Following a March 16 loss to Fairleigh Dickinson, players on Delaware State University's women's lacrosse team were physically and verbally abused for an hour and a half as punishment.
That's the allegation of three parents who spoke to Lacrosse Extras on the condition of anonymity, as reported by HBCU Sports. The parents claim the action amounted to abuse by former head coach Pamella Jenkins and assistant coach Jovan Estrada, and negligence on the part of Delaware State athletic director Alecia Shields-Gadson.
“Coach Estrada, under the eye of Pam Jenkins, allowed a random ‘friend’ of his to come to practice and ‘punish’ the girls,” one parent said. “These were the words used by the unknown party and the coaches themselves. What resulted was physical and verbal abuse over the course of the next 90-plus minutes.”
According to Chris Stevens of HBCU Sports, parents claim they initially received pushback after reaching out to the Delaware State administration.
“When the school was notified about this (and the fact that a video was made), they tried to first over-talk it, saying such things are allowed,” another anonymous parent said. “When pressed further and told the individual present had no attachment, clearance or allowance to the program, they flinched. When told that Pam [Jenkins] was present, they immediately went into damage-control mode.”
Estrada was fired, and Jenkins was placed on leave for the remainder of the season. The Delaware State women’s lacrosse team finished the 2024 season 2-13 overall and 2-8 in its first season in the Northeast Conference.
Jenkins was ultimately fired, but parents allege that “housecleaning” is taking place with current players. They say the school’s athletics director “proceeded to change scholarship allotments for many of the players — unannounced to them, and part ways.”
“The AD (Shields-Gadson) is trying to clean house with all the current players and start over from scratch and take away current players’ scholarships, which is absurd,” another parent said, adding that Shields-Gadson is “trying to blame the girls for what happened this season.”
HBCU Sports reported that, as of Friday, the women’s lacrosse head coach position is listed as “to be announced” on the Delaware State athletics website. However, AB Today found both Jenkins as Estrada still atop the list of Hornets' coaches on the site.
