A current Iowa State gymnast, who asked to remain anonymous, shared the below letter with Gymnastics Now on March 5.

“Iowa State and its athletic administration has failed us. As a team of girls who have worked tirelessly since a young age to achieve our dreams of being a Division 1 gymnast, we deserved better. We deserved to be listened to when we brought our concerns to administration, and we deserved more than empty promises from the administration that was supposed to protect our rights as student athletes.

To say we are heartbroken is an understatement. To say we have been let down, looked over, and left in the dark by [Director of Athletics] Jamie Pollard and his staff is nothing but the truth. The decision to cut Iowa State Gymnastics as a program has not only impacted my teammates and I – and every alum, coach, donor, and staff member – but every person who has spent their time and energy to build this once historic program.

Jamie Pollard has been absent from this program. The empty promise by Pollard that “our number one priority is the safety and well being of our student athletes” was just that, empty. There has been little to no support to protect our safety as gymnasts at this University.

For the last 4 months, we as a team have made difficult and mature decisions to respectfully bring physical and emotional safety concerns and issues forward to [Senior Associate Athletics Director] Shamaree Brown. We came forward through emails and forms submitted to Brown on November 11, 2025. We wrote pages and pages about everything that had been going on in the gymnastics program. We spoke up about not feeling safe, that we hadn’t been prepared well to be able to successfully and safely compete in our first meet in 3 weeks, that we are not listened to by our head coach, Ashley [Miles Greig]; and that Ashley’s interactions with our team and assistant coaches was often incredibly hostile and unprofessional (we had to be the adults in many situations because Ashley was not able to be professional).

We reported situations that had happened to us personally; situations we witnessed; and sent quotes of the comments Ashley would say to us. We brought up concerns of how our assistant coaches were being unfairly treated and silenced by Ashley. That is only a small part of what we reported. We were nervous and fearful to come forward and report these behaviors. These concerns did not randomly arise 4 months ago, they have been building over years, and specifically, over Ashley’s time here as head coach [since 2023].

After those emails, we were acknowledged by Shamaree Brown and offered more communication with him and the opportunity to meet with him in person to continue the conversation if we felt comfortable to do so. With that opportunity, a small group of us went to Brown’s office in the following days. We spent well over an hour sitting in his office reiterating everything we had sent in those emails. The main topic of concern we addressed was the fast approaching season. We were only a few weeks out from our first meet against Mizzou. We told Brown that we were physically and mentally underprepared to go out and compete successfully and safely. Brown listened, took notes, and told us he would look into it and have further conversations. From that day until the elimination of our program, there were no changes made to the leadership of our team, nor were any of our concerns taken seriously. Shamaree Brown flew to our season opener at Mizzou, where we opened with a historic program low of 191.325. He witnessed the chaos and concerns we had been bringing up first hand, and still, nothing.

As a group of girls who warned our administrative leaders before season started that we would underperform and that further injuries would happen if there were not changes made, we are extremely disappointed and frustrated with Jamie Pollard and Shamaree Brown.

In Jaime’s recent statement, he said ‘The decision to suspend the season resulted from a series of complex internal conflicts between individual teammates, coaching staff members, and parents. These conflicts created unreconcilable differences that not only prevented our team from competing, but they also prevented team members from carrying on their daily activities, including practice.’ Yet, my teammates and I have been able to train together (despite having to go to a club gym to train on our own because our ISU gym was taken away since the cancellation of our season), eat together, go to class together, and live together. So what unreconcilable differences are you talking about Jamie Pollard?

You, as the University’s athletic leader, are putting responsibility and blame on the athletes who have done nothing but put their heads down and worked their hardest to represent you and this University to the best of their ability given the circumstances we were working through. Despite everything we have been through this year and previous years, we continue to show up, work hard, achieve a high level of academic success, and give our all to the sport we love.

Leadership matters. Accountability is crucial. It is unfortunate that the leaders of this program have not listened to us as athletes, cared about us as athletes, or helped us prevent this outcome. We, as members of this team, have done everything in our power to reach out and ask for help. For 4 months, we have been asking for help and change. Our assistant coaches have been asking for help and change. Our parents have been asking for help and change. We have been met with nothing except empty statements and excuses. We were told to sign up to see our sports psychologist if we feel like that would help. Jamie Pollard was included in emails and there was no response.

Since cancelling our season on February 8th, we were left with no answers till our meeting this past Tuesday, March 3rd, when we were told our program will be shut down.

Pollard and Brown have failed us. We are heartbroken that our efforts to prevent this outcome were ignored and dismissed. I hope that changes can be made and the administration will treat the new women’s collegiate team with more respect, care, and support than we were ever given. The bare minimum of what student-athletes deserve.

Sincerely,
A Current Iowa State Gymnast”

Gymnastics Now continues to report on this developing story. Current and former Iowa State gymnasts, coaches, staff, or others connected to the program who would like to share information or speak about their experiences can contact us at [email protected].