Detroit Mercy keeping women's basketball coach AnnMarie Gilbert despite accusations

Detroit Mercy has affirmed its commitment to women’s basketball coach AnnMarie Gilbert despite allegations of NCAA violations and player mistreatment.

The Titans announced the cancelation of the remainder of the 2020-21 season on Jan. 20 after a letter sent by 14 players and their parents to athletic director Robert Vowels Jr. about the alleged actions of the first-year coach, a former Michigan State assistant whose five-year tenure as head coach at Eastern Michigan ended in 2012 with the school being placed on NCAA probation.

UDM in a statement said it conducted an internal review and submitted the findings to the NCAA but plans to keep Gilbert.

“Coach AnnMarie Gilbert will continue as its head coach,” the school said in a release. “The University has implemented additional measures to ensure that the women’s basketball program operates consistently within the core values and mission of Detroit Mercy and the bylaws of the NCAA. The University is submitting its report to the NCAA.”

Detroit Mercy hired Gilbert to replace Bernard Scott, went 42-109 in five seasons with the Titans. They finished the winter 1-13 overall and 1-9 in Horizon League play in Gilbert's debut.

The Free Press obtained a copy of the letter and contacted multiple parents who confirmed the authenticity of the letter while expressing their frustrations with how Gilbert has treated their daughters since she was hired April 24, 2020.

In it, the letter accused Gilbert of creating an environment “so toxic and draining that players have made comments in the locker room about having suicidal thoughts as well as purposely injuring themselves” to avoid potentially having to deal with Gilbert’s alleged “belittling and emotional abuse.”

Other allegations included players reporting Gilbert told them not to tell trainers if they believed they were injured, “disregard or not report” COVID-19 symptoms if they felt sick on game days and violations of NCAA rules that require athletes and teams not exceed 20 hours of countable athletically related activities per week, among other accusations.

Players also expressed concern to Vowels that Gilbert was trying to force them to enter the NCAA transfer portal and reset the roster. She also allegedly told them not to speak to the athletic director. He told them he did want them to transfer because “I think the best place for you is right here because I’m here.”

Eight Titans went into the NCAA transfer portal since January — Kaela Webb, Markyia McCormick, Sylare Starks, Brigid Fox, Maddie Puletti, Aly Reiff and Annika Corcoran in January and February; and Sammiyah Hoskins on April 2. Maxine Moore entered the portal March 18 but has since withdrew her name.

Gilbert resigned as Eastern Michigan’s head coach in 2012 and was given a two-year show-cause by the NCAA for multiple violations of excess practice time and recruiting issues.The Eagles placed themselves on two years of probation for self-reported NCAA violations tied to practice and recruiting under Gilbert in the 2009-10 season. She was suspended without pay for a month and her salary was frozen for the 2010-11 season following a two-month investigation by EMU's compliance office, received a letter of reprimand and underwent mandatory counseling during her suspension. Gilbert also was required to attended an NCAA regional rules seminar and apologize to team members.

The NCAA added two more years to EMU’s probation in late 2012 after Gilbert resigned, also giving her the show-cause for failure to monitor her program and further violations of practice rules and illegally working out recruits.

The former Ohio University and Oberlin star went 94-64 record with the Eagles, winning the Mid-American Conference and making the NCAA tournament in her final season before resigning.

The 52-year-old sat out three years and returned after her show-cause expired in 2015 to Division II Virginia Union, where she went 135-18 at Virginia Union in five seasons that included an appearance in the 2017 Division II national title game before landing the Detroit Mercy job.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Mercy keeping coach AnnMarie Gilbert amid player accusations