Coach Ralph Ferrigno has been exploiting his players for personal gain in several incidents over the course of the last year, five members of the men's soccer team claim.
The list of accusations includes coercing players to staff the soccer camp which Ferrigno directs without compensation, having players paint his office under the auspices of team bonding, and using team funds to buy an iBook laptop.
Other grievances include a general feeling that Ferrigno does not care about the wellbeing of his players.
The Tufts Daily contacted eight of the 14 non-freshman players who were on the team prior to this fall. Three refused to comment, saying that they felt the issue should be handled by the team and not publicly. Three spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing concerns that speaking openly would endanger their playing time next season. Two, both departing seniors, spoke openly.
Ferrigno declined to comment on any of the allegations.
Ferrigno has coached at Tufts for the past 15 years, compiling a successful 126-74-17 record. This year's team finished 8-6-1 (4-5 NESCAC) before losing in the first round of the NESCAC tournament in an overtime game against Middlebury.
Athletic Director Bill Gehling defended Ferrigno's performance this season.
"I think Ralph did an excellent job coaching the team under difficult circumstances this year." Gehling said. "After coming back from a year of struggling physically, the team outperformed what I considered preseason expectations."
The physical struggles to which Gehling refers is an illness that has debilitated Ferrigno over the last several years.
Every player quoted agreed that Ferrigno had lost the team.
"No one has any respect for, or common ground with, the coach," anonymous player "A" said.
"It was absolutely a consensus," anonymous player "B" said. "Across the board, players feel like he doesn't look out for his players or care how they are doing off the field, socially or academically. If you like and respect a coach, you play for him as much as the guys on your team. We played for each other only. It was obvious that guys did not respect [Ferrigno]."
"They only appeased him so they wouldn't get benched."
In addition to his position at Tufts, Ferrigno is the director of the Lightning Soccer camp for Grades 1 to 12. This year and in past years, Ferrigno requested that his Tufts soccer players work as counselors at the camp for two weeks during the summer. Players who worked for both weeks were paid for both weeks, but those who worked only one week were not compensated at all, players said.
According to the players, Ferrigno told the team members that their time staffing his camp would be used to promote team chemistry and working in informal captains' practices before the official preseason began.
"I dropped my training and the end of my summer at home to come. We were told that it would be time to bond and work together as a team, but we were all split up from the start and didn't train," player A said. "It was an excuse to have Tufts players market his product."
Senior captain Scott Conroy was one of several players who did not attend the camp this fall.
"I knew it wouldn't pay. I had an internship at the time and that was more important to me than working for no pay," Conroy said. "There weren't consequences for me, but I don't think it affected me the same as it might have a sophomore or junior [who had not attended] who not been in the program as long as I had."
Players cited two incidents that occurred last spring that made them feel exploited.
Over spring break last year, Ferrigno employed several Tufts players for another camp session. The players were told that money would be paid into a Tufts soccer fund for their work.
According to these players, Ferrigno told them that the team would get to decide how to use that money. Players say that after the camp, Ferrigno bought a laptop with the funds without consulting the team, claiming that it would be used for the squad to watch game film.
"We were told money would go to the team. Then he bought a laptop, which in no way helped the team. It was his personal computer," a third anonymous player, "C," said.
"I was pretty baffled when I was told that he used the money for a computer," said Conroy, who had worked at the spring camp in previous years but was abroad this past spring. "[The computer] was used to watch game footage, but it was 18 kids sitting around a 15 inch laptop."
Last spring, Ferrigno requested that his players paint his office in Halligan Hall, again under the auspices of team bonding. The players said that they were broken up into several groups and were never together as a team.
"It was completely ridiculous," player C said. "He called it team bonding, but it was pretty unanimous throughout the team that it was just a scheme."
"It was totally mandatory," senior Brett Wong said. "There were no direct threats, but we assumed that it would affect our playing time."
Another incident players complained of was that after the summer camp ended this year, there was a one week interim period before the preseason officially began. Players said that Ferrigno told them that it would be a good idea to stay and train together, saying that he would provide a field, balls, and a goal with which to play.
According to players, Ferrigno then did not provide these resources. The players asked Athletic Director Bill Gehling if they could use the Tufts fields. He responded by saying that that would be against NESCAC regulations for pre-season training.
"I was excited about their enthusiasm and desire, but it was in violation of NESCAC conference rules [regarding preseason training]." Gehling said. "They were specifically told not to play there."
After a fruitless search for local Somerville fields on which to play, the players, led by senior captain Matt Sullivan, used the Tufts fields despite Gehling's warning.
After this was discovered, Ferrigno took disciplinary action by stripping Sullivan of his captaincy, a move that was widely criticized by the rest of the team.
