Alabama Assistant Coach Apologizes After Former Gymnast Accuses Him Of Racist Language

One former Alabama gymnast shares incident when an assistant coach allegedly made racially insensitive comments

Christopher Walsh/BamaCentral

With national protests ongoing after the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minn. last week, African-American athletes across the country have been sharing stories of times when they have experienced racial injustice.

Former University of Alabama gymnast Tia Kiaku posted on Instagram Tuesday night that last year during a practice an assistant coach made a racist comment to her and two of her African-American teammates. 

Kiaku has confirmed with Bama Central that the assistant coach who made the comment was Bill Lorenz. He's been with the program since 2015.

Lorenz issued a public apology Wednesday evening.  

Here is her original post by Kiaku in its entirety: 

"Do we stand together? Why not use this opportunity to be transparent?

"I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to address a very disturbing and grave incident that occurred last year while I was on the Gymnastics team at the University of Alabama.

"During a practice, only the three African American girls (including myself) just happened to be on vault drills together. While practicing, one of the black gymnasts said “look all the black girls are all on the same event” responding to the statement, the Assistant Coach walked over and said “What is this, the back of the bus?”. Something that seems like a very inappropriate (racist) statement to me was just deemed as a very bad joke by Alabama! That doesn’t seem to be a joke that’s appropriate, especially in a professional team setting. I have seen a myriad of news stories of Coaches saying inappropriate/racist statements such as this who are no longer in a leadership position.

"Additionally, words such as 'Nigga' (whether one thinks it’s funny or not), implicit biases, stereotyping, grouping terminology, and statements with underlying racism should NOT be tolerated from anyone. In fact, it should be unacceptable across the board!
If #WeStandTogether, let’s truly stand together and address inappropriate issues that are happening inside programs like the University of Alabama. It is very unfair to isolate or exclude athletes because they take a stand! 

"After much consideration, a lot of thought, lots of crying and even some tough/hard discussions with the Head Coach and some of my team mates, I decided to walk away from the team and the University. It has been hard.

"So what I will say is.....if the University, the Director of Athletics and Alabama’s Gymnastics program wants to take a stance on diversity and racism, they need to be transparent. These injustices are happing right in the middle of Alabama’s gymnastics team and they did very little about it. So how are we standing together? 

"It’s so disheartening to know that there will be other black woman, like myself, to walk through Alabama’s doors and they pose the risk of going through the same things I went through!..."

@BamaGymnastics Do we really stand together? The program that allowed the Assistant Coach to make a racist “joke” & ask a group of black girls “what is this the back of the bus”,allowed gymnast to say the N word, and much more. You cant stand with us & allow injustices to happen.

— Tia Kiaku 🇨🇩 (@tia_kiaku33) June 2, 2020

Update: On Thursday evening, Alabama coach Dana Duckworth issued a public statement on Twitter regarding the allegations brought forth by Kiaku.

"I feel like throughout this experience we have all learned and are continuing to learn together. As the head coach, I am ultimately responsible for this program. There was a report made, and while I cannot get into specifics on that, I can say it resulted in many discussions, conversations, and training, which have also resulted in increased awareness as well as growth personally and professionally.

pic.twitter.com/1aQi7lSuVi

— Dana Duckworth (@coach_duckworth) June 4, 2020

"No one in life is exempt from mistakes, regret, heartache, and challenging issues. Our core values have always been respect, integrity, class while providing an open and safe community for everyone associated with this program. We strive to learn with one another and grow with a greater understanding as we continue to foster an inclusive and unified family environment." 

Alabama released four statements to Bama Central, including one from athletic director Greg Byrne on Wednesday afternoon:

"We are limited by law on what we can speak about regarding equal opportunity matters, however we can elaborate on what steps were taken," Byrne said. "When the complaint was received, it was immediately reported to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX Programs on campus as well as the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. From there, an investigation, completely separate from athletics, took place. Once the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX Programs gathered all of the facts, an outcome was determined, reported back and action steps were taken. We are a department that is committed to providing a just and inclusive community for all of our student-athletes, coaches and staff, operating with integrity and respect.”

The university later provided a statement along the same lines.

“We cannot get into specific details, but we can say a thorough investigation of all allegations brought forward was completed by the University. Any allegations that were substantiated in the course of our review were addressed appropriately.”

Wednesday evening, Lorenz issued his apology:

“This has been a learning experience that has impacted me both personally and professionally, and I will continue to learn. What was intended to be a lighthearted comment ended up having an offensive impact, and I regret that. It hurts me that I hurt anyone. I care so much about this team and our student-athletes, and I believe they know that. I’ll admit that I have many flaws, but I believe they also know that I had no intention of hurting anyone and that I don’t support treating anyone differently based on their race. I’m grateful to be part of a team that provides the opportunity to learn from each other and grow together when mistakes are made. That’s something I value and will never take for granted. I will be better. I am genuinely sorry.”

Finally, the Crimson Tide gymnasts team released a combined statement:

"We can think of no better term to describe Alabama Gymnastics than, ‘One heart.’ This is a group of amazing individuals with varying backgrounds that come together to form an incredibly special team. We stand by each other, and we love each other. None of us are perfect. We’ve all made mistakes, and we continue to learn from each other every day. We support one another, from our teammates to our coaches to our support staff, and we are proud to be student-athletes at The University of Alabama.”  

Kiaku transferred to Alabama after one season at Ball State. In 2019, she was named the team's unsung hero.