Gregg Marshall, ex-players speak out in support of Jody Adams

This week, Wichita State's Jody Adams has come under fire, with accusations of mental abuse and harsh treatment of former players, during her tenure as coach. Adams has been castigated by former players who said their experience was discomfiting.

But now there are ex-players speaking out on her behalf, and Shockers men's basketball coach Gregg Marshall has issued you a statement, which supports Adams and her coaching style.

The statement said, "I've always known Jody to be very intense and demanding," Marshall said. "I've never seen her, in the seven years we've worked together, do anything that I would consider crossing the line. I know she holds herself and her team to a very high standard."

In an article by the Wichita Eagle, other former athletes voiced their experience at Wichita State, and how it wasn't as bad as others have articulated. Here is some of the piece:

"In 2009-10, Henderson was a senior who played with a group of freshmen such as Chynna Turner, Jessica Diamond and Jazimen Gordon who led WSU to its first MVC title and NCAA appearance in 2013. Players left during that time and Turner considered them athletes who did not want to meet the program's standards and blamed Adams for their shortcomings.

"The people who thrived, we pushed through," Turner said. "She's given us the right tools to succeed."

Gordon, a current member of the WSU staff as a graduate manager, said she has not witnessed the verbal abuse claimed by some and strongly denied a report of coaches throwing basketballs at players or making them hold concrete boulders until their arms bled. As a manager, she is around the team during practices and conditioning and in the locker room, she said.

"In my six seasons, I've never seen Jody, or any coach, throw anything at a player," Gordon said. "It's shocking to me to see some statements being made."

Gordon, like other players, described her tenure as a player as full of challenges and hard times.

"Was my experience the happy-go-lucky, perfect experience?" she said. "I would say no. I will say it's made me the woman I am today. I wouldn't change too much of anything. If anything, I would change how I reacted."

And former assistant Wichita State assistant Carlai Moore spoke about the situation:

"Those stories come with every program," Moore said. "There are many kids that leave for different reasons. Most of the time, kids that leave are not a good fit. Every kid who goes to college is a superstar somewhere. Things begin to change."

Also, athletic director Eric Sexton has issued a statement on that matter, "We take student welfare very seriously and I am deeply concerned by the reports this week that members of the women's basketball team felt demeaned, rather than motivated, by the coaching they received."

Earlier this week, Wichita State president John Bardo commissioned Dr. Julie Scherz, a faculty athletics representative, to "look into" the matter of recent transfers.