Indiana women’s volleyball head coach Steve Aird, a former men’s volleyball player and women’s volleyball assistant coach at Penn State, has been accused of abusive coaching behaviors by several former Indiana players.

Kari Zumach, who played under Aird at Indiana from 2019 to 2021, has garnered millions of views on TikTok recently. She’s shared several stories about her time with the Hoosiers and the damage she said Aird caused.

“Few times do I speak out based on the anger I feel for having had to experience that with my teammates, but majority of the time, I speak on it so other athletes know they are not alone, and so coaches and staff are hopefully, at some point, held accountable,” Zumach wrote in a statement to Onward State.

“My goal for continuing to be vocal about everything we went through is not to get Aird fired, contrary to popular belief,” she continued. “What I wish to come out of this is for Aird to acknowledge that some of his behavior and treatment to past players was unwarranted, inappropriate, damaging, and/or harmful.”

Zumach said the treatment she got from Aird while at Indiana made her suicidal and drained while developing severe hatred for herself and volleyball, she said in several social media posts.

According to one of Zumach’s videos, she and two teammates “were the only athletes uninvited to the end-of-the-year banquet because [they] came forward about [their] coach being abusive.” In the same post, Zumach said Aird told Zumach’s teammate Sophie Oliphant that “he would rather lose every match than ever play her.”

Zumach also said via TikTok that when she had a mass on her neck that had to be screened for cancer, she cried to Aird and said, “Of course, this is happening to me,” which prompted the coach to tell her she deserved it if she was going to have that mentality.

Along with her and her teammates’ negative experiences, Zumach has heard of other programs having similar experiences and said in her statement to Onward State that she’s hoping to lead Indiana, as well as other teams, to ensure a positive connection between players and coaches.

“Our goal is not attention or to appease people but to be honest about the harsh reality of some athletic programs and to hold people accountable for the unacceptable treatment of players and young adults,” she told Onward State. “There is a toxic wave of coaches that are still rooted in the philosophy that you have to break players down for them to be successful and bully them to make them better. That time has passed and athletes will no longer sit idly by while being treated this way.”

Other stories Zumach has shared via TikTok include Aird saying “he was super supportive of mental health and [her] mental illness… as long as [she] left it at the door and ‘turned it off like a faucet’ when [she] came in the gym,” and Aird telling Zumach’s teammate Breana Edwards “maybe she wouldn’t ‘always be injured’ if she didn’t eat so many desserts.”

Zumach and her teammates have received negative feedback on their videos, both publicly and privately, but are not letting it stop them from having their voices heard.

“I would like to point out we are aware that our stories and the public sharing of them have been misconstrued as ‘attention seeking,’ ‘lies,’ and ‘the untruthful retelling of disgruntled unsuccessful players,’ in order to pursue people to not listen or believe what we have to say. The only thing I can say is that is the furthest thing from the truth, as we have received multiple forms of repercussions as a result of coming forward and we still seek to share our stories in order to hopefully help and protect other athletes,” Zumach wrote.

While Zumach is “damaged” from her time in Bloomington, she said to Onward State that she’s seen current players supporting Aird, and she’s hopeful that his behaviors have improved.

“Something important we have noticed in the public response is the current and recent players coming to Aird’s defense. Again, contrary to popular belief, we are happy that they are having a positive experience with [Indiana volleyball] and wish success for them and the program in the future. It is also important to note we are not speaking on behalf of the current program we are only telling our own experiences and what we witnessed while playing there ourselves,” Zumach told Onward State.

Zumach also shared via TikTok that the trauma she and her teammates endured came four years ago, and she is “happy the new players love it there and are having a much better experience.” However, Zumach wrote that the new positive outlook on the program “does not take away or diminish what we went through. I think that is very important to remember. If he has grown and changed, I am happy for current players.”

Aird played for Penn State men’s volleyball from 1997 to 2001 and was a two-time captain. He returned to Happy Valley as the director of operations for the women’s volleyball team from 2007 to 2008 before having another stint with the team as an assistant coach from 2012 to 2014. He’s been the head coach of Indiana since 2018.

Indiana Athletics did not respond for comment on the situation, while Penn State Athletics declined to comment.