One of the most dramatic pieces of fallout from USA Swimming's past couple months was the departure of two high level staffers, Susan Woessner and Pat Hogan.
In Woessner's case, there was "new" evidence that seemed to lead to her firing: the admission that she "kissed" Sean Hutchison and did not disclose that as USA Swimming was investigating the coach.
In Hogan's case, we heard nothing from him in his "retirement" announcement. However, the letter from attorneys Robert Allard and Jonathan Little that precipitated his retirement reiterated some old information about Hogan.
When USA Swimming allowed child molester Everett Uchiyama to "resign" from his post in 2006, Pat Hogan was the man who helped Uchiyama get a new job with access to kids down the road at the Colorado Country Club with an over the top recommendation.
Which brings us to yesterday. According to this facebook post sent anonymously to the blog, all the members of USA Swimming's club development staff were tagged in a post celebrating the retirement of their "boss".
Named as attendees in the post are Denise MacDonald, whose title appears as Administrative Assistant at USA Swimming. Dave Thomas and Scott Colby are Sports Performance Consultant for USA Swimming and reported to Pat Hogan in that capacity.
Also in attendance were:
Jean Becker Skjerly (Purchasing Facilitator, in USA Swimming's Financial Affairs department)
Wendy Bartlett (Membership Marketing Manager, in USA Swimming's Commercial Department)
Joel Stauffer (Web Producer, also under commercial)
Randy Julian (Sport Development Consultant, Central Zone)
Patti Pannell (Field Services Consultant)
Gina Mensay (Member Services Program Manager, in USA Swimming's Safe Sport & Education Department)
Morgan Weinberg (Program and Services Manager)
According to the source of the image, the following were also in attendance:
Also according to the source, Phantom Canyon is a favorite go-to spot for out of work celebrations for USA Swimmings employees.
While Pat Hogan is not identified as the "boss", there doesn't appear to be any other common boss these people have shared that has "retired" recently.
So what's the point? The point is that the culture that has enabled sexual abuse within USA Swimming is still pervasive. Behind the abusers themselves, there is another layer that will protect the abusers because they are "friends". In Hogan's case, there was questionable behavior of his own.
But not to worry! The Pat Hogan's of the swimming world have their friends to defend them too. And those people likely have friends that will read this post and say to me "How dare you point out that my honorable friend celebrated the retirement of Pat Hogan???". The culture runs deep.
After I had the audacity to point out that Susan Woessner was not very good at her job, I was told second hand that several people wanted to "kick my ass".
USA Swimming staff has not shown it is at all serious about cultural reform. If it did, Pat Hogan would not still be a beloved insider within the organization, while Sarah Ehekircher and Deena Deardurff Schmidt remain so far outside they might as well be on Mars.