Craig Roberts Reviews

Mentally and physically abusive. We would almost always go over our practice hours in and out of season. When we lost he made us eat McDonald’s and said we didn’t deserve a proper meal (apple bees) then we all had to write him a letter on the word appreciation. I didn’t transfer until he told me I wasn’t slow physically but mentally I was I was retarded. I’ve seen him throw clip boards at players, kick soccer balls at them to “teach” how to make an accurate pass. Would not recommend him to anyone. Mind you we won the MAC conference my junior year so the complaints never got him fired. I think it was a mutual hate for him that rallied the girls together to play for ourselves and each other after everything he put us through. I will say the man can recruit top talent.

My experience under Craig was something I wouldn’t wish on anyone to go through. I witnessed and was subjected to verbal abuse on a daily basis. He’s a manipulative liar. Forces you to play through injuries. Literally calls his players “f****** stupid” to their faces. This man should NOT be allowed to coach, especially women. He’s a sexist, body shaming, sick human being. He does not belong in college sports, or any level for that matter. A coach should be a mentor. He was the exact opposite of that and sucked the love of the game right out of me and many of my teammates. I feel sad for those who have to go through what I did.

After having a negative experience with a coach at my first university, Craig did a wonderful job of convincing me to transfer and finish out my D1 college experience at Ball State, where he ensured me I would get the college soccer experience I had always dreamt of. I was very wrong. Craig was a master at creating the facade of being a wonderful, knowledgeable coach, but behind the scenes he treated his players, opposing team coaches and even his fellow coaching staff as if they were inferior to him with constant mind games, controlling behavior, inconsistencies in coaching decisions, verbal and emotional abuse. He was especially abrasive towards women, whether that be his players, female coaching staff or female athletic trainers. He was constantly displaying sexist behavior. An experience that stands out in my mind was when myself and my teammates walked into the locker-room one day to find that Craig had printed out pictures of various professional athletes, body-builders, etc. wearing sports bras & spandex and taped them onto the wall of our locker room telling us that these bodies are what men find “sexy” and these are the bodies we should be aspiring for. Need I say more?

As a player I have never fallen out of the game so quickly. Manipulative, verbally abusive and at times I found him to be sexist. He has a winning record which seemed to be really positive but the day to day experience was a horrible environment to be a part of. Wins are great but It’ll be the verbal abuse and sexist comments are what will always be remembered at Grambling

In my collegiate experience Craig was manipulative, controlling and a liar. While he was a good salesman for his team and university, Craig drained any passion I had for the game almost immediately and created a toxic environment for his players and coaching staff. Everything from your daily schedule and workout regimen to diet was controlled by this man. If you were deemed “not good enough” by Craig you’d be tasked with early morning fitness and extra supervised study hours on top of the regularly scheduled practice, weightlifting, games, etc. Craig ignores injuries and doesn’t believe in an “off day” for recovery, though advised otherwise. It is a shame Craig has put so many young women through these traumatic experiences.

If you want your mental health to be completely destroyed, then Craig Roberts is your guy. If you want to learn, grow, and have a healthy relationship with your coach and with the game, I cannot express enough how much I do NOT recommend him. Constant mental games, abuse, lies, and lack of compassion are what you will get with him. He won’t believe you when you’re sick and injured and will make you play anyway which WILL have long term effects. He will scream at every referee and opposing coach to the point where it’s embarrassing. I could go on for days- do not hire this man to coach women!

He is a fraud. Doesn’t. Know how to coach, wonder why he keeps moving from college to college…who interviews him? He is not loyal and lies to the student athletes

Personally wasn’t really a great fit to be coaching womens soccer. Made sexist comments regularly, would make derogatory comments to girls about their appearance and would justify it as “I just care about you and your fitness levels” but when he’s saying boys don’t like girls that look like that then it makes it a disappointing experience having a coach like that. He makes a very good first impression, but it was all downhill once he had you there for preseason where he has the power. And he knows he has the power. Abusive man, stay clear

He put winning above the health of his players. Said that concussions were the new 'thing' that people were exaggerating and would often try to overrule the AT. That was when I knew I no longer wanted to play for him. I signed up for 4 years to be 'coached' by this man and he had zero thought for any of his players. Thankfully I had great teammates who became lifelong friends to overshadow what can only be described as a very underwhelming, disappointing part of my career

Verbally abusive coach who tried to justify his behaviour as what was needed to win games. I’ve got friends who won games and still have great contact with their coaches after leaving their program. I can’t think of any players that would say that about Craig. Looking at other reviews I’m sad so many people had these experiences and he’s continued to go about abusing his power