To prepare for basketball practice, Marta Galic said she would splash cold water on her face, strike a Superman pose in the mirror and make sure to empty her bladder. “Practices felt like entering a war zone,” she said. Her frequent bathroom trips began after a freshman-year practice at the University of San Francisco (USF) when, during a grueling layup drill, she repeatedly asked to step off the court to use the restroom. She said the coach refused; she lost control of her bladder and, she says, was still denied permission to clean up.
Marta and her twin sister, Marija, had dreamed of playing college basketball in the U.S. They grew up in Zagreb, Croatia, played on the U20 Croatian national team and were recruited by USF coach Molly Goodenbour, who visited them several times and offered each a full scholarship. They enrolled in 2018, excited to play together. But they say their early enthusiasm was soon overshadowed by a fraught relationship with their coach.
Both twins described a pattern of verbal attacks and humiliation. Marta later testified that Goodenbour called her “lazy,” “worthless,” and other epithets. Another player, Leilah Herrera, recorded depositions describing daily insults, and Herrera alleged racially insensitive comments from an associate coach. Goodenbour, through legal filings and testimony, said her criticisms were about performance and that she never used names; she also said she felt bad about the restroom incident.
USF’s women’s basketball program competes in NCAA Division I. Goodenbour had taken over the program in 2016. The team’s record suffered during her early tenure, and by the twins’ freshman year the season was difficult on the court and for the players. The twins say practices left them exhausted and demeaned. In performance reviews at the end of the season, both sisters secretly recorded meetings in which, they say, Goodenbour threatened to take away scholarships and questioned their place on the team. The NCAA forbids revoking scholarships for poor performance or injury, but the twins said they did not know that at the time.
The twins filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence by Goodenbour and USF. They described worsening mental health: Marija experienced panic attacks, nightmares, depression and two mental-health crises; Marta developed repeated bathroom trips and other stress responses. A psychiatrist who examined them testified that both had physiological and psychological reactions to trauma and that their psychiatric illnesses were caused by the coach’s treatment.
Accountability for emotional abuse in college sports is complicated. Student-athletes can report misconduct to many places—assistant coaches, athletic department officials, campus counseling or Title IX offices, national governing bodies, the NCAA or SafeSport—but no single institution has clear authority and resources for investigating emotional maltreatment. The NCAA has no specific emotional abuse policy, saying schools bear primary responsibility. SafeSport, created after high-profile sexual-abuse scandals in sport, generally routes emotional-misconduct claims to governing bodies rather than directly investigating them.
The twins reported their coach’s behavior to USF staff, athletic trainers, a school psychologist and leadership; their father also emailed the athletic director. USF investigated Marija’s complaints in 2019 but, after interviewing only Marija, Goodenbour and an associate coach, concluded there was no policy violation. Critics say universities often face conflicts of interest when investigating their own employees and that independent external investigators are best practice.
Goodenbour’s behavior, the twins’ lawyer argued, had power because a coach holds outsized influence over student-athletes’ scholarships, playing time and futures. That power dynamic underpinned the legal claim: conduct that might be dismissed from a stranger could be damaging when coming from someone in authority.
The trial lasted 10 days. In July 2023 a jury found Goodenbour had acted with intent or reckless disregard and that her conduct was outrageous. The jury determined that only Marija had suffered severe emotional distress from those actions. It awarded Marija $250,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages, and found Goodenbour and USF grossly negligent toward her. The judge later struck the punitive award; an appellate panel restored it. The panel also granted a retrial in Marta’s case after key evidence was excluded; Marta ultimately settled with USF and Goodenbour.
Despite the verdict and legal battles, Goodenbour and associate coach Janell Jones remained on USF’s staff. The university renewed Goodenbour’s contract through 2028 and issued statements standing by its coaches while disputing aspects of the allegations.
The story also revealed a pattern: Goodenbour had faced similar complaints at previous programs, including suspensions or accusations of “insensitive and abusive remarks” at other universities, though earlier investigations had often found no wrongdoing or resulted in limited discipline. When USF hired her, the committee reportedly did not ask about past allegations.
The repercussions for the twins were starkly different. Marija left the team after repeated visits to campus counseling and did not return to basketball; she graduated in 2022 with a degree in architecture and later earned an MFA in interior design, saying she can no longer pick up a basketball. “It’s not just the time you spend there with the coach,” she said. “It’s so many more years after that, and your life changes completely.”
Marta, who finished her degree summa cum laude in finance in three years, transferred her final year of eligibility to Tulane University, where longtime coach Lisa Stockton helped her rediscover the joy of the game. Marta became a team leader and captain at Tulane, starting all 32 games in one season and leading the team in three-pointers. She said the difference in treatment was “night and day.”
Former coaches and observers note the complexity of the modern collegiate coaching environment. Long-tenured coaches like Stockton emphasize the line between pushing athletes to improve and subjecting them to unfair treatment. The balance has grown harder as athletes gain power through name, image and likeness deals, transfer rights and social media, shifting traditional dynamics between coaches and players.
Experts and attorneys say the current system leaves gaps for athletes seeking redress for emotional abuse. Without a centralized, well-resourced authority that can investigate such claims, investigations can be inconsistent and accountability elusive. Coaches with documented patterns of alleged mistreatment have sometimes moved between programs; universities hiring for high-stakes positions may not always probe thoroughly into past complaints.
For the twins, the legal process offered mixed closure. Marija said the jury verdict validated her experience—she felt heard and recognized that what happened to her was wrong. Marta found renewal in a new program and a new coach. Both sisters have sought to let others know they are not alone and that change is possible, even as broader policy and institutional reforms lag behind.
This story was reported with support from investigative journalism organizations and a mental health collaborative. Reporters invited others with experiences of emotional abuse in college athletics to come forward.