Fresno State Athletics
Shipley Leaves Fresno State Women's Golf Team
8/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
Aug. 21, 2007
FRESNO, Calif. - Women's golf coach Angie Cates said today Fresno State junior Jennifer Shipley informed her she is quitting the Bulldog golf team.
Shipley's announcement, coming less than a week before the start of the 2007-08 academic year, coincided with an email to several local media outlets. Included in that email, Shipley alleges that she and other Fresno State student-athletes have been mistreated and that was the reason for her sudden departure from the program.
"I was certainly sad and shocked when Jennifer told me she was leaving the program," said Cates. "I was even more disturbed by her message to the media about mistreatment she and other athletes have faced. She has never discussed any such issues with me, and to my knowledge, with anyone else in the athletics department. With school starting on Monday, my focus is to get my team ready for this season. We wish Jennifer the best."
In response to Shipley's allegations, Betsy Mosher, Fresno State's Senior Associate Athletics Director for Administration and Program Integrity issued the following statement: "We have been notified of Jennifer Shipley's intention to forfeit her scholarship and no longer be a part of the Bulldog women's golf program. We are saddened by her decision. That said, we are extremely concerned about her comments of mistreatment. We have not been made aware of any mistreatment toward her or any members of the women's golf team. There simply is no foundation for mistreatment. While there were a couple issues that happened during her career, they were not uncommon for student-athletes at any school across the country. We believed Jennifer was flourishing as a student and an athlete, as she just concluded her best season on the golf team and was again recognized as a scholar-athlete. The timing of her decision is certainly a hardship on her teammates and Coach Cates."
Mosher and Cates will be available to the media at 4 p.m. today in the Josephine Theater in the Duncan Building.
Players Mentioned
