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SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah gymnastics coach Tom Farden was placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately, the university announced Sunday night.
Farden was placed on administrative leave after the university deemed his conduct and actions, which were "not related to student-athlete welfare," as ones that "do not align with our values and expectations." The extent of what prompted the gymnastics coach being put on leave are not known at this time.
Carly Dockendorf, who has served as Farden's associate head coach, will be the interim head coach.
Though his actions were not reportedly related to gymnasts' welfare, Farden's coaching style has been called into question as of late. Several former athletes alleged that Farden verbally and emotionally abused them, but an outside investigation concluded in September said he did not engage in "any severe, pervasive or egregious acts."
The report, which was conducted by firm Husch Blackwell, said the alleged abuse "could not be independently corroborated" despite more than 45 people interviewed, including his 2022-23 team and former athletes. The report, however, recommended several actions, or checks, the university should take to ensure gymnast safety.
"While the findings of the independent review by Husch Blackwell concluded that coach Farden's actions were not 'severe, pervasive or egregious' by the objective standards of the SafeSport or NCAA policies, we still consider the experiences reported by members of the program over recent years with great care, compassion and sensitivity," Utah athletics director Mark Harlan said in a statement at the time.
"As you can read in the report," Harlan continued, "there were a handful of instances in which coach Farden should have demonstrated greater compassion and self-control, and better professionalism."
A month after the report was made public, former Utah gymnast Kara Eaker announced her retirement from the sport and withdrawal from the university after citing "verbal and emotional abuse."
"As a result, my physical, mental, and emotional health has rapidly declined," Eaker wrote on Instagram last month. "I had been seeing a university athletics psychologist for a year and a half and I'm now seeing a new provider twice a week because of suicidal and self-harm ideation and being unable to care for myself properly."
Eaker said the family atmosphere that was promised on her recruitment to the university was absent when she got there. The experience, she said, left her with "suicidal and self-harm ideation and being able to take care of myself properly."
"I was heartbroken to find the opposite in that I was training in an unhealthy, unsafe, and toxic environment," she wrote. "I have now reached a turning point and I am now speaking out for all women who can't because they are mentally debilitated and paralyzed by fear. I, too, find myself frozen in moments when fear takes over."
