Gary Taylor, the current head coach of Cavalier Aquatics and an associate head coach on the staff at the University of Virginia, is currently serving a two-year probation period after admitting to emotional abuse of athletes.

According to Chris Graham of the Augustana Free Press, Taylor received the two-year probation from the U.S. Center for SafeSport after an investigation concluded with him admitting to emotional misconduct while coaching swimmers from 2015 until 2022 at NC State, Auburn and Cavalier Aquatics.

SafeSport reportedly made the Notice of Decision on March 17 and shared its findings with Piedmont Family YMCA (the non-profit that oversees Cavalier Aquatics) officials and UVA head coach Todd DeSorbo at that time.

During the two-year probation period, a subsequent complaint against Taylor will likely lead to more severe sanctions, such as suspension or permanent ineligibility.

Taylor, who worked with DeSorbo as an assistant at NC State, spent six seasons as an assistant with the Wolfpack until 2018 before being hired to be the head coach of Auburn. After a three-year stint with the Tigers, he was hired as the head coach of Cavalier Aquatics in 2021.

In May 2024, he was added to the coaching staff at UVA while maintaining his role with Cavalier Aquatics.

According to the Augustana Free Press, complaints of abusive behavior by Taylor towards his swimmers started surfacing shortly after he arrived at Cavalier Aquatics. It’s important to note that DeSorbo’s wife, Lauren Suggs, is a board member at the Piedmont Family YMCA, and that Taylor went on to marry the CEO of the Piedmont Family YMCA, Jessica Taylor (formerly Jessica Maslaney).

Given that context, the complaints made against Taylor were never addressed by YMCA leadership, according to the Augustana Free Press.

As the complaints mounted, parents reportedly counted 31 of 62 swimmers in the senior group left Cavalier Aquatics during Taylor’s first year at the helm.

After attempts to be heard hadn’t made much progress, one parent reportedly requested a confidential meeting with Bob Bremer, the chair of the Piedmont Family YMCA Board at the time, and presented him with a letter detailing numerous concerns from a group of parents highlighting issues of emotional abuse from Taylor.

Bremer reportedly forwarded the letter to Jessica Taylor (Maslaney at the time), who wrote back to the parent challenging the credibility of the letter:

“There are a number of statements in the letter that are false and represent accusations that could be damaging to personal and professional careers and reputations. We will take all appropriate actions to support any YMCA Employee who is inappropriately and unfairly maligned or disrespected, regardless of the forum.

Taylor continued: “What started as a disappointment in a group placement has escalated into unsubstantiated and damaging accusations against our staff, violates our Parent Code of Conduct and will not continue to be tolerated.”

After attempts to be heard by YMCA leadership failed, the Augustana Free Press reports that one parent began reaching out to Auburn swimmers who had trained under Taylor, wondering if this was a pattern of behavior, and this was what ultimately led to the SafeSport investigation into his conduct.

A text message sent from one longtime member of Cavalier Aquatics to Taylor telling him she was quitting the team was reported by the Augustana Free Press:

“The way that you speak to some of your swimmers is extremely degrading. … I feel like you feel the need to treat me like I am a child, which is something I am not.

“Basically telling us that we weren’t good enough is unacceptable. It seems like you have no concern for your swimmers’ lives and assume that swimming is their highest priority, which for some of them, it might be. I think you fail to realize that your swimmers have lives outside of club swimming.”

Graham of the Augustana Free Press goes on to outline a series of complaints from Auburn swimmers he was given access to, with allegations including:

All quotes according to Chris Graham of the Augustana Free Press.

• Taylor made a swimmer feel guilty about asking for a mental health break, saying he “never once asked if I was okay or anything and made me feel guilty for my mental health and trying to take care of it.” They also said: “Gary has also mentioned on a number of occasions that he prides himself on being able to make girls cry very easily.”
• One swimmer had an asthma attack during dryland, and Taylor advised a trainer, “Don’t help her, she’s fine.” The swimmer later lost their spot on the team, and said she is “terrified for the girls that are still being coached by him and will have to put up with his verbal abuse.”
  • The same swimmer wrote: “I don’t think that a lot of girls would be able to overcome some of the things that he said to me. I think that he will continue to tear people down again and again, all from things that he has made up in his head. I wish I could count on two hands the amount of people that have told me that Gary has made them feel so small and worthless. He will continue to tarnish athletes’ confidence until change happens.”
• One swimmer wrote about how Taylor “tarnished athletes’ confidence” with the example of how he gave out a children’s book called The Pout Pout Fish “to the person with the worst attitude” at the end of the week. “I unfortunately got the book,” the swimmer wrote. “I don’t know if it does much giving a 20-year-old a children’s book about attitudes, but it certainly made me angry and questioned the coach’s ability to lead and teach.”
  • They said of Taylor and his staff: “They truly only care about swimming, not even the swimmer, but solely their performance, and it’s ruining people from the inside out,” the same swimmer wrote, noting that they had been diagnosed with ADHD, seasonal depression and anxiety caused by the stress endured from Taylor and his staff. “I never in a million years would’ve thought I’d be having to decide if I wanted to take anti-depressants or question if I wanted to continue doing the sport I love. I’ve been scared, I’ve had numerous anxiety attacks and days where I just lay in bed and cry thinking about how much different I thought my college swimming experience should be. But enough is enough, and I’m done being scared of him and being scared to express my emotions.”
• Another swimmer felt pride for representing Auburn after being recruited by the former head coach Brett Hawke, and was committed to finishing out her career with the Tigers, but when Taylor arrived, she “dreamed of my final practice, final race, and most importantly final interaction with Gary.”
  • “He killed my love for the sport. Getting to go to practice and see my teammates used to be the highlight of my day, but having to go interact with Gary made me absolutely dread going to practice every day. I got to the point that I had to go see a therapist every week or two just to be able to mentally survive week to week.”
• Another swimmer detailed how, on a recruiting phone call, she had mentioned how she was excited to compete for something bigger than herself and be a part of the Auburn legacy. Taylor then used that against her, telling her and the rest of the team “about how we do not deserve to say or be a part of Auburn’s legacy because we did not have the winning record or accomplishments they did.”
  • “At one point, he made me stand up in front of everyone and made an example out of me as to why we shouldn’t say the word ‘legacy’ in that connotation. He embarrassed me so much, taken this was the first time he said anything to me in person. After that meeting, he made comments and gestures to the original conversation we had multiple times the rest of the year, and again multiple times my sophomore year.”
• One team captain said she regretted accepting the leadership role on the team because of the way Taylor “took to berating and ridiculing captains in meetings.”
  • “’I do not matter, I am such a failure, I am messing up everyone’s season, It would be better for everyone if I just left.’ These were my thoughts walking out of his office,” the swimmer wrote. “I would sit in my car in the colosseum parking lot and cry, praying no one I knew would walk by. Sometimes I wouldn’t even make it out of the elevator before the tears started.”
• One swimmer pushed back against Taylor’s assertion that a lack of confidence was hampering her performance in the pool, to which he responded by asking her if she was on her period. “That comment forced me to see the sports psych more often and to have a one-on-one with Gary, with another coach monitoring our conversation. The meeting went poorly, and our relationship was very toxic,” the swimmer wrote, adding that she “ended up becoming clinically depressed and became a harm to myself.” Taylor put the swimmer in a different group after she told him about mental health difficulties.
  • “I feel like an outcast, unwanted, a failure, and a constant reminder to him of his failure,” the swimmer wrote. “My main fear in telling him about my mental health struggles was the treatment and stigma that comes with it, which he promised he wouldn’t judge. Instead, his decision for not trusting me or considering me for captain was my mental instability and my depression I expressed the year I swam with him. He holds my struggle over my head and makes me feel like an unwanted monster. “Gary’s inflexibility, ego, sexism and overall inappropriate comments have been super harmful towards me,” the swimmer wrote. “I am a huge believer that college sports are a business, and I was always prepared to have a difficult boss. I was never prepared to be harassed and mistreated in this way.”

When the University of Virginia hired Taylor in May 2024, a Cavalier Aquatics parent reportedly warned UVA Athletic Director Carla Williams that the school should “start preparing for some blowback” due to the ongoing investigation into Taylor’s conduct.

After providing an update on the investigation in September, the parent was told by Williams that all of their future communication related to the investigation would be forwarded to the University’s Office of the General Counsel.

During Taylor’s first season as an associate head coach with the Cavaliers, the women’s team continued to thrive, winning their fifth consecutive NCAA Championship title and sixth straight ACC crown, while the men’s program placed 32nd at NCAAs and 8th at ACCs.

At last week’s U.S. National Championships, eight UVA-affiliated swimmers landed on the 2025 World Championship team, with former Cavaliers Gretchen Walsh, Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass, current team members Claire Curzan, Katie Grimes, Anna Moesch and Jack Aikins, and future Cavalier/Cavalier Aquatics swimmer Thomas Heilman all solidifying their spots on the Singapore roster.