Katie Rietkovich Browder: Ole Miss softball coach and 2 students' 'love triangle'
OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI: At the University of Mississippi, nicknamed Ole Miss, several members of the softball coaching staff are under investigation due to complaints filed against an assistant coach accusing her of sexual misconduct with a player. A Title IX investigation has been launched after allegations of assistant coach Katie Rietkovich Browder having an affair with a student-athlete came to light.
As per a report on the Running Poles podcast website, a letter was sent to Athletic Director Keith Carter on July 29, accusing head coach Jamie Trachsel of “covering up a sexual misconduct scandal involving two super seniors and a female assistant coach.” The letter accused Trachsel of knowing about the affair and bribing the players involved with scholarship money to remain quiet. “Based on these new allegations,” the letter said, “Head Coach Jamie Trachsel has now violated NCAA Bylaw for Unethical Conduct and the Conduct of Athletic Personal Responsibility of the Head Coach.”
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A formal complaint was also reportedly sent to the offices of Ole Miss Equal Opportunity and Regulation, Southeastern Conference Compliance, and NCAA Academic and Membership Affairs on May 10 accusing Trachsel of “Lack of institutional Control based on NCAA Bylaw 2.1.1 and for failing to protect the student-athletes' well being based on the NCAA Bylaws 2.2, 2.2.2, and 2.2.4.”
Who is Katie Rietkovich Browder?
Browder was allegedly romantically concerned with a senior student-athlete on the staff, who was courting one other senior teammate at the time. The alleged inappropriate relationship was discovered in July when the girlfriend discovered a text exchange with Browder pointing to a relationship between them. She then reportedly printed out screenshots of the exchange and taped them to the coach’s computer in her office.
As per the Daily Mail, Browder married her girlfriend, referred to only as C.J., in December 2019 shortly before joining the Ole Miss coaching staff. Browder and Trachsel reportedly previously worked together on the coaching staff at the University of Minnesota. Browder left first, joining the Ole Miss team, the Rebels in 2020 as an assistant coach with Trachsel joining as head coach in 2021.
The complaint reportedly alleged that Trachsel “created and embraced a mentally toxic culture” and failed the program “where she is responsible for providing an environment that values cultural diversity and gender equality.”
Both Browder and Trachsel made political commentary regarding conservative-minded players on the team, the complaint said. "If my wife or other people in my family voted for Trump then all they would be doing is hurting me," said Browder, during a Zoom call with Ole Miss officials. Trachsel reportedly spoke about her past as a Republican and then explained that now she is Democrat, “So you really want to make sure that you don’t go with the wrong party.”
“In my opinion, politics shouldn’t be brought into softball,” a former player told the Running Poles under the condition of anonymity. “Even Ryker (Chason) talked about his grandma and how she was learning. I really felt like they were trying to persuade us in how we voted. If they weren’t trying to make that a thing, they wouldn’t have brought it up. I don’t think it was called for.”
In December 2019, the University of Mississippi announced the resignation of head softball coach Mike Smith after an internal investigation. There were accusations of him inappropriately touching a player in the dugout.