"Could someone state in Black & White what Coach Dunn did to cause her dismissal? It is often alluded to here on this site, but no one ever says exactly what she was guilty of. I have been wondering for over 20 years,"
It was a lot of things, so I will just hit the highlights. Dunn was very good, but not very ethical as a head coach.
Biggest problems started with MaChelle Joseph's hiring. Dunn and Joseph agreed to terms in April, while Joseph was an assistant for Illinois. Joseph stayed on the Illini payroll until about August recruiting the girls she had been after for Illinois to Purdue. Joseph also played fast and loose with NCAA regs getting Purdue in trouble more than once.
Added onto this were the domestic disturbance police calls to the Dunn/Joseph residence. Having a boss subordinate sexual and romantic relationship could have been enough to get Dunn fired, but their relationship was also very abusive and not at all discreet. I have read several of the police reports of the calls to their house. The one that always stands out is when the police arrived, Joseph, in just her panties is tied to a tree in front of the house and Dunn, also in only her panties is beating her with a stick and screaming at her. Apparently Dunn had taken issue with Joseph once again making sexual advances on the current players.
Icing on the cake is when Joseph along with a couple of other players on the roster who were gay decided to "turn" the straight players and started a campaign of sexually harassing the other players, including White and Figgs. Turnover became high as players left, and White and Figgs went to Burke's office and told him they were leaving and why. Stephanie was hugely popular and about 1/3 of the fans in the stands at any home game were her fans mroe than Purdue's fans. Her leaving would have been a huge publicity blow, especially if she told others WHY. So when Dunn's contract came up, the negotiation went very poorly. She started by demanding an equivelent salary to Keady, Burke did not even address that stating there would be no contract unless Joseph was fired. Dunn countered with only she had authority to hire or fire assistant coaches, and Burke agreed, but stated that HE had the authority to hire and fire head coaches who did not run programs to Purdue's standards and told her she was dismissed.
As a parting shot, Joseph reported Purdue men to the NCAA stating Luther Clay was being paid to play at Purdue. It turned out to be false, but several people at NCAA were IU grads at the time and once they opened an investigation, they were going to find something to pin on us. It ended up being Kendrick giving Clay a ride and not reporting it and then lying about it, and Troy LEwis' mothers BF, an MSU grad and finalist for their AD position at one point giving Troy a gift and it being labeled as an illegal donation from a Purdue booster because the gentleman in question wwent to Purdue games with Troy's mother. Purdue men got put on probation over a whole lot of nothing because of Joseph being vengeful. This is part of why it took decades to repair the relationship with Dunn enough for her to even come back to campus to be honored, and one of the reasons she works closely with Moren at IU to help her improve their program.
And now you know why neither party wanted the details to be public knowledge and have kept mum for all these years. I know from contacts I made while working with law enforcement in Tippecanoe county and being friends or acquaintances with several fathers of female athletes at Purdue around and after this time.
