Ex-Winthrop players, one a WSU assistant, respond to new allegations against Marshall
Tyson Waterman said he was “baffled” to read Tuesday’s report by The Athletic in which seven players from Gregg Marshall’s time at Winthrop alleged the Wichita State men’s basketball coach crossed the line with verbal abuse.
Waterman has played for Marshall — he was a star at Winthrop for Marshall’s first two seasons there from 1998 to 2000 — and coached alongside him — he was hired at Wichita State by Marshall in 2018, nearly two decades after playing for him.
“My time at Winthrop under Coach Marshall was unbelievable,” Waterman told The Eagle. “It was quite different than what was put out in that article and that’s coming from me and the vast majority of guys that I played with. That was certainly not our experience and definitely not mine. My experience was nothing short of amazing.”
Former Winthrop players, some of them Waterman’s teammates, alleged in the Athletic report that Marshall demeaned his players with personal, cultural, sexist and racial insults. Marshall is currently under investigation by Tueth Keeney, a St. Louis-based law firm hired by WSU to look into allegations of verbal and physical abuse by former Shockers.
The most serious allegations come from former WSU player Shaquille Morris, who told Stadium that Marshall punched him in the head during an October 2015 practice and that he saw Marshall attempt to choke former assistant coach Kyle Lindsted. Five other players from WSU’s 2015-16 team have independently confirmed to The Eagle that Marshall hit Morris, while eight other players from the 2016-17 team have confirmed to The Eagle that Marshall put his hand around Lindsted’s throat.
Marshall has staunchly denied both of these allegations, saying he has “never physically struck a player or colleague.”
Due to the ongoing investigation, Waterman said he was unable to speak about his three years with the WSU program.
But Waterman’s positive review of playing for Marshall at Winthrop was shared by two more former Winthrop players The Eagle reached on Tuesday: Tyron Myers, who played under Marshall from 1999-03, and Roger Toxey, who played under Marshall from 1997-01, both of whom were teammates with at least three players who were quoted in The Athletic report.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you he never cursed me out and that practices weren’t hard, but you just had to get accustomed to it,” Myers said. “Coach Marshall is intense, but he was a fair coach. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I would. Coach Marshall is a champion in my book.”
“Coach Marshall is tough, but that’s just his style,” Toxey said. “He wants the best out of everybody and he wants you to be successful in life after basketball. He treated everyone the same and he held everybody to a high standard and that’s the thing that transferred over to the real world for me. He helped me by holding me accountable.”
Among the allegations made in The Athletic, Marshall allegedly referred to his players using a derogatory term for a women’s vagina; asked one player, “Are you stupid or just retarded?”; and told another that he would “send him back to Africa.”
The article does not specify when the events took place, but Waterman (1995-00), Myers (1999-03) and Toxey (1997-01) all say they never heard Marshall say any of those things. They especially disputed the claims that Marshall was racist or made racially insensitive remarks.
“That didn’t happen in the three years that I was there with him,” Toxey said. “It didn’t matter what color you were, he treated everyone the same.”
“Racist? No, that’s way off the mark,” Myers said. “Way off the mark.”
Marshall has repeatedly denied that he has ever been “demeaning” or “abusive” and once again denied the new allegations put forth by The Athletic’s newest report.
“As I have stated previously, I am deeply committed to my players and the teams we have built together,” Marshall’s statement read. “I believe unequivocally in their value as athletes, as students, and as people. Any portrayal of me to the contrary is wrong.”
Waterman credits Marshall for much of his success, first giving him a second chance as a player and then giving him his first chance as a Division I assistant coach at WSU.
When Marshall was hired by Winthrop in 1998, Waterman wasn’t even on the team. He was at odds with the former coach and had been kicked off the team. His life was in disarray, as his academics plummeted and his father was sent away to prison.
In his time of need, Marshall reached out to Waterman.
“Coach Marshall filled that void for me and really became a father figure to me,” Waterman said. “There were a lot of things in my life that were lacking and he held me accountable. He told me the hard truth and because of that, he made me a better man and a better husband today. I couldn’t have asked for a better role model.”
Before Marshall arrived at Winthrop, Waterman was a scoring guard on a losing team.
“I was wearing No. 14 at the time and he told me, ‘You’re not going to wear No. 14 anymore. We’re not going to do it that way anymore,’” Waterman said. “He said, ‘I need you to be a leader and run the system and want to be held accountable, so you’re going to wear No. 41. If you do the things I tell you to do, we will be successful and if you sacrifice yourself for the betterment of the team, then your jersey will be hanging in the rafters some day.’”
Waterman’s scoring average took a slight dip, but as Marshall promised, Winthrop went from worst-to-first in the Big South and reached the NCAA Tournament in Waterman’s final two seasons — the first two March Madness appearances in program history. Waterman’s No. 41 jersey was retired in 2007 and hangs in the rafters at Winthrop Coliseum.
“Plus I got my college degree,” Waterman said.
But that version of Marshall wasn’t the one that Sheldon Bailey saw during his two seasons at Winthrop from 2001-03. He would later transfer to Florida International.
Bailey told The Eagle in a phone interview that he believes Marshall’s winning ways covered up for his behavior.
“I believe it’s because some people have accepted this as being part of sports culture in America, especially college sports,” Bailey said. “Obviously Gregg Marshall makes a lot of money, so I think a lot of these athletic directors are probably intimidated by the confrontation with Gregg Marshall on top of the price that comes with it.
“If you have money and if you have power like Coach Marshall does, then you get a lot of free passes.”
Waterman and Myers disagree that Marshall was abusive.
“We all wanted to win and everybody had a job to do and Coach Marshall was going to hold you accountable,” Myers said. “I don’t know, I can’t talk for everybody, but some people don’t like to be disciplined and don’t like to be told what to do like that.”
“There are times when he’s going to get in your face and he’s going to tell you the truth and hold you accountable,” Waterman said. “His style is not for everybody. You have to be mentally tough, but at the end of the day, I really do believe he is an unbelievable nurturer and an unbelievable coach. I thank God I didn’t do it my way. I put my trust in him and we won championships together.”
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