Records: Fired Clemson Gymnastics Coach Violated Contract in Three Ways

Former Clemson gymnastics coach Amy Smith was fired with cause in April after the school said she violated three separate sections of her employment contract, new records show.

Documents obtained by Columbia, S.C., newspaper The State via public records request contend that Smith violated clauses in her contract regarding “safe and responsible treatment” of athletes, including “physical and/or emotional abuse of student-athletes,” and “personal conduct.”

Smith had faced allegations of player mistreatment at previous coaching stops. She was never publicly disciplined by previous employers, and Clemson had publicly backed Smith after those allegations surfaced.

According to a copy of Smith’s notice of separation, Clemson formally fired its former gymnastics coach for cause April 21. Although the letter from Clemson senior associate athletic director Kyle Young does not offer specific details for why Smith was fired, the university cited three separate clauses in a section of Smith’s employment contract — signed in 2022 — in making the decision to terminate her.

As reported by The State, the three clauses included in Clemson’s reasoning were:

• A clause that says Smith, in her role as gymnastics coach, was required to engage in “safe and responsible treatment” of athletes on the team and avoid “any act or omission,” including but not limited to physical and/or emotional abuse of athletes, that created “an unreasonable risk of harm.” The clause also says Smith had to “comply” with any and all university requirements regarding “medical clearance for participation” and defer to sports medicine personnel.
• A clause that says Smith could not commit any act that would bring “disgrace or embarrassment” to the university or herself; any act that would “shock, insult or offend” the community; any act that “manifests contempt or disregard for diversity, public morals and decency”; or any act that violates university requirements surrounding “personal conduct.”
• A clause that says Smith could not have “any other act or omission” that would bring “serious discredit” to her program or the university or would be “likely to cause prospective student-athletes to elect not to attend” Clemson.

“The specific reasons supporting the termination decision have been discussed with you prior to issuing this notice,” Young, the senior associate AD, wrote to Smith.

According to Chapel Fowler of The State, Clemson had not previously disclosed whether or not Smith was fired without cause or with cause. Having fired Smith with cause, Clemson does not owe her a buyout.

Athletic director Graham Neff had also previously declined to comment on the university’s decision to fire Smith on April 18 outside of a brief press release the day of the news, Fowler reported.

Clemson and Neff had previously backed Smith publicly in November 2023 after a Washington Post article detailed allegations against her from former gymnasts at the University of North Carolina, where she was an assistant, and Utah State, where she was head coach. The allegations against Smith from four former gymnasts included fostering “a culture of disordered eating” and verbally berating players, Fowler reported.

Clemson hired the University of California's Justin Howell and Elisabeth Crandall-Howell, a husband-and-wife coaching duo, as the new co-head coaches of its gymnastics team in May.