Athletic Trainer Cited for Having Unlicensed Staff

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The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee)

 

Memphis head athletic trainer Darrell Turner was the subject of a consent order by the Tennessee board of athletic trainers for the second time in the past 30 months related to charges of employees working without a valid state license.

Documents obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee revealed that Turner was cited in November for having five unlicensed staff members working as assistant trainers from February 2012 to May 2014. Turner admitted to the charges on Aug. 30.

It was the second time Turner has found himself in trouble with the state board. In May 2016, he was cited for working eight months as an athletic trainer without a state license from February 2012, when he was hired by Memphis, to October 2012, when he received his license.

The five trainers had been certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association but did not have a Tennessee Athletic Trainer license. Four of the five were unlicensed by the state during the 2012-13 school year.

Turner was fined $5,600 - $200 for each month there was an unlicensed trainer on staff - and also had to pay costs of the case being prosecuted.

Turner was fined $1,600 for the first incident.

In both cases, his license was placed on probation until the fine was paid.

Turner declined comment when reached Monday by phone and directed all questions to the Memphis athletic department.

University not implicated

In a statement released Friday, the university said it was not implicated in the investigation and "has evaluated its policies to ensure that it continues to employ trainers who are authorized to practice in the State of Tennessee and will evaluate the need for any additional internal review and related response."

U of M added that all athletic trainers currently employed are "properly licensed with the state of Tennessee, and have been nationally certified through the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) BOC."

A Memphis athletic spokesman said Monday that because the issue was a state matter, not a university one, Turner's punishment by the state board was deemed sufficient by the university and the matter is considered resolved.

Also, all department policies have been rewritten to ensure all athletic trainers are licensed by the state during employment.

Two of the trainers - Chappell Evans and Jared Muth - did not hold a state license during their stints at Memphis. Evans, Muth, and Yichen Sun were graduate assistants and worked for two seasons, but Sun received her athletic trainer license in April 2013.

Evans, who worked with several sports in 2011-13, is now an assistant athletic director at Tulane, and Muth, who was the primary trainer for Memphis women's volleyball and tennis in 2012-14, has a similar role at Marshall.

Football assistant athletic trainer Larry Reynolds, the lone person among the five still employed at Memphis, received his state license in May 2014 after he was hired in July 2013

Kimberly Duskin received her state license in 2014, nearly two years after being hired at Memphis. She is now the women's basketball athletic trainer at Oklahoma State.

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December 19, 2018
 
 
 

 

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