Swimming World has just learned that there is an investigation into potential video and audio recordings within the women’s locker room at the Burdick Pool at Towson University.
Towson University spokesperson Marina Cooper confirmed the investigation after a request for comment by Swimming World.
“On Friday morning, October 16th, the president’s office at Towson University was contacted and informed of a situation concerning the women’s swimming and diving team. It was reported that team members had found a smart phone inside the team’s Burdick Pool locker room that may have captured video images and audio recordings of the student-athletes from inside the locker room. Immediately after receiving this information, the president’s office contacted the Towson University Police Department and an investigation was initiated. That investigation is ongoing.
Additionally, the university has been in contact with the members of the women’s swimming team to offer them any of our resources, support, counseling, etc. that they may need at this time. At Towson University our student’s welfare and well-being continues to be our top priority.”
Nothing more specific is known regarding who might be the target of this investigation, or whether any actual recordings were made. But, the entire Towson women’s swimming community has been rocked by this news.
Towson Swimming is set to compete against Georgetown in Washington, D.C. today, and no one else from the program has been available for comment.
More to come on this breaking news.
Phone taking the video belonged to the coach
Which coach?
I heard Maureen Mead but can’t believe Pat wasn’t involved. He needs to go.
Everything is alleged
A video was found of the Dive coach PLANTING the device. Suprised the University hasn’t fired both coaches. Doesn’t matter is Pat was involved or not. Dive coach is Mead’s wife and co-coach.
Coaching staff needs to be wiped completely. No parent in their right mind would send their child to this program if ANY of the coaches from the current team are still on the staff.
People on here need to take a step back. None of you know the whole story yet you are on here saying the whole coach staff needs to go. You are all absolutely nuts for making such ludicrous statements as the ones you’ve made, given how little info you know about the situation.
If you know more information than I do, you would not be saying that. Towson Swimming and Diving is a program that has been run by coaches with questionable morals. You have no idea where I have gotten my information from. No matter the motive of the video, it looks sexually deviant in the eyes of the public. Would you send your child to a program where something like this has occured? Doubt it.
All you know is what this article says I’m assuming so based off what it says you can’t even make an conclusion about all of it. So I respectfully ask for you to stop being a keyboard warrior and wait for more information to come out.
The swimmers know a lot more than the article is saying. And based on what the swimmers know they all need to go. I agree, they won’t be able to recruit anyone.
I highly doubt you know anything that the swimmers know. So please don’t be talking about what those swimmers know.
As a parent of a Towson swimmer all I can say is we LOVE Pat Mead. He is a very dedicated coach along with his assistant coaches. people need to keep their opinions to themselves if they don’t know whats going on. These kids love their team and are proud to be part of it.
I swim at Towson and I just want to see something happen fast so we can go on with our season and not have people wondering whats gonna happen next, and I hope this doesn’t affect any of the swimmers/divers or our program.
This is not the first strange story to come out of this program – there has been a lot of speculation and rumor about bullying and abuse by the coaching staff at this school. I have personally witnessed the head coach bragging about how he makes his swimmers cry and have recently heard he is restricting swimmers access to families and searching phones to check if swimmers are following the no contact rules. Can’t help but feel I dodged a bullet when I cancelled my recruiting trip.
You’re a liar. The coach does not bully anyone nor does he enforce a “no contact” policy. Your whole statement is full of nothing but lies. Sorry that whatever happened between you and the coaches compelled you to lie this way, but you should fact check before you post.
You should fact check before you repost. Had the university dealt with the issues raised through recent years this situation would not have happened. Pat Mead should have been removed from his coaching position a long time ago. I hope the university and the NCAA doesn’t continue to turn a blind eye to Pat Mead and his program.
What motivation would there be to lie? Let the numbers speak for themselves – it doesn’t take a college degree to see how many swimmers come back after one year let alone swim all four in this program – if it’s all because the swimmers that leave have ‘bad attitudes’ how do the coaches do that poor of a job in the recruiting process? Or was it the environment that made great swimmers that loved to swim want to transfer or quit? I do agree however that the swimmers on the team now need as much support as they can get and I only hope that this doesn’t prematurely end the swimming careers of even more swimmers.
I don’t know where you got that information but that is completely wrong. He has never restricted access to our family’s and searched through our phones. He has never bragged about making swimmers cry either. The only past problem on this team was bullying from one person and that person was cut from the team
I am happy to hear that wasn’t your experience, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t the experience of others.
You heard a bunch of crap.
Coach Pat is a horrible manipulative person. He treats the swimmers and the rest of the staff terrible. If this actually happened I would not be surprised to learn that he was the one who facilitated this nightmare. Coach Pat needs to go in order for this program to move forward. As terrible as this is… There have been other incidents with this coach. Get him out.
Your accusations are laughable. You aren’t a member of the team so how would you know what he is like? Your info is from a secondhand source so you really should not be commenting such things.
I know way too much about how this person has ruined the lives of girls and boys on this team. You are laughable for defending such an evil person who you know has done unspeakable things to these athletes.
My sister and her friends swam at towsen for three years and all of them confirm that Pat is a horrid man. You are obviously affiliated with him, his family or the coaching staff. Please try and understand that you are defending a cause and man not worthy of any sympathy.
you might actually be insane.
Towson*
Tell me what evil things that he’s done. Tell me one thing.
The fact that you are getting so riled up in the comment sections on a swimming website is pretty ridiculous.
Fat shaming. Making fun of the girls. Manipulation. Cheating. People are right, let the investigation play out… Let the other coaches prove they have done nothing…but expose this terrible person. This has been going on long enough.
So just because he says someone needs to lose weight strictly for a performance increase he fat shames? Sorry your daughter got told she needed to lose some weight, but you saying that makes him an evil man is absurd. And for the “brother” who can’t spell Towson, hop off bro.
Don’t even have a child that goes to towson… Just know way too much about the program. I notice you didn’t want to discuss the manipulation and cheating… I am done with this conversation. Good luck towson. You have investigated him many times before. Hopefully you make the right call this time.
These rumors are false. Coach Pat is an amazing coach and loves his swimmers. He has helped me become a better swimmer and a better person.
Definitely seeing some past swimmers posting on here that were cut, you all need to back off because you have nothing to do with this it doesnt concern you. Stop holding a grudge for being cut because you either weren’t good enough or had a terrible attitude. Stop bringing up the past in this and personally attacking the head coach when its still not clear who orchestrated this. Let the investigation play itself out and whatever happens happens. And to the individual saying that they restricted contact to family that’s probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, dont talk about things you don’t know anything about. And anyone that posts saying that the entire coaching staff should be fired clearly doesn’t know that they just hired a new assisstant coach this year so he has nothing to do with your past “pain” although I would really like to know how the coaching staff made your lives so terrible.
As a former swimmer for this program I can only ask that everyone stops making accusations and wild remarks on articles like this. The university and police will continue their investigation and make a call based in the facts of the case. What is really important is to support the current athletes who are living through all of this. The added stress of this situation can have no positive effect on their school work, athletic performance, or their overall wellbeing. So instead of talking about (who did what and why they did it) why don’t we all consider the feelings of the young adults who are all dealing with a situation that most of us wouldn’t know how to handle with many more years of life experience. I stand behind the current athletes both male and female. I may be a few thousand miles away from burdick now but I swam in that same pool. If you need anything you will know who to reach out to.
TU you know!
As someone close to the team, I can personally speak for how corrupt the majority of the coaching staff is at Towson. Myself and others to varying degrees were all lied to from the moment we stepped foot here on our recruiting trip. I didn’t have time to read ALL the comments but perhaps the morally questionable thing that head coach Pat Mead had done in the last decade is had sex with one of his own swimmers while she was swimming for him. However I personally think overrecruiting and then cutting a swimmer for looking for an internship the summer after his junior year is pretty messed up too. I could and have gone on for hours about how unethical coach Pat is about the way he runs his team. Whether his wife took the video to see if people were talking bad about the team, or for some perverted sexual purpose, I don’t really care. The head coaching staff is long overdue for replacement.
@swimmerworldmagazine would you please ensure that the picture of this swimmer is immediately omitted from this article? The picture adds no value to the article. Thank you.
Hi Douglas.
Hit refresh. We already switched the picture a few hours ago for similar reasoning.
It should be showing a generic black line.
Sorry Jason, didn’t work on the initial post
To the person who was commenting on this article referring to my swimming career at the start of the season please do not write anything else. You’re not me and you are not the coach so therefore you do not fully know why I am no longer swimming. Good luck to the Towson swimming program and stay positive during this time.
-Ryan
If there is enough information in any of these comments that allows you to identify yourself that says a lot to what is truth vs rumor. I am so sorry for you that you are no longer swimming, I only hope your choice to attend Towson allows you to get your education. Best of luck.
Let’s pretend for a moment that Pat and Maureen have nothing to do with this. A normal response from them would be to be on Facebook telling us everything about it that they have nothing to do with it etc. Lord knows that they badgered us to donate to the Alumni Challenge.
What are two educated individuals that make 148K and 61K doing placing a camera in the locker room. Good luck getting a job with that kind of pay after this. Should have taken the Penn State job.
Trust me. He was never offered that Penn State job despite what he told our team
For anyone wondering, I did not write that comment.
Everyone needs to chill on this thread… Pat and Maureen are great people, parents, and coaches…. No specific facts have been released, we can’t go jumping to conclusions. Good luck to the TU swim and dive team through this emotional challenge, we support you guys.
To all the people complaining and fighting on this forum or any other, please stop. If you have/had a problem with any of the coaches then you should’ve gone to our Sports Administrator, the Director of Compliance, and/or the Athletic Director like I did.
This is not the time to fight, but rather a time to come together and show support. Stop pursing your own agenda and think of the magnitude and severity of this event and ALL those involved. These athletes had their privacy and bodies violated and you shouldn’t be trying to capitalize on the situation.
Well stated Sawyer. Your maturity is well beyond your years.
Prayers for all involved, past, present and future. For those that need healing I hope that it comes quickly. For those that need help, reach out and we will do all that we can to help.
I look forward to helping plan the path forward for this team. They are excellent student/athletes and need all of the support that we can give.
Bottom line. A phone was on record in a girls locker room. This is wrong everywhere and should be dealt with accordingly.
Are there any updates on this story?
Nothing reportable at this time.
With the Louisville basketball team scandal taking priority within the college sports media world, how has nothing be done about this issue?
It is a little disheartening there has been no updates – has swimming world pushed for a statement?
We’ve regularly been in contact with Towson. They haven’t commented other than a minor update wanting to make sure people knew that it was only the women’s swimming locker room and that there wasn’t a widespread set of recording going on.
Lots of rumors about this one, but nothing reportable.
Really disturbing, Towson officials want us ton know it was limited to Women’s Swimming locker room??? Like that makes it okay??
I go to another University and one of the Towson Divers is already looking to switch schools. They have already started emailing coaches to transfer because of what happened. They still don’t know who is responsible, so I wouldn’t start blaming people because of rumors, this is not high school.
The Towson University Administration, Towson University Police, and all members of the Towson Swimming and Diving Team know who is responsible. The University needs to take action and get these student athletes out of limbo so they can effectively practice and concentrate on their school work!
I can’t agree more.
If (1) there really is a serious criminal investigation into this and (2) there is any possibility of a criminal prosecution, then it will probably be at least a couple months before anything is announced. For example, it would be a really good idea to obtain a warrant before having a forensic examination done on the phone. Forensic examinations done on electronic storage devices, such as phones or computers, are tricky to do properly, and you would not want to mess up the search because it creates a lot of problems for the person who had the search done later. Once that is done, and it may not be yet, there are other steps in the process of determining whether to begin a criminal prosecution. Depending upon what is learned and who is talking to whom, that takes time. And, during that time, everyone involved who is sensible will be keeping really quiet, at least in public (whether anyone eventually decides to “sing” to the police and the prosecutor could be a different story).
The University must follow its process in any investigation, as well as work with local authorities investigating. In being hasty, or premature, the university and the police agencies risk violating due process which means they’d lose the opportunity to catch and punish anyone who may have done wrong. Patience is advised, and that is, admittedly, difficult advice to follow. I do not work at or for WKU, but do work at a college. This is not an unusual amount of time. At the same time if it drags on too long, the press will step up its pressure. WKU has every reason to be thorough and complete in its investigation as well as cooperate with investigating agencies…remember it’s never the crime but the attempted cover-up that usually makes it public and ugly. My guess is they want to get it right, and it takes time to do that.
I am confused as to what WKU has to do with this story? I understand that that Towson wants to make sure they are doing everything by the book, but can’t help but feel that the lack of any action is having a negative effect on the team, training and recruiting.
My fault. And, good catch. Was thinking about both cases, and smooshed them together. At the same, my statement as to following proper, established investigative route with authorities and providing due process are still true, in both cases at both institutions.