Tyler O’Dell spent two years alongside Bailey Wigness on the college softball coaching staff at Gardner-Webb. He claims the university not only ignored his complaints of misconduct but actually labeled him as the bully in the situation.
The administration did not act on the allegations.
Fortunately, it appears as though this latest college softball scandal has reached its conclusion. Unfortunately, the damage to the student-athletes and their careers is already done.
Bailey Wigness is OUT at Gardner-Webb.
As first reported by Maren Angus-Coombs of Softball On SI, Gardner-Webb University decided not to retain Bailey Wigness as its head softball coach after an internal investigation. She allegedly pursued a romantic relationship with multiple athletes and coaches within the program during her tenure in North Carolina.
Wigness, who was officially introduced as head coach on May 23, 2021, finished with a losing record in six seasons with the Runnin’ Bulldogs. She was placed on leave during the 2026 season and did not coach in the Big South Conference tournament. Her contract is set to expire at the end of June. It will not be renewed.
The allegations of misconduct against Wigness span more than a decade across multiple stops of her career. She allegedly engaged in an inappropriate relationship with at least four different student-athletes at three different schools. That includes Gardner-Webb, South Carolina Beaufort and Boise State.
Angus-Coombs documented a pattern of concerning behavior. According to multiple sources, Wigness would lure her players to her house to “watch her dog.” She allegedly got involved with one of her players while on staff at Boise State. They kept their relationship a secret until the player graduated. They eventually moved, together, to South Carolina.
As the story goes, it did not take long for Wigness to show extra attention to one of her athletes at Beaufort even though she was in a publicly-recognized relationship with one of her former players at Boise. Angus-Coombs even shared a video that appears to show the head coach leave flowers at her player’s apartment. That, of course, is not normal behavior. It got weird fast.
“[The player] really noticed a change in her relationship with Wigness as she was asked to attend multiple workouts a day and to stay after practice. Before she really understood what was going on, they were sitting in the training room together, holding hands and then she had the garage code to her house.”
Wigness’ girlfriend eventually found out about the alleged affair with her player. She spray-painted a mattress with a very explicit message. What everybody already knew was confirmed. The secret was out.
Wigness ultimately bailed for Gardner-Webb right as everything started to catch up with her. The mistreatment and inappropriate relationships continued at her new program over the last five seasons.
The administration knew about the college softball coach’s behavior.
Tyler O’Dell responded to Maren Angus-Coombs’ report shortly after it went live. He served as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator at Gardner-Webb from June 2021 to May 2023. He knew what was happening behind the scenes.
O’Dell says that he brought the issue to the administration three years ago.
“Shame on Dr Downs, Dr Goodrich, and the Gardner Webb clowns for sweeping it under. Shame on Dexlie Inman and Mackenzi Steele for defending her actions. And a family member threatens my wife and I on FB for reporting.”
Inman was a volunteer assistant coach at Gardner-Webb while he was there. Steele was promoted to Associate Head Coach in 2024 after two seasons as the pitching coach. Dr. William Downs served as the president of the university from 2019-2025. Dr. Andrew Goodrich served as the athletic director from 2022-2025.
Downs has since resigned from his role, unrelated to the college softball scandal. Goodrich took over the same role at the University of Akron in May 2025. O’Dell is not a fan of either.
“I can’t even begin to express the environment those 3 created at GW. Misery, sexism, hatred and hostility. Cornering me in my office telling me ‘Why don’t you just leave, we don’t want you here’. And Goodrich/Downs enable it and tell me I ‘hurt their feelings'”
If this is true, and Goodrich knew about Bailey Wigness’ behavior and chose not to act, it creates concerns about his current role. Who is to say he is not going to do the same thing at Akron?
Regardless of what happened in the past, it seems like this scandal is now over. Gardner-Webb’s administration looks completely different. The college softball coaching staff has been replaced. Wigness is out and, based on the allegations in this latest report, likely won’t be allowed back in the sport.