Four former and two current members of the Dartmouth women’s volleyball team have been given the pseudonyms Amelia, Emily, Grace, Lucy, Olivia and Sophie. They each have been granted anonymity to speak candidly about their experiences. Nine out of the 11 current members of the team declined to comment.
On Nov. 20, 2025, during the team’s regularly-scheduled end-of-season meetings held between individual players and coaching staff, Dartmouth women’s volleyball head coach Kevin Maureen Campbell dismissed EllaMae Fitzgerald ’27 and Ellie Mattox ’27 from the team. Neither had been given a prior warning, and, to this day, neither has been given an explanation from Dartmouth Athletics or the College as to why they were removed.
Both Fitzgerald and Mattox were starting players. Fitzgerald, a libero, played in all 24 of the team’s matches during the 2025 season, accumulating a total of 84 sets and leading the team’s defensive statistics with 273 digs. Mattox, a setter, played in 58 sets and had 207 assists in the 2025 season.
Fitzgerald and Mattox said their dismissals came after years of “psychologically unsafe” coaching and management under Campbell, who was hired by Dartmouth in June 2023. This is Campbell’s first head coaching position; she previously served in several roles as assistant coach and interim head coach. Former coach Gilad Doron stepped down from Dartmouth volleyball’s head coach position amidst an alleged Title IX investigation.
In a series of interviews with The Dartmouth, six former and two current members of the women’s volleyball team discussed the challenging environment and bullying they endured on the team. Requests for comment from Campbell, College chief compliance officer Alejandro Diaz, executive associate athletics director for administration Taurian Houston, associate athletics director for sport administration Mallory Poole and vice president of equal opportunity, accessibility and Title IX Sarah Harebo were directed to College spokesperson Jana Barnello.
“Public humiliation” and Instagram Reels
Throughout Campbell’s three-year tenure, athletes from multiple classes who were coached by her said they felt like their mental health “declined” as a direct result of her actions.
On March 31, 2025, Sophie went on a walk with Campbell to tell her coach that she wanted to quit the team after her sophomore season.
“I’ve been an athlete for 20 years of my life, from the moment I was born,” Sophie said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “Both my parents were athletes, and this is the moment I will not be an athlete anymore, and it’s because of [Campbell]. And she was like, ‘Okay, just clean up your locker.’”
Campbell and Sophie had “butt heads” since their first practice in fall 2023, Sophie recalled. She said Campbell would kick her out of practices and make remarks such as “you could be a professional speaker carrier” — knowing that Sophie had been struggling with her coursework that term — when Sophie was moving the team’s speaker from the gym floor to the locker room. In separate incidents, she said she felt like Campbell would single out her and another Black teammate during practice: “‘Girls,’ [Campbell] would say to us, ‘Fix your face and fix your attitude.’”
These comments “got under my skin,” Sophie said. They often felt like “public humiliation.”
As a result of Campbell’s “constant berating,” Sophie said she struggled with her mental health in fall 2024. She was unable to attend class, team activities or dinners. When her grades fell from lack of class attendance, Sophie said she was called into a meeting with Campbell, who told her that she was “‘a horrible representation of Dartmouth volleyball.’”
Between Dec. 29, 2024 and Jan. 6, 2025, Sophie received several Instagram messages from Campbell to schedule a “serious talk” at the beginning of winter term 2025. When Sophie responded and told Campbell she would “now be stressed about this talk until it happens,” Campbell responded by saying, “You know — well, I hope you know I’m a rational person that cares about you.”
During their meeting on Jan. 6, 2025, Campbell provided Sophie with a document detailing “guardrails” — Campbell’s term for general rules and expectations — for Sophie to follow during winter term. The first page of the document read that if Sophie’s desire was to “be a positive, healthy and impactful contributor” to the team and to “rise to life’s challenges that Dartmouth represents,” she would have to “[find] your foundation and productive ways to handle adversity.”
One of the “guardrails” was a “commitment to thriving in your mental health” through changes such as “moderation in screen time, good sleep hygiene, intentional human connection, working on your emotional awareness and agility and anything else that helps you thrive. This includes speaking with a mental health professional (counseling or therapy) as well as our mental performance coach (Ian Connole) ideally on a weekly basis.”
Additional “guardrails” included “attending all classes,” being “fully transparent … with any hiccups along the way” and “connecting with the head coach weekly with openness and transparency.”
During the winter term, Sophie said that she “could not” use varsity athletic facilities or take part in team practices, dinners or activities. Her mental health declined even further during the term, as she would only go to class and her prescribed meetings.
“I came here to play volleyball; I’m going to [follow Campbell’s guardrails],” Sophie said. “I did 10 weeks of that, and in those 10 weeks, I lost 30 pounds. I did not come out of my room. I was sickly. And [Campbell] never asked if I was okay.”
During the term, Sophie rescheduled a meeting with Campbell due to a urinary tract infection. She said she was asked to loop the athletic trainer in, which she said made her feel “embarrassed.” At the rescheduled meeting, Sophie told The Dartmouth and wrote in a document shared with Houston, Campbell asked her if she “‘got a little too wild … with someone’” over the weekend. She said Campbell then gave her medical advice for treating the UTI before beginning their meeting.
Throughout the winter, Campbell sent Sophie Instagram reels. One by a motivational speaker was titled, “There are four ways you’re making people a problem without even realizing it…” Another, by an entrepreneur, described how teams are “meritocracies,” not “families.” A third, by a professor, said that group chats are “secretly ruining college.”
During winter 2025, Sophie filed a complaint through Connole to Houston, providing a written document for their meeting on Feb. 14, 2025 that included screenshots of her guardrails and the Instagram messages between her and Campbell. She said Connole told her that he was there “to support you.” She added that he was “amazing”; in contrast, she felt Houston was “dismissive” toward her.
Connole left the College in December 2025, according to his LinkedIn. He did not respond to requests for comment.
Several weeks later, the EOATIX office reached out to ask if she “wanted to go through the … [Title IX] process.” She said that she did not “have the energy” to do so and declined. Sophie met with Campbell after spring break to leave the team.
“It was always about tearing someone else down”: Campbell’s “labels” and comments about athletes’ bodies
Mattox and Sophie both said they were asked to play through injuries.
Sophie said she suffered an ankle fracture in the fall 2024 that was not discovered by athletic training staff; it was only after she returned home and visited a doctor that she received an x-ray. The athletic trainer had cleared Sophie to play for the season, and Campbell asked her to practice. Sophie told Campbell that she could not walk, leading to a “constant battle” between herself, Campbell and the athletic trainer to figure out who was “lying” about her ability to play, she said.
Mattox wrote in a 21-page document, which she shared with Diaz and Athletics director Harrity, that she had suffered three labral tears in her shoulder and a strain in her abdominal muscle after practicing “high-volume topspin jump serving without adequate warm-up, progression or instruction.” She wrote that this kind activity was “not typical for her position.”
During a medical procedure following the tears, Mattox fell, hitting her head on the floor. After she was cleared, she texted Campbell that she “should be good for lift and practice,” but had to continue to limit her “shoulder movement,” adding that her doctors told her that she would “most likely be fully recovered by tomorrow.” Campbell replied that Mattox could take that day “off physically for most things,” and “do some light defense” instead, adding that Mattox could do “extra setter training” the following day.
Mattox wrote in an op-ed for The Dartmouth that she “didn’t speak up” during the activity that caused her injury because she was “terrified” to “confirm [Campbell’s] narratives” about her “weakness.”
She wrote in the document shared with Diaz and Harrity that Campbell placed her and Lucy on a supplemental weightlifting program because Campbell “deemed [them] ‘too skinny.’” Similarly, Sophie said Campbell would ask her if she had been eating. She wrote in her document shared with administrators that these comments were “triggering” and caused her to “fluctuate” when she took her medication — which affects her “weight and eating habits” — “in an attempt to please” Campbell.
Olivia said Campbell “had labels for everyone.”
“It was always about tearing someone else down,” Olivia said. “Some people were too skinny and too weak, and they needed to lift more and eat more. She’s told several players that they need to eat more. She’s called some players uncoachable, too emotional, too passionate.”
She said she felt “bullied” by Campbell’s “constant” comments about her appearance, which “took a toll on [her] mental health.”
“I would say I was top 10% of strength training on my team — I was a consistent starter,” Olivia said. “I hit the ball pretty hard. I’ve been told that I look thin, but it was never tied to performance.”
In her document shared with administrators, Emily wrote that Campbell has called her “‘too emotional,’ ‘too passionate’ and ‘too much.’”
“If you don’t fit into this ideal player she has in mind, you’re not good for her,” Emily said.
Mattox provided The Dartmouth with screenshots from the team’s group chat — which she also provided to Harrity and Diaz in her document — of members of the team discussing scheduling eating around a bus departure to an away game. In the screenshots, team members debated who would text their coaches to ask about catered lunch or pushing departure time so players could eat after the 10A class block, which runs from 10:10 a.m. to noon.
“Can someone go ‘so what should 10A people do for lunch,’” one team member asked. Another replied, “I’m personally on thin ice these days.”
Team culture: Athletes felt like “words were being put in our mouths”
Grace said team culture meetings with team culture consultant Theresa “Tree” Beeckman — who was hired independently by Campbell — were “not 100% focused on problems that we would actually have on the team.” The team and coaching staff met regularly with Beeckman on Zoom.
Over summer 2024, Mattox texted Campbell to ask if their meetings with Beeckman could be moved by half an hour so that she could attend church services with her family, adding that “a lot of other girls” also had church schedule conflicts with the 11 a.m. meetings. Mattox told The Dartmouth she had texted her teammates asking if they also had conflicting church services. They asked her to reach out to Campbell because “on our team, there’s such a fear of communication and a fear of backlash,” she said.
Campbell originally told Mattox that the meetings could be moved to avoid the conflict, but rescinded the change three days later, writing in a text message that “Tree … can only join us at 11.”
Beeckman said in an interview with The Dartmouth that she believed coaches “try to accommodate the schedules” of players and “work with the players to come up with those times” to meet with her.
“The players literally would have given [their availability] to the coaching staff,” she said.
Fitzgerald said Beeckman “encouraged” the team to be “very vulnerable” in their meetings.
Beeckman told The Dartmouth that “one of the first things” that she teaches to teams is that “no one,” including her or coaches, “can ever tell you to take your armor off or tell you to be vulnerable.”
“We’re trying to help you provide a space for each other and with your coaches so that you can show up and you can bring your full self and you can feel safe in that,” she said.
Olivia said in an interview with The Dartmouth that the team didn’t feel “comfortable speaking our minds on important issues” because the coaching staff was present. “Anything we said was kind of flipped back on us in defense of Kevin,” she explained.
Fitzgerald said at times it felt like “words were being put in our mouths,” and that things brought up in meetings would be “taken down a path” that the team members “didn’t intend.”
“I personally was vocal in those meetings because I cared about the team and I cared about the culture,” Fitzgerald said. “I trusted Tree to create a space where we were allowed to be open and honest. And I received, from Tree and from Kevin, many times, ‘Thank you for being so open, I’m so glad you brought this to our attention.’ … Then I was told later on that my voice is too much and it got turned against me.”
On several occasions, the team had five-to-six-hour in-person team culture meetings with Beeckman. Beeckman said this was a “mischaracterization,” and that these longer meetings were broken up into her “observing practices,” “interactive” team-building “workshops” and “lecture” with breaks built in.
NCAA rules limit student-athletes to 20 hours per week in “countable athletic activities,” though administrative meetings are not included in this limit. Optional lifts and practices are also not countable.
Olivia said that Campbell would “mark practices as optional,” but if athletes did not attend, “your commitment to the team was questioned, and you were just made to feel really, really guilty.”
Under Campbell, the team’s spirit and record suffered
Four assistant coaches have left under Campbell. One was fired.
When former assistant coach Shea Decker-Jacoby left, Lucy said she “had no emotional reaction” because “this has happened so many times.”
“I’m so immune, and I think that I can’t build a proper relationship with any of our assistant coaches,” she explained.
Olivia said Campbell has “been pretty outwardly horrible to assistant coaches.” Sophie said Campbell would “bark at assistant” coaches and make targeted comments toward the two international assistant coaches, saying, “We’ve got to get her married for the green card,” about one and, “Thank God he got married” about another.
All five former assistant coaches were contacted. Three declined to comment.
Decker-Jacoby wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth that “working alongside” Campbell was “a privilege as a young female coach.”
“I worked for Coach Kevin for 14 months and during my time in her program I experienced a coach who cares deeply about her players, methodically considers everyone in every decision and exhibited exceptional character,” Decker-Jacoby wrote.
Another former assistant coach, who requested anonymity, said she “stopped coaching volleyball” because of her “experience with” Campbell.
She described being told by Campbell that she was not dedicated to the team and watching Campbell “scream in the [athletic] trainer’s face.” The athletic trainer had a panic attack as a result, the former assistant coach said.
Grace, an international student who left the program after her sophomore year, said she “never felt comfortable playing the way I used to play.” Still, she “had and still has a great relationship” with the coaching staff, she said
Part of her “bother,” and her decision to leave the team was the “lack of winning spirit.”
Dartmouth women’s volleyball’s ranking has dropped under Campbell. During her first season with the team, they finished fifth in the Ivy League conference with a record of 6-8. The next year, in 2024, they ranked seventh with a record of 3-11. In 2025, they were seventh again with a record of 4-10. At the end of former head coach Doron’s last season in 2022, the team ranked fourth with a record of 8-6.
Amelia said that Campbell is “not competent as a coach.”
“She doesn't have the capacity, or the intelligence, it takes to lead this team to go where it needs to go,” she said.
Fitzgerald and Mattox said that during the 2025 season, the volleyball team did not have assigned captains. Fitzgerald said Campbell told the team that they were “not ready” and “too emotional” for leadership. In a document sent to Diaz, Harrity, Houston and Poole, Emily wrote that she was assigned floor captain — per NCAA rules requiring one — without her or the team’s “knowledge or consent.”
“A few times during which I had voiced some concerns to Coach Kevin, I was removed from the floor captain role for the following game without notice,” Emily wrote in her document.
Fitzgerald and Mattox said they both considered quitting the team several times before their dismissals. Fitzgerald said that, during her time in the program, she — and other teammates — would cry in Connole’s office, feeling “distraught and confused and so defeated and misunderstood.”
“The past two-and-a-half years was hell,” Mattox said. “We’ve been treated so poorly, and I’m scared for my teammates. I can say that I’m scared for future recruits if Kevin and this current athletic administration remains unchanged.”
Attempting to understand Fitzgerald and Mattox’s dismissals
Emily said that during her end-of-season meeting the day after Fitzgerald and Mattox were dismissed during theirs, she asked Campbell to explain the decision to dismiss Fitzgerald and Mattox. She wrote in her document to Dartmouth Athletics administrators that Campbell told her that it was “‘too soon’” to talk about the decision.
“Ellie and EllaMae are really loved within the team, and I just told [Campbell] that I would worry about where our team culture would be at because those are two big people for her team,” Emily said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “She just dismissed all of my concerns.”
Following their dismissals, on Nov. 23, 2025, Mattox and Fitzgerald separately sent emails to athletic director Mike Harrity, Houston and Poole asking for documentation regarding the reasoning for their dismissals. Both also sent separate appeal requests to Harrity.
On Dec. 4, Fitzgerald and Mattox separately met with Houston and Poole on Zoom. During the meetings, neither was given a reason for her dismissal. In an email before the meeting, Houston wrote to Mattox that “request for records or internal documentation requires further conversation with our campus partners.”
Mattox expressed concern in her Dec. 9, 2025 email to Harrity that her dismissal was a form of “retaliation” due to her “advocacy for the team.” She forwarded her document to Harrity, documenting her concerns. The document and email chain were forwarded to Diaz on Dec. 16, asking for his “assistance.”
On Dec. 17, Emily emailed Diaz, Harrity, Houston and Poole a letter detailing her “experiences and concerns” with the volleyball program, in which she specifically detailed her experience playing three seasons under Campbell.
Fitzgerald said that she believes her and Mattox’s dismissals come from their leadership roles on the team. She said she only took on an “advocate” role in conversations with Campbell during her last term on the team.
“I think the evidence lies in the change in behavior and attitude that I felt from Kevin towards me,” she said.
Mattox said that she had been vocal on the team since her freshman year.
Campbell “has brought up instances where she says I’m not committed to the team, and her examples are religious commitments,” missing practice for Mattox’s sister’s high school graduation and “when we didn’t have time to get food,” Mattox said.
Mattox included screenshots of these examples in the document she sent to administrators on Dec. 16, 2025.
“This whole culmination of me being outspoken and trying to advocate for food, religion and family has now led to me not being able to play the sport that I love,” she said. “Looking back on it, I think if I were to keep my mouth shut and not have said anything, I would still be on the team.”
On March 11, Mattox met with Diaz and Houston, seeking information about her dismissal and the “internal review” that followed. In a follow-up email, she summarized information shared during the meeting. It included that a “formal review” of her dismissal had been conducted and concluded that “Campbell did not violate any Dartmouth, NCAA or federal policies.” On March 26, Houston replied “acknowledging receipt of [her] request” for more information and said he would “follow up in accordance with Dartmouth College policy.”
After several meetings and email communications with Diaz between Dec. 19 and March 11, he forwarded Fitzgerald’s and Mattox’s concerns to the EOATIX office. Fitzgerald and Mattox both met with the office independently on Feb. 23. On March 13, they received emails detailing which of their individual concerns fell under the Title IX umbrella. Fitzgerald and Mattox were told, however, that an outside investigator would conduct a “fact-finding review” that could take 60 to 90 days.
Looking forward
Amelia said that when a recruit from the Class of 2030 visited on the weekend of April 11 and 12, the “only thought” she had was, “‘Don’t go here.’”
“Whatever you do, don't go here,” she said. “I love the school more than life itself, but playing volleyball here was a nightmare.”
College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth that the College “cannot comment on specific matters.”
“This also means that we often cannot confirm whether an investigation or review is underway,” she wrote. “We remain committed to the integrity of those processes, and to continuously improving them to best serve every member of our community.”
On behalf of Dartmouth Athletics, Harrity wrote in an email statement that the “well-being of our student-athletes is the foundation of Dartmouth Athletics.” The department “follow[s] all department and university processes” to ensure “any concerns” are reviewed “thoroughly and fairly.”
“The health and safety of our student-athletes will always be our highest priority,” Harrity wrote. “As a department we are committed to striving for excellence and continual growth so that student-athletes feel heard and supported.”
All written communications and documents referenced were obtained and reviewed by The Dartmouth. All documents were previously shared by the athletes with Athletics administrators, the Equal Opportunity Office, the Accessibility Office and members of the Compliance Office. Sophie, EllaMae Fitzgerald and Ellie Mattox also shared their documents with Dartmouth’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Accessibility and Title IX.
Tierney Flavin ’28 is a reporter and editor. She is from Kansas City, Mo. and plans to major in Government and Sociology.
