Come back every Tuesday for Recruiting Horror Stories™, athletes' first-hand stories on what can go wrong during the recruiting process.

Have you ever had a coach who constantly talks badly about someone who is not present to defend themselves? Well, one athlete had an experience that brings a whole new meaning to talking about people behind their backs. 

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When Karrington* visited a prospective community college to meet with the soccer coach, she had an important decision to make, not knowing the coach would make the decision easy for her.

The Other School

The coach asked about her options, and she mentioned there possibly being another school in the running. Let's call them Olivery College*, with Coach Handleton* and Mountain Hearse College*, with Coach Levinson*. She told Coach Handleton that it was between them and Mountain Hearse, who she had been leaning more towards at the time. Coach Handleton did not take that news very well–he immediately started to bash on Coach Levinson and talk down upon the program they had built at Mountain Hearse. He claimed that Coach Levinson is a horrible coach, and it would be a mistake to attend Mountain Hearse. 

To add on, he went the extra mile to pull up multiple players that had previously attended Mountain Hearse. He showed each player's profile and the exact playing time they had received at their new schools after transferring from Mountain Hearse. He was adamant about getting Karrington to change her mind. The decision, however, had already been made the second he started to show his disrespectful side. 

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This kind of behavior made Karrinngton feel disgusted and confused, especially because all of those players he pulled up were on the Mountain Hearse team that beat Olivery College in previous years.  

Catching the Red Flag

Coaches will do anything to get players to attend their school, even if that means talking badly about other coaches and teams. Deterioration was Coach Handleton's tactic that did not succeed in the long run. Who knows if this is the first or last time he would ruthlessly talk down upon a program; if not, he probably has continued to ruin his own program as years go on. 

Karma Catches Up

Karrington ultimately attended and thrived at Mountain Hearse college, where she got her revenge–Mountain Hearse ended up beating Olivery College multiple times throughout her time there. To go one step further, Karrington is now transferring to a DIl program. Leveling up has never felt so good

*Names have been changed for anonymity.

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* Originally published on January 24, 2023, by Daesha Harper