Parents of Delaware State lacrosse players allege coaches abused and were negligent

After the Delaware State women’s lacrosse team lost 14-10 to Fairleigh Dickinson, the players reportedly paid a painful price.

After the March 16 game, DSU players received penalties, according to Lacrosse Extras.

“To punish players, coaches forced them to roll up and down the field during a subsequent practice, video footage shows.”

Three parents, speaking to Lacrosse Extras on condition of anonymity, accused him of abuse by former head coach Pamella Jenkins and assistant coach Jovan Estrada, and negligence by Delaware State athletic director Alecia Shields-Gadson.

“Coach Estrada, under the watchful eye of Pam Jenkins, had a random ‘friend’ of his come to practice and ‘punish’ the girls,” said one parent. “These were the words used by the unknown party and the coaches themselves. What resulted was physical and verbal abuse over the course of the next 90+ minutes.”

Parents claimed they contacted the Delaware state board but were initially met with resistance.

“When the school was made aware of this (and the fact that a video was taken), they initially tried to talk about it and said that these things are allowed,” said another anonymous parent. “When they were pushed further and told that the person present had no connection, permission or consent to the program, they were shocked. When they were told that Pam (Jenkins) was present, they immediately went into damage control mode.”

As a result, Estrada was fired and Jenkins was placed on inactive status for the remainder of the season. The Delaware State women’s lacrosse team finished the 2024 season 2-13 overall and 2-8 in their first season in the Northeast Conference.

Jenkins would eventually be fired as well, but parents allege a “house cleaning” is taking place among current players. They say the school’s athletic director “changed scholarship allocations for many of the players — without their knowledge, and parted ways.”

“The AD (Shields-Gadson) is trying to clean house with all the current players and start over and take away the scholarships of the current players, which is absurd,” said another parent, adding that Shields-Gadson “is trying to blame the girls for what happened this season.”

On Friday, the head coaching position for the women’s lacrosse team was listed as “to be announced” on the Delaware State Athletics website.