The U.S. Center for SafeSport has placed Gary Taylor, current assistant coach with UVA swimming and the head coach of Cavalier Aquatics, under a two-year probation after an investigation found Taylor guilty of emotional misconduct.
Taylor admitted guilt to all of SafeSport’s investigative claims, and he admitted to “emotional misconduct while working as the head coach at Auburn and Cavalier Aquatics, and assistant coach at N.C. State.
According to the Swim Swam, parent and swimmer complaints about Taylor began almost as soon as he began coaching the Cavalier Aquatics team at the Piedmont Family YMCA in 2021. Those complaints were allegedly never addressed by YMCA leadership. Parents reported that in Taylor’s first year, 31 out of 62 swimmers quit the program.
Parents from the Cavalier Aquatics group later wrote a letter, detailing what they believed to be Taylor’s inappropriate behavior and attitude toward swimmers. YMCA leadership refused to investigate.
Many of the allegations that came to light are from Taylor’s time as the head coach at Auburn. Former Tiger swimmers claimed that Taylor “made a swimmer feel guilty about taking a mental health break,” advised an athletic trainer not to assist a swimmer struggling with asthma, “tarnished athlete confidence,” “killed [her] love for the sport,” and blamed some female swimmers’ “lack of confidence” to their menstrual cycles.
When Taylor was hired as an assistant coach at UVA in the fall of 2024, the SafeSport investigation was already ongoing.
According to the Augusta Free Press, SafeSport’s investigations are only made public on a limited basis. Victims and fellow coaches were given access to the outcomes of the investigation, and they were “able to speak freely about the case,” but a full investigation has yet to be made public.
A subsequent complaint through SafeSport means that Taylor will likely face more severe punishments as well. He could be suspended or declared permanently ineligible to coach.
