Skip Kenney may have been away from the Stanford pool after allegations of misconduct, but for the past month and a half, the head men’s swimming coach was in hot water during an investigation by Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby.

Friday’s announcement to suspend Kenney for 60 days, without pay, concluded that investigation. But the Athletics Department’s conduct, along with the decisions made by its leadership, are being questioned by the swimmers and parents at the heart of the record-deletion scandal that drew national attention. The Athletics Department and several current swimmers are defending the process as fair and the sanction as just.

Off the blocks

Kenney was first approached about the removal of swimmers’ records from the 2006-2007 media guide by The Daily. On Mar. 8, Kenney first denied any wrongdoing before admitting later the same day that he had deleted records of swimmers he had fallings out with.

Bowlsby immediately put Kenney on indefinite suspension and promised an investigation. The first-year athletic director called the situation “a matter of maintaining the integrity of the University’s record” and “something that all of us have responsibility for.”

Out of the woodwork came allegations beyond Kenney’s public deletions of five swimmers’ records. Numerous sources revealed issues with NCAA compliance and told stories of strained relations and further conflicts with a coach described as strict and militant.

The Athletics Department received letters, emails, faxes and phone calls from a variety of people about the long-time coach. With the flood of comments and stories pouring in, Bowlsby needed to decide how investigators should deal with the numerous people involved in Kenney’s 28 years on the Farm.

Into the depths

Bowlsby told The Daily that the large volume of information had to be centered around upon three focused points that would determine Kenney’s eventual punishment. Those points were the expunged records, potential violations of NCAA voluntary training rules and alleged strains in coach-athlete relations.

Although the first of the three was left for little interpretation (Bowlsby said Kenney’s actions showed “a serious lack of judgment” in his Friday announcement), the latter two required looking for the input of many more people, including current and former swimmers, alumni and parents.

Current swimmer Paul Kornfeld, a sophomore, described the Cardinal men being approached by Bowlsby.

“It’s a tough situation, but we came together and showed our support of Skip,” Kornfeld said. “I’m not sure how much influence it had, but he took all our concerns into consideration.”

Senior captain Ben Wildman-Tobriner noted that Bowlsby understood the importance of current swimmers’ input, because “as swimmers, we have the most important angle on how Skip is as a coach.”

Waiting back on deck

While current team members who will still swim for Kenney said they were approached, it appears that the former swimmers who had their records deleted — the very people who prompted the review — were barely, if at all, consulted during the process.

Both Michael McLean ‘06 and Peter Carothers ‘08 told The Daily they were not contacted by the Athletics Department. While senior associate athletic director Earl Koberlein told The Daily on Tuesday that all the swimmers “had a voice” during the investigation, he acknowledged that the input of Carothers and McLean was, in fact, limited to previous complaints made by the pair.

“We did not talk with him,” Koberlein said of Carothers, “But we were aware of his gripes and the problems he had with Skip.”

According to Koberlein, Carothers’ history included his dismissal from the team and previous documented incidents between him and Kenney. Still, Carothers was disappointed by the way the review was handled.

“If they had contacted me,” Carothers said, “it would have been a full, 100-percent investigation, which the University had promised from the start.”

Similarly, McLean’s input came in the form of over 40 pages of material mailed by his parents. Mike and Diane McLean said they were troubled by the lack of acknowledgement they received from Stanford athletics. The couple said they were never contacted by anyone at the University, and they did not even receive a confirmation that the materials they sent were received.

“It would have been common courtesy to acknowledge that they received our mailings and were taking them into consideration,” said Diane McLean.

Koberlein and Bowlsby confirmed that their materials were considered. As for acknowledgement, Bowlsby said the McLeans “were not contacted because I didn’t believe there was anything more to be gathered from them, other than what we had received.”

The three remaining swimmers were contacted by the Athletics Department, but only one, Richard Eddy ‘06, did not respond. The Daily was also unable to reach Eddy for comment.

Breaking past the surface

As for those who were reached, Jason Plummer ‘92 and Tobias Oriwol ‘06 were given the chance to offer their two cents.

In a candid interview with The Daily, Plummer described an hourlong phone conversation with Koberlein.

Outspoken about his many issues with Kenney, Plummer said that he felt his side of the story was taken seriously, but “at no stage did I feel my testimony or anything I said was going to get Skip Kenney fired.”

Angry testimony like Plummer’s was not alone in the investigation, according to Koberlein.

But Bowlsby noted that “the majority [of input] was highly favorable to Skip.” And as for those who had less than positive relationships with Kenney, Bowlsby added, “Some of it in the end was attributable to their parts and some of it was attributable to his part.”

McLean, in particular, put this to test. In June 2005, the incoming Stanford senior accepted a summer internship that would keep him from participating in voluntary summer practices. In August 2005, however, the team was about to head to Baton Rouge, La. for a training McLean was available for.

McLean was told by Kenney he could not attend because of the missed summer practices. The situation was close to becoming an NCAA violation, and Koberlein said he had to step in. McLean joined the team in Louisiana, and the issue was resolved.

Allegations of an NCAA violation by McLean and his family were among those brought up again in Bowlsby’s investigation. But in his decision, Bowlsby said that the swim program has shown a history of “flexibility with summer classes, internships and swimmers going abroad.”

In Friday’s announcement, Stanford said no NCAA violations were found.

Finishing the swim

While Wildman-Tobriner and Kornfeld both said they were glad to have Kenney return after he serves his two-month suspension, Plummer was less enthused.

“The Athletics Department has put winning in front of integrity and doing the right thing; but frankly, everyone always does,” Plummer said, citing Stanford’s emphasis on winning championships and Directors’ Cups.

Kenney has contributed to both areas as a head coach. As an 18-time Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year and six-time NCAA Coach of the Year, he has led the Cardinal to 26 Pac-10 Championships and seven NCAA titles.

Bowlsby admitted that both Kenney’s history of competitive success and his history with members of the program had to be considered.

“In coming to the decision,” Bowlsby said, “I looked both at his body of work over the past 28 years and what I had gathered in speaking with various people.”

While calling the investigation and decision process fair, Plummer criticized Kenney’s suspension as “the bare minimum they can do and say they did anything.”

The 60-day suspension, begun Apr. 20, concludes June 20 — a period Plummer described as irrelevant to the rest of the season, as it is in the middle of spring training. The suspension also ends just before the start of recruiting in July.

Considering the many conflicting interests — including those against Kenney and those supporting continued success for Stanford — Plummer said he wasn’t surprised by the investigation’s result.

“When you chuck all that into the recipe,” he said, “I suppose you get a two-month suspension without pay.”