Legendary Former Harvard Women's Hockey Coach Sues School Over Gender Discrimination
Former Harvard women's hockey coach Katey Stone filed a lawsuit against the school on Tuesday for what she claims was a forced retirement in 2023 and a history of being paid significantly less than her male counterpart.
Stone’s allegations against one of the bastions of DEI in America come after a 29-year career with the Crimson during which she racked up a record that made her one of the most accomplished female hockey coaches in history.
Coach Stone is the all-time winningest female head coach in women's college hockey history and her 523 wins rank fourth-most overall behind three male head coaches.
Her success at the university earned her the job coaching the Team USA women's hockey squad, the first female coach in the team's history, and she led the team to a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Harvard women's hockey coach Katey Stone coached Team USA to a silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
(Bruce Bisping/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Still, in 2023, weeks before Claudine Gay took over as President of the university, the school informed Stone that they would not be bringing her back, which forced her to retire.
Harvard University investigated Katey Stone and the women's hockey program in 2022 after a locker room remark
The lawsuit also claims that a human resources investigation was initiated over a locker room remark.
What was the locker room comment that sparked a full-blown investigation? Stone, while speaking to her entire team in 2022, used the common idiom "there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians."
Because Harvard had two players at the time who were Natives, Stone says she immediately apologized for using the phrase, which in and of itself is not overly problematic.
Still, because of the heightened sensitivity of today's society, she was apologetic and informed her supervisor of the remark.
That didn't stop the school from launching a full-scale human resources investigation into the program alongside another probe that was prompted by a survey of all athletic teams at the school. The secondary investigation was directed by former Harvard President Gay, who at the time was the Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences – after she cited the hockey team as a "red flag."
Claudine Gay led an internal investigation of Harvard women's hockey coach Katey Stone.
(Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Why did Harvard have the Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences investigating a hockey coach? And how is Claudine Gay – who later refused to condemn students who were calling for the genocide of Jews – qualified to probe into alleged harassment by a hockey coach?
OutKick reached out to Harvard for comment on this matter and did not receive a response.
The complaint says that "Dr. Claudine Gay’s Human Resources investigation did not reveal any misconduct in Coach Stone’s hockey program and recommended a performance improvement plan, which Coach Stone embraced."
The complaint also notes that, unlike Coach Stone, "Dr. Claudine Gay is still employed, teaching and mentoring students at Harvard University."
Remember that, in addition to the antisemitism supported by Gay, she was accused numerous instances of plagiarism. Apparently, Harvard believes her "crimes" are less serious than a hockey coach who used the phrase "too many chiefs and not enough Indians."
Stone's lawsuit claims that Harvard paid her far less than the men's hockey coach and gave a strange reason for the disparity
According to the complaint, Katey Stone approached the Harvard administration many times about the pay discrepancy between herself and the men's hockey coach.
"By way of example, and not limitation, at one point Defendant Harvard alleged, erroneously, that the men’s ice hockey head coach deserved more compensation than Coach Stone 'because he [meaning the male head coach of the men’s ice hockey team] has to make quicker in-game decisions,'" the lawsuit states.
"Not only is this a wildly inappropriate excuse for unequal pay, but it is also entirely false, as the length of men’s hockey games on average are longer than women’s, as the time between whistle stoppages of play are extended for men’s coaches during games."
Legendary former Harvard women's hockey coach Katey Stone is suing the school, claiming they discriminated against her because she was a female coach.
(Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
While Stone coached the Harvard women's hockey team to six Frozen Fours and four National Championship runner-up finishes, the men's ice hockey coach – Ted Donato – reached the Frozen Four only once in his 19-year tenure.
While Stone was let go following the 2022-23 season after her team went 7-21-3, Donato remains the school's men's hockey coach despite going 7-19-6 last year.
In addition, in the team's first year without Stone, the Harvard women's hockey team went 5-23-2, which is the worst winning percentage in team history.
The Boston Globe released a scathing article on Harvard head coach Katey Stone in 2023
The retirement came on the heels of an article in the Boston Globe, titled "'A culture of complete fear’: Harvard women’s hockey coach Katey Stone under fire for alleged abusive behavior."
The Globe spoke to one of the Native players on the team, who claimed that Stone looked her in the eyes when she made the "too many chiefs" remark.
"I had learned to navigate a lot of her toxic environment," Maryna Macdonald said, according to the Globe. "But now she was disrespecting me and my family and my heritage in front of everybody."
The Globe also reported that MacDonald, Taze Thompson and assistant coach Sydney Daniels – all of whom are Natives – left the program. They didn't report, however, that Stone apologized after making the remark or that she reported herself to her supervisor.
Taze Thompson, who left the Harvard women's hockey team under coach Katey Stone, now plays for Northeastern.
(Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Although all three cited the use of Stone's remark, the complaint suggested that at least one of the players was upset about her playing time prior to the remarks.
OutKick attempted to verify their on-ice minutes, but the Harvard Athletics website does not track minutes played.
In addition, while some players spoke to the newspaper about the alleged abusive practices, nearly 50 former players told the outlet that they supported Coach Stone.
One player, Lauren McAuliffe, said, "Harvard hockey is just short of holy to me, and that’s because of Coach Stone…It wasn’t just the four years I was there. It impacts me almost every day."
Another, Julie Chu, praised Stone for helping her navigate being an Asian American lesbian hockey player.
"I had a very positive experience playing for Coach Stone," Chu said. "I felt very accepted for who I was as an Asian American and also as someone who was figuring out how to come out as gay to family and friends during my university time."
Meghan Duggan, Julie Chu and Brianna Decker of Team USA, coached by Katey Stone, react during the flower ceremony after losing to Canada 3-2 during the Ice Hockey Women's Gold Medal Game at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Following the release of the Globe article, Harvard retained the services of an outside counsel, Jenner & Block, to conduct an independent and objective investigation into Stone's program.
Just like the internal investigation, the external investigation found no evidence of misconduct in the Harvard women's hockey program.
By all accounts, Stone was tough on her Harvard players, but she was the head coach for 29 years for a reason
In sports, there are always going to be players who like a coach and those who don't. Coaching styles often work great for some players, but not great for others. That's part of the deal.
The complaint says that Stone was treated unfairly as a female coach relative to her male counterparts at Harvard.
"Where… Harvard permits, if not openly encourages, male coaches to use their discretion in how best to coach and motivate the players on their respective teams, Coach Stone was harshly punished and excoriated for engaging in the same coaching strategies and behaviors."
Stone's track record paints a far more positive picture than a negative one.
To have all of that negated by one comment made during a locker room speech, particularly an idiom that is quite common in American English vernacular, seems absurd.
Especially coming from a school like Harvard. This is a university that showed that it allowed openly antisemitic protests on campus.
Yet, a 29-year veteran hockey coach with over 500 victories, six Frozen Four appearances and four NCAA runner-up finishes saying her team had "too many chiefs and enough Indians" was enough to start the process of removing her from the university?
Or perhaps it was her demanding that she be paid the same salary as the male head coach when Harvard constantly preaches about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion?
The hypocrisy is almost too much to bear.