Gene Cross resigns as UT head coach after two seasons

Why is he being paid until August?

Is this right ? In 2 years, the guy got paid more than $600K, between his salary & tv deals ?

I don't know if the 600k is correct or not, but if it is, that is $54,000 per win!

Good riddance. Maybe they'll get some real talent for a change.

Academic leaders come and go at universities, and various educational conflicts immeasurably important than a basketball or football game are won and lost for our kids, yet what makes the news? Another example of our mixed up priorities in this country.

I was looking forward to a more experienced team next year and what could have been.

They should hire that coach from the BG women's team...the guy who talkshh like thishhh. Bet he's a better deal for 300k year.

According to today's Blade; it looks like Gene was a Poon-Daddy.

This could get interesting after reading the Blade article.

At least he was "poon'in" in a good neighborhood.

I don't understand what the big deal is, with a letter written by some ex-girlfriend.

What's the big deal here ? If the coach wanted to date several different women, at the same time, why should it matter to The University of Toledo or its athletic director ?

However, if some girlfriend made allegations that this coach was a regular drug user or liked to view child-porn, then I could see where that might be important and people would take notice. Not that I've heard anything along these lines. I haven't. I'm just using these as examples.

Maybe there's more to this story, that just hasn't come out yet.

It sounds like this Dawn Gears woman might be a real psycho.

Let's see - Gene Cross is a 38 year old unmarried man. If he's having "relationships" with multiple women, who cares?

What kind of woman writes a letter to her lover's employer when she finds out that he's also sleeping with other women? A crazy one. Sheesh.

Gene Cross might not be married, but apparently Dawn Gears is.

A little hypocritical of her to write a letter to UT, when she was the one doing the cheating, don't you think?

http://www.jeffgearsmaa.com/Bedford-Michigan-martial-arts-instructors.html

Master Gears was born, raised and continues to live in Toledo with his wife Dawn and their two children.

It is usually not a good idea to mess around with a married woman, but it is a particularly bad idea to mess around with a married woman whose husband is a martial arts instructor. And as for the question why the letter was just mailed week, Lucas County Court of Common Pleas docket shows that Dawn and Jeff Gears divorced last month. Cross should have heeded the adage about hell having no fury like a woman scorned.

Glad everyone else picked up on this - I have been privy to some inside information on this story, and I didn't want to be the one to point out the hidden dirty laundry. Nice digging, all.

Well, lay it on us, Mike.

The outlines of the story are sketched fairly well above. I just know someone who knows Jeff and Dawn well who spoke to me at length about this a few weeks ago, and my wife and son trained with Jeff Gears, so I have at least a passing familiarity with the individuals involved. All I could add are some prurient second-hand details and gossip, which may have been embellished by the source (someone who has loooong disliked Dawn).

All I will say is that Gene Cross probably regrets ever meeting Dawn, and.... nah, I better use good judgment here. :-)

Guys like Gene Cross probably look at Toledo as a 'big city' where you can pretty much do what you want, act how you want, and it all blends in unnoticed.

In reality, like everywhere else, this city's broken down by communities and in this instance you have the University of Toledo 'community', the Ottawa Hills 'community' and the Sylvania 'community.'

And information--whether accurate or not--travels very fast within those communities.

At least some people within those locales are privy to the purported 'details' of the letter written, most likely third and fourth-hand as the tongues begin to wag.

It's a litany of slime and bad conduct alledgedly detailed within that letter but there's no formal charges filed of any kind, no laws broken.

Gene Cross should have been more discreet in what he did with his personal life while in the public eye as the head basketball coach of the town's major university and the letter-writer should probably never have signed her name to a document that is probably available on the internet at this point by those who know how to find such things, putting her personal life and those of her family out there foe all to see.

What do you think about John Lucas replacing Cross? That could be a boost for Rocket basketball. I don't know what he is doing these days but could prove to be an incentive for local talent to stay home.

To set record straight, I'm Jeff Gears Dawn's ex-husband. We filed for divorce in March of 2009, lived in seperate homes, divorce was agreed to in November, not filed until January based on accountants and attorneys advice to allow joint filing for 2009.

This way you have details from the source.

Still listed on my business website as married because I forgot to have webmaster change that.

thanks for bringing that to my attention it will be taken care of tooday

It looks to me like a gossip column--not real news. Ridiculous. Worse yet, it looks like the writer of the article threw out all ethical consideration. Case in point-- a) why would you print the woman's name from a letter that was not signed, and you verified that you did not talk to her to verify she did indeed write the letter? and b) why would you print the name of a child whose father was being accused of such stuff?

I happen to be close to the people involved and I can say that the letter was meant to be private as Dawn was "standing" up for the women that were too weak to stand up for themselves, i.e., the woman screaming inside the home of Cross and the confrontations he had with another woman.
She happens to be a brave, strong woman that advocates for others.
Given that no laws were broken, why did Cross feel he needed to resign?? Read between the lines people!!!
You are trying to kill the messenger-

He resigned because he sucked at coaching. At least at UT. All the other stuff is just the train wreck that you can't help but look at.

toomuchchatter, I'm certainly no advocate for Gene Cross, I'm simply pointing out that if his relationships with women got 'too physical', i.e. abusive, I would believe someone would file a police report.

All the women Cross were alledgedly seeing were too weak to do so?

Everything is hearsay if there's no official report.

I agree with SensorG.

If no laws were broken, then I could care less who he dated or what took place between him and those other women.

I still find it bizarre that a woman would write a "tell all" letter to a man's employer. If laws were broken, file a police report. If no laws were broken, then why do something as immature/strange as write a letter to the person's employer?

If he were winning basketball games, all this other stuff would be a non-issue. He's an unmarried guy - who cares which and how many adult women he's involved with?

(I mean to say all the other stuff would be a non-issue if no laws were being broken, as has been stated so far. If laws were broken, then that would be a different story.)

I agree with mom2. It is incredibly immature to write a letter to this man's employer in reference to his personal life. How old is that woman? 13? Tacky.

600k for that loser. yeah raise tuition 10%. What a scam.

600k for that loser. yeah raise tuition 10%. What a scam.

The letter was written via email to a person she knew at UT and was truly embellished!

We have domestic violence laws in place because people are too weak to report it for various reasons, i.e., financial support.

Brush up!! Again, if he had nothing to hide from, why resign????

BTW, I mean embellished by another source and taken out of context.

Heeeelllloooo, we're talking about the media who have to sell a story so they make it as "tacky" as possible because that is what sells.

And "MOM2" you are correct, if he were winning bball games, that letter written November 5th would be a non-issue!

how do you know so much about this? have you seen the original un-embellished letter?

Indeed! No one walks away from a contract over hearsay, the University had to prove that he was in violation of the contract. I've said it before, I'll say it again, if he had nothing to hide, why walk??
Not to mention, Coaches at that level have a "moral clause" in their contracts.
Truly, why bother discussing it any further, he resigned and saved the University 700k.
Gene Cross needs to take responsibilty for his actions, but walking away was easier.
This has nothing to do with dating multiple women, he's not Tiger Woods!

You are talking in circles.

Gene Cross needs to take responsibility for what actions?

That he beat up women? Is that what you're saying?

You say that coaches have a moral clause in their contracts while also saying that this has nothing to do with him dating multiple women. That leaves domestic violence; apparently domestic violence where no charges have been filed to that effect.

So Gene Cross resigned over insinuations and unproven allegations that he physically abused a person or persons?

ummm, by the way:

The letter was written via email to a person she knew at UT and was truly embellished!

The story clearly states it was a letter received by the university, not an email. An email is not a letter. Does the story not also mentioned a post-marked date? Post-marked meaning being something sent via U.S. mail service, not electronically.

is toomuchchatter dawn gears? i just feel sorry for jeff gears. how embarrassing for his personal life to be exposed in such a tacky and tasteless way. dawn should go into hiding. what a home wrecker.

Well.."nuts" or "nits" if you read the above and have any brains, you would see that there was no home wrecking! And as for how the letter was delivered, everyone on the "in" knows the truth.
As for talking in circles, again, not everyone reports domestic violence.
Gene Cross said he didn't resign over the letter, if you want to know why, ASK HIM!
Is "nits" Gene Cross?? Who cares! You're beating a dead horse!

This will be my last post:

I'll preface this with "according to the blade," UT's bball program is the worst its been in 95 years, that's telling...OUCH!

"Truly, why bother discussing it any further ..."

Because that's what happens on a message board. I always enjoy postings where a person implies that everyone else should stop posting.

And by the way, did the previous UT men's basketball coach leave the program in shambles where it will take more then two years to turn around? I think this year's UT men's basketball team featured a lot of young players. If they have talent, then they should be a better team in a year or two.

"According to today's Blade; it looks like Gene was a Poon-Daddy."

"If he were winning basketball games, all this other stuff would be a non-issue."

Kind of like what happened with Louisville men's basketball head coach Rick Pitino who had an older issue become public in 2009 yet he's still their coach, and the team is in the NCAA tournament.

Pitino coached Louisville to the Final Four in 2005, so he was not distracted by the restaurant frolic that occurred a year and a half earlier. And it's not surprising that a winning basketball school located in a basketball-crazed state would not fire its head coach over "acts of moral depravity." Winning helps smooth things over.

The Blade obtained the correspondence (whether letter or e-mail) via a public records request.

If the Blade reporter embellished or misrepresented parts of the correspondence, it wouldn't be too difficult for another media outlet.

Perhaps the Toledo Free Press? If there was shoddy reporting by the Blade, I'm sure the Free Press wouldn't mind the opportunity to expose it. ;)

McCaskey - after re-reading the Blade article, I think its possible that the correspondence was sent via e-mail. Perhaps a letter dated 11/5/09 that was sent via e-mail attachment last week?

The letter, obtained by The Blade yesterday from UT through a public records request, is attributed to a woman named Dawn K. Gears, who provided her name, telephone number, and e-mail address but did not sign the letter with her handwriting.

The letter, which was dated Nov. 5, 2009...

University officials said they could not explain why the letter was dated in November but not delivered until last week.

Odd

mom2--I suppose anything's possible regarding the letter vs. email debate, but officially i haven't heard anythng about an 'email.'

As far as the daily paper 'misrepresenting' parts of the correspondence, all it has to do is publish the entirety of the letter to refute that. I suppose through the 'freedom of information' act it could do so. I have to believe they were very, very careful with their wording in the story and it was vetted by legal parties.

i don't understand why the blade would publish such a letter in the first place. it's not even signed... could be a fake right? and what does his private life have to do with anything?

???

I think you're right about toomuchchatter being Dawn Gears.

I'd like to know more from toomuchchatter, and I do hope he/she tells us more. What exactly has been going on? What is the problem? Why would someone walk away from such a contract? Please, tell us. I don't mean drop hints... just tell us!

I'm not sure of its relevance, but the Toledo Blade published another March 16, 2010 story :

• Scuffle involved Cross, ex-Hen - Former Mud Hen player choked Cross last October
• Police report of October scuffle involving Gene Cross, a woman friend and Joseph Hall - pdf file

Maybe the Blade can launch a TMZ-like supplement paper.

Sounds like there is much more to this story. I hope Dawn and Gene explain more and clarify what happened.

Saw this story on the "Independent Collegian" wesbite
http://www.independentcollegian.com/sports/cross-quits-on-players-and-staff-1.2191445

Cross quits on players and staff
By Zach Davis

Published: Monday, March 15, 2010

Updated: Monday, March 15, 2010

Shocked.

Surprised.

These were just a couple of the words that players and coaches from the Toledo men’s basketball team uttered after their head coach Gene Cross stepped down on Thursday. Though some believed that Cross could’ve been fired after his team posted a 4-28 record this season, quitting was an unexpected turn of events.

Since his departure, many questions have been raised. Why would he leave behind more than $700,000 left from his contract? Where did this decision come from? What about the timing of this resignation coming just days after a controversial letter attacking his character was delivered to UT, as reported by The Blade?

These are all interesting questions, but one other remains. What about his players? Since his departure on Thursday, neither freshman guard Jake Barnett or senior forward Justin Anyijong had spoken with Cross. Both received calls on Thursday that their coach had left the team from UT’s Director of Operations Brad Konerman.

Whatever Cross’ reasons for leaving his position, there was no excuse to not contact his players. With 12 of the team’s 14 players being underclassmen, these are players that have been recruited to play by Cross. They each made a commitment to play four years for him, a commitment that should be honored by Cross to the best of his abilities. As Barnett told me yesterday, “When you make a commitment for something, it’s your word.” To resign from his position was to quit on his team, and to leave without calling a meeting between his players or at the very least giving them a personal phone call before the announcement was made was an act of cowardice. With five days passing for him to still not have contacted his team’s two most central players in Anyijong and Barnett is nothing short of a complete slap in the face.

Last night, Barnett spoke to me about his team being family and the importance of sticking together through adversity. This is a quality that every head coach should possess. Instead, Cross created the firestorm that has ensued and left the burden of it to all those which remain, including Athletic Director Mike O’Brien, who had to announce his resignation and meet with the team, Assistant Coach Bob Sundvold, who has to take over Cross’ recruiting responsibilities as Interim Head Coach, and worst of all his players, who now must face the numerous unanswered questions that remain.

Sundvold has to be feeling most of the pressure. New coaches typically hire their own staff, and Sundvold faces performing Cross’ duties while being aware that a new coaching hire could force him to start looking for a job at any moment.

“Whenever you have a coaching change, it’s an upheaval for families and staffs,” Sundvold said. “When I read in the paper he wanted to resign early enough so that he and his staff could find job opportunities … Hey, I’ve got [a job] I like.”

Cross’ players weren’t the only athletes affected by his decision to resign. The UT women’s basketball team’s run to the MAC Championship game was overshadowed by the announcement of a coach’s departure which could have waited until the end of their tournament. The timing of his departure was disrespectful to a squad that struggles to grab attention from the men’s team on a yearly basis, and to resign at that point in time was thoughtless and inconsiderate.

Obviously a 4-28 season wears on a coach, especially one that includes a 19-game losing streak. Cross, however, has taken out this frustration by quitting on those coaches that worked countless hours for him and players that bled and sweat for him all last year. At the very least, he could’ve done them the courtesy of picking up a phone.

— Zach Davis is the Sports Editor and a senior majoring in communication. He has contributed to both Scout.com and UWire.com

OK. Gene has no respect for women. Dawn writes like a crazed, scorned woman. But her letter is more than that. Between what she says and what other public records indicate, Gene did the right thing by stepping down and running from town with his tail between his legs. (Too bad he didn't keep someting else between his legs.)

It is incredible that he still hasn't met with his players and staff, but that alone speaks to his character.

I have a copy of the letter, and where there is smoke there is fire. Dawn makes many unfounded allegations -- often illiterately -- but they are about more than sex. There are enough allegations of illegal behavior and enough specific details that the university likely would have asked for a criminal investigation if he were still an employee.

If you're that concerned with the details, anyone may obtain a copy of the letter by simply submitting a public records request to UT. Hs contract is also available, as are other records.

The good news is that we will soon have a new head coach and will be able to move on!

Mar 17, 2010 - Toledo Blade - Dave Hackenberg column - Evidence points to Cross being fired, not quitting :

Looks like the Blade will continue to dig into this, and maybe they should if an attempt was made to hide wrong-doing.

The previous commenter claims : "There are enough allegations of illegal behavior and enough specific details that the university likely would have asked for a criminal investigation if he were still an employee."

Seems like someone should just post the letter online somewhere... like they did with the Court papers.

Maybe toomuchchatter/Dawn Gears will do it, Bill24.