Former players accuse Iowa State women’s soccer coach of verbal abuse, body shaming

DES MOINES – A former Iowa State University women's soccer player has accused head coach Matt Fannon of creating a toxic team culture through verbal abuse, emotional outbursts and body shaming.

In addition, a former player for Fannon at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where he previously was head coach, has accused him of body shaming and controlling behavior there. That player filed a Title IX complaint accusing him of sexual harassment, but the school deemed the complaint unfounded.

Olivia Wee, a star at Ankeny (Iowa) Centennial High School who earned a soccer scholarship to play at Iowa State, made her accusations against Fannon in multiple interviews with the Des Moines Register. Former Bowling Green goalie Alyssa Abernot spoke on the record, too.

Over the course of a six-month investigation, the Register also spoke to seven former players and another person associated with the Iowa State women's soccer program during Fannon's tenure. All declined to speak on the record for fear of retaliation, but each confirmed Wee's general description of an unhealthy team culture. Some verified specific instances when Fannon threw water bottles across the field and kicked balls at his coaches in anger. The Register also spoke with three other former Bowling Green players who praised Fannon.

According to Iowa State's online rosters, at least 17 players have transferred, quit or were kicked off the team since Fannon arrived in 2019. The Register's count excludes 2022 first year players and other new members of the team.

The Register reached out for comment from Fannon; Jamie Pollard, Iowa State's director of athletics; and Calli Sanders, senior associate athletics director/sports administration. Fannon did not respond to an email or request through the school seeking an interview. Pollard and Sanders refused interviews through a school spokesperson.

The team's record under Fannon in his first two seasons was 8-17-5. The 2022 season has seen the Cyclones compile a 3-9-4 record heading into Thursday's regular season finale.

Wee played early in her Iowa State career, appearing in nine games as a true freshman in 2019. She played during the fall of 2020, then walked away for good in December 2021.

Wee and the eight others interviewed by the Register said change is sorely needed within the program. Wee worries about team members' mental health.

“Not everyone’s able to advocate for themselves,” Wee said.

When Matt Fannon arrived, players were hopeful. Then came bullying, crying, panic attacks, some former players say.

Fannon replaced Tony Minatta, who resigned in October 2019. Minatta compiled a 33-72-6 mark over six seasons in Ames. The announcement of his resignation came with one game remaining in the season.

ISU tapped Fannon two months later. Fannon had guided Bowling Green to a 41-18-7 mark in three seasons and taken the Falcons to the NCAA Tournament in his last two seasons.

“Matt’s vision for bringing competitive and academic excellence along with cultivating leadership and service in his program aligns perfectly with our goals," Sanders said in a release announcing his hire. "His knowledge of soccer is elite and his charisma, leadership and desire positions us for future excellence.”

Likewise, his new players were excited and hoped he could turn around a struggling program. 

“When he showed up, we were like, 'This guy’s great. He seems like he really cares about us — I’m excited about the way he’s going to do stuff,'” Wee said.

But excitement soon turned to discomfort.

Wee and seven others said Fannon cursed out players and bullied and insulted athletes and assistants on his staff.

Three former athletes described seeing teammates crying in the locker room before and after practices and said some suffered panic attacks. Two said they had hoped the 2020 season would be canceled due to COVID-19 because of the mental toll Fannon's conduct was taking.

During one practice, Fannon mocked international players who were recruited to Iowa State, a former player said. He asked one international athlete who had trouble adjusting if “her brain was off."

The Register was also told that Fannon, against the urging of his assistant coaching staff, had players participate in a drill that some staff and players believed to be unsafe and resulted in multiple injuries. During the drill, players stood across from each other. The ball was placed in the middle of them, about 2 to 3 yards from both. Fannon then directed players to rush toward the ball and fight for possession.

Wee, who suffered Achilles tendonitis and knee and foot injuries during her time with the team, said she was forced to continue practicing while injured.

Former players say Fannon forced excessive weigh-ins

Wee and others associated with Iowa State's program who spoke to the Register said Fannon instituted weigh-ins before and after practices. Players were directed to write their weights on a sheet that was left out for everyone to see, they said.

According to one former player, Fannon didn't allow team members to eat anything with sugar and switched out the team's Gatorade at practice. He limited food available in the locker room and options in the meals catered to the team, and told restaurants not to bring chips, cookies or anything he deemed unhealthy, the player said.

Coaches' pressure on female athletes regarding their weight has become a focus of national attention in recent years. Athletes around the country have spoken out about depression, anxiety and eating disorders that they say stem from a culture of body shaming.

Victoria Jackson, a sports historian/clinical assistant professor of history at Arizona State University, said before and after practice weigh-ins should not be done on a daily basis, especially in front of others. Jackson said the constant weigh-ins could have negative affects.

"It makes those who might be susceptible for disordered eating behaviors ripe for that," Jackson said.

Jackson, who ran track at the University of North Carolina and won a national championship at 10,000 meters for ASU, believes more coaches should be learning that daily weigh-ins are not appropriate, productive or safe.

"It might be well-intended, but too many times we've seen it has more to do with power and control than it does with actual performance," she said.

Former Bowling Green player also alleges controlling approach toward weight

Abernot, the former Bowling Green goalie, said Fannon took the same controlling approach there about what players ate and forced them to weigh in before and after practice.

Abernot said Fannon commented about the size of her shirt at practice and intentionally put her in the back of team pictures to hide her physique. During a one-on-one meeting in September 2018, he told her she should get breast reduction surgery, Abernot said.

"He was like, 'If you want to be successful here, you'll do that, like get it today if you can,' all this stuff," Abernot said. "He wasn't really saying why. It was more like, 'You'll feel better. You'll look better. That was kind of it.'"

Abernot, who wanted playing time, got the surgery. She said doctors told her she'd need to take at least six weeks off from soccer to rest. But Abernot said Fannon made her do bike work, and she believes that led to an infection that required more surgery.

Abernot said she developed an eating disorder, became depressed, suicidal and needed therapy.

"I was really naïve, and he totally took advantage of that," Abernot said.

Abernot filed a Title IX complaint against Fannon. Vincent Briedis, Bowling Green's assistant athletic director for strategic communications, told the Register in September 2022 that he could not find any complaints lodged against Fannon. The school later confirmed the existence of Abernot's complaint after an open records request by the Register.

The school declined to provide a copy, citing student athlete "federal privacy law," but released it after Abernot signed a form permitting its release. A report on the investigation said there was “insufficient information … by a preponderance of the evidence, to find any violation related to Abernot’s surgery or discussions related to her surgery.”

The report said that “although the evidence demonstrates that Fannon was uncomfortable and relieved by Abernot’s announcement that she was considering surgery, his response does not establish harassment or any policy violation.”

Natalie Jackson, the school's general counsel said in an email Monday that Abernot's complaint was the only one the staff could find.

The Register last week asked Iowa State's Equal Opportunity Office for copies of any Title IX complaints filed against Fannon. Angie Hunt, Iowa State's news service director, said the school could not comment whether any Title IX complaints or complaints in general have been filed against Fannon. Hunt cited privacy reasons. Wee said she has not filed a Title IX complaint.

Other Bowling Green players praise Fannon

Three other Bowling Green State athletes who played for Fannon said they enjoyed the experience and he helped them become better players.

Fannon quickly built trust with the Bowling Green players, a key ingredient to their success, Morgan Abbitt said.

“We’d all come from a really difficult situation with our previous coach, and Matt came in and we all believed in him right away and kind of bought into what we thought we could be as a program," she said.

Fannon maintained an open door policy and tried to get the best from each person, said Chelsee Washington, who plays as a pro for the Orlando Pride. "He was obviously trying to push us to be athletically more successful."

“I went through a big athletic transformation between my sophomore and my junior years playing under Matt," Washington said. "I think he kind of took the time to learn me, not only as a player but as a person and helped push me to this level that I didn’t really know I have… I had a great end to my collegiate career, which led me to play professional now.”

Skylar Fleak, who played for him as a senior, said she was grateful for that year and wished there would have been more.

“I really, really wish that I would have gotten to have all four years with him because … I know that my overall college soccer career, that experience would have been 100 times better," she said.

Wee says Iowa State athletic department officials 'brushed off' concerns

Wee said Fannon told her in February 2020 that she wasn’t good enough to play at Iowa State and that he couldn’t coach her. That shocked her after she had played as a freshman in fall 2019. He suggested she transfer, Wee said.

Wee opted out for the spring 2021 season. She said she was battling anxiety and depression from her experiences on the Iowa State team.

In late June of 2021, her father, Randy Wee, exchanged emails with Pollard, in which he said the program had a "toxic environment that people didn't want to be a part of." He asked to speak with Pollard about his concerns.

Pollard declined, saying that students have multiple avenues to voice their complaints and the Wees should talk to Sanders, the Iowa State athletics administrator who oversees women's soccer. He also said he was "not willing to meet with a parent until I know the student athlete has met with" the sport's administrator.

Further, Pollard wrote in the June 2021 email: "Coach Fannon is dealing with very similar challenges to what others have faced when they took over a program that was not having the level of success we desire."

Olivia Wee said she had previously brought her concerns about Fannon to Sanders on at least two occasions, at the beginning of 2021 and soon after, and had told Sanders about the environment within Fannon's program.

"I told her about how I felt like we were being mistreated and not really heard," Wee said. She also told her that she believed Fannon's actions had caused her to have mental health issues.

Wee said she didn't believe Sanders took her concerns seriously. Wee also tried to schedule a meeting with Sanders to talk about her future with the program and wanted to bring her parents, but Sanders resisted that.

Sanders eventually agreed to meet with Wee and her parents in October 2021. Wee's mother, Nicole Wee, believes Sanders wanted to have the meeting without them so Iowa State could pull her daughter's scholarship for allegedly not completing a step in her mental health plan when she left the team.

Olivia Wee said the final straw in her relationship with Fannon came in December 2021, when she had a meeting with him about possibly returning to the team. She said Fannon acted uninterested in how she was doing and told her she wouldn't play even if she came back.

Later that month, Wee reached out to Sanders. Sanders wrote to Wee that she didn't "foresee a smooth transition back to the team," and that the relationship with Fannon was "fractured."

Sanders offered to keep her on scholarship with the condition that Wee could no longer be part of the team. Wee decided to stay at ISU to continue pursuing a double major of dietetics and exercise science.

Nick Joos, senior associate athletics director in communications, said in an email to the Register Monday night that Pollard and Sanders had said no accusations against Fannon of berating coaches and players, body shaming and conducting weigh-ins before and after practice "have been brought to their attention."

Others have left the program, including at least six staff members, according to a person associated with the program. The same person said that at least three players sent the school anonymous complaints about Fannon.

Wee said she met with a lawyer to discuss suing Fannon and the school, but decided not to. She insists her motivation is to see change, so other players don't have to experience what she did.

"I just don't want people to have to continue to go through mental abuse because clearly it's continuing to go on, people are continuing to quit and transfer," Wee said. "I just don't want someone to have to go through that again." 

Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468. Follow him on Twitter @TommyBirch.