In this April 4, 2016, file photo, retired WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes speaks during the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2016 announcement in Houston, Texas. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Loyola University is launching an investigation into allegations the coach of the women’s basketball coach Sheryl Swoopes mistreated players.
Swoopes, a former WNBA star and three-time Olympic gold medalist, was just inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The investigation will be conducted by the university, team spokesman Leo Krause said Saturday.
It follows an article in the Loyola student newspaper that said 10 of the team’s 13 players planned to leave because they didn’t like the way Swoopes treated them, the Chicago Sun Times reported Saturday.
"Any time there are allegations of student-athlete mistreatment, it is more than concerning," Jermaine Truax, Loyola's deputy athletic director, said in the statement late Friday. "The welfare of our student-athletes is paramount. Thus, the Loyola University Chicago Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has asked for an independent and comprehensive University investigation into the women's basketball program.”
Truax said in the statement that Swoopes has agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
Swoopes led the Ramblers to a fifth place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 14-16 record. Last season the team went 6-25 and five players transferred, the Sun Times reported.
She was hired in 2013 with only limited coaching experience, having served as an assistant at Mercer Island High School in Washington state in 2010, according to Loyola's website.
Swoopes led Texas Tech to the 1993 NCAA title and was the first player signed by the WNBA. She won four straight titles with the Houston Comets.
Loyola is a private university in Chicago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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