Since Ramsey took over as head coach, the team has grown in size, and qualified this year for post-season play for the first time in program history.
According to lacrosse team members, the team will be coached by assistant coaches Sydney Greene and Juliet Mittleman in Ramsey’s absence.
01-25-2007
