Has anyone read Coach McCallie's new book "Secret Warrior" that came out on Feb 16? I didnt see any reviews on amazon. I wonder how many parents of Duke players new about her diagnosis as she was recruiting their children. Maybe thats in the book. I saw in her interview on Good Morning America that she was diagnosed in her early 30s while coaching at Maine. Have any of her former players commented?
While I never make fn of mental illness, or wish anyone poorly, if it causes a coach to say the kinds of things she said to the public, including throwing former transfers under the bus and then lying about being misquoted later, then IMO that person is not qualified to for the position. If we are seeking to blame such things on the illness, then she did not have the correct support structure and coping mechanisms in place to prevent them.
In any case, results matter, both on and off the court, and any additional challenges she might have faced due to this illness do not change that.
1200. DDMF.
Is his horse dead yet?
This thread makes me uncomfortable.
I'm assuming by the replies this far that no one has read the book to have an informed opinion?
Haven't read the book but a few news stories that have started to trickle out with excerpts from the book and interviews suggest that she only had 2 true bipolar episodes, neither of which occurred at Duke (if I'm reading the timeline accurately).
This timeline, of course, makes the old front page article all the more inappropriate. As many posters said then, it was speculative and ignorant of mental health issues. The moderators noted that front page articles aren't subject to any standards other than what the site owners want to publish. Not so with this thread and I'd encourage the mods to keep an eye on it.
This article gives the timeline w/ McCallie's comments:
Palombo-McCallie describes living with the disorder and how she got her life back on track with the help of medical professionals, the right medications and a strong support system.
“I was diagnosed with it when I was 30. So I was a late bloomer,” Palombo-McCallie said. She was midway through her eight-year stint at UMaine at the time, and was a new mother, having given birth to daughter Maddie a year before.
“It caught me off guard. It took me a bit to figure out what was going on. All of a sudden, everything was out of control,” the 55-year-old Palombo-McCallie said.
After her initial episode with the disorder landed her in the hospital, she had one more episode a few years later but wasn’t hospitalized. She hasn’t had another episode since.
I haven’t read the book, but I was taken aback by her appearance on Good Morning America. She was all smiles, something that I haven’t seen from her before, and she said that as a coach she made sure that she had a team to help her with her illness.
I hope she treated her illness team better than her basketball team. And that she referred to them by their names rather than their numbers.
Please don't put words in my mouth.
I wasn't talking about the creative energy of the manic state, or the terrible depressions that follow it. In fact, she does not seem to have experienced these extremes at Duke, which suggests she had the illness under control.
What I was talking about was the way she treated the people on her team for years. Her very first season she drove Emily Waner off the team and basically destroyed Abby Waner. So many players transferred out and so many assistant coaches left for lateral positions that you couldn't keep track of the changes without a program. She threw her players under the bus in press conferences, and referred to opponents by their number rather than their names. She refused to shake hands with some Carolina players after one particular game for who knows what reason. There were so many complains about her from former players that Duke had to start an investigation into her tenure, although as a private school White did not have to divulge the results.
Because of her personal history, it is amazing to see Coach P on national television, smiling away and saying that as a coach she had to create a team to help her with her illness. As far as I'm concerned, if she knew how to create teams she would still have a job at Duke and she would have a ring on her right hand.
I'm glad I could clear that up for you.
Next play.
I agree with everything you have stated. I do not in any way agree with making light of her mental issues as you did in your first post. I wasn't putting words in your mouth - I was literally writing the same words back to you that you used.
Coach P's mental health is FAR more important than whatever unfortunate legacy she left behind at Duke. If making all of this public is part of her journey to feeling better and being healthier, than good for her.
Feel free to use any direct quotes from my post in a reply if it helps - I endeavor to say precisely what I mean on serious topics like this.
It’s brave to discuss one’s own mental illness in public. Even fans of one’s own school might attack one for trying to do one’s life’s work with a history of mental illness (grrr). I was never a close observer of the women’s team, but her coaching difficulties at Duke are well Chronicled, as it were, and those tidbits are old news.
The actual news is:
1. McCallie performed at a high level with bipolar disorder. Did she succeed at the level of Coach G (or Coach K)? Nope, but neither have I. Kudos.
2. The treatment was successful. “Treatment” would presumably include meds as well as various behavioral and insight-oriented interventions. These might include “social rhythm” therapy that would include getting enough sleep—which would be a real challenge for a Duke coach. Having a psychosocial team (friends/family) is really important, and public shaming tends to limit the ability to develop such a team.
3. The first episode occurred after her first child. Post-partum mood issues are classic for bipolar disorder.
4. I don’t know how her level of insight developed. Bipolar disorder is associated with initially poor insight, partly because mania (especially hypomania) feels better than depression. This can lead to non adherence with bipolar meds such as lithium or depakote, and worsening cycles. Sounds like she hopped on the adherence train quickly, which is impressive.
5. I’d be curious if depression/dysphoria/edginess contributed to the interpersonal issues she seems to have had. Bipolar depression is more difficult to treat, generally, than bipolar mania.
6. One can argue about whether she “should” have revealed her diagnosis at Maine. The argument has been decided in the courts (she doesn’t owe an explanation as long as it doesn’t affect her work), but feel free to argue (though one should probably footnote your argument by clarifying that you know you’re wrong). On that note, I’m waiting for other coaches (and the rest of us) to publicly reveal their own issues with alcohol, marijuana, relationships, bad hips, self righteousness, job dissatisfaction, cognitive decline, sex addiction, sociopathy, narcissism, etc.
Last edited by johnb; 02-22-2021 at 09:47 AM.
Hard at work making beautiful things.