More than three years after complaints of athlete mistreatment were first filed against Maggie Haney with USA Gymnastics, the sport’s embattled national governing body will hold a hearing next week on the charges against the New Jersey-based coach of Olympic and world champion gymnasts.
As many as 11 gymnasts and members of their families are expected to participate in the hearing on verbal and emotional abuse charges against Haney, according to two people familiar with the case. USA Gymnastics originally had a list of as many as 15 witnesses against Haney.
USA Gymnastics is also investigating whether Haney threatened to retaliate against gymnasts and others in the sport if they made allegations against her to USA Gymnastics or the media, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
The witnesses will appear via a video conference before a three-member hearing panel beginning Tuesday. The hearing could run three days.
Haney, 41, a former North Carolina State standout, continues to coach Riley McCusker, a member of Team USA’s 2018 World Championship-winning squad, and others at MG Elite Gymnastics in Monmouth, N.J. McCusker is considered a contender for multiple medals at next summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Jessica McCusker, Riley’s mother, declined comment when asked Thursday about the hearing.
USA Gymnastics officials first received complaints about Haney’s alleged mistreatment of young gymnasts in 2016 shortly after the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and as the organization’s president Steve Penny and other top officials were scrambling to contain the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
Haney is alleged to have screamed and cursed at, threatened, bullied, and harassed more than a dozen gymnasts on a regular basis according to USA Gymnastics documents obtained by the Southern California News Group and interviews. Haney is also alleged to have told injured gymnasts to remove medical devices such as boot casts and continue training and competing, according USA Gymnastics documents and interviews.
McCusker pulled out of USA Gymnastics World Championships team selection camp in September because of rhabdomyolysis, a syndrome where muscle tissue is damaged because of injury or over exertion and can lead to kidney damage. Rhabdomyolysis is frequently associated with overtraining. Her withdrawal came a month after she was scratched from the U.S. Championships in Kansas City, saying that she was physically ill.
Russell Prince, Haney’s attorney, was not available for comment, according to his law firm. USA Gymnastics did not respond to a request for comment.
USA Gymnastics general counsel Mark Busby has been aware of the complaints against Haney since 2017, according to USA Gymnastics and three people familiar with the investigation. Busby in recent months has contacted families of gymnasts who left MG Elite in recent years, according to three people familiar with the case.
Haney first gained international attention earlier this decade as the coach of Laurie Hernandez, a gold and silver medalist at the 2016 Olympic Games.
Hernandez took more than a year off from the sport after the Rio de Janeiro Games. She returned to gymnastics in 2018 and is training at Gym-Max in Costa Mesa, the same club that produced Olympic and World champion Kyla Ross. Hernandez hopes to make the 2020 Olympic team and participated in USA Gymnastics team camp last month.
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