GIG HARBOR — A Gig Harbor gymnastics coach has been suspended from coaching for two years following sexual misconduct allegations made by a 15-year-old athlete he coached.
Prosecutors have not charged 31-year-old Andrew Smith, known as “Coach Drew” at NASA Gymnastics, 2905 Jahn Ave. NW in Gig Harbor, with a crime.
He was placed on a coaching suspension list by SafeSport & USA Gymnastics on Sept. 6, 2023. The list, called the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s Centralized Disciplinary Database, is available at uscenterforsafesport.org. The “misconduct” section of Smith’s entry in the database says: “Violated NGB (National Governing Body) policies/bylaws; Inappropriate Conduct; Emotional Misconduct; and Physical Misconduct.”
It doesn’t provide further detail.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is an agency authorized by Congress to handle abuse complaints in Olympic and Paralympic activities.
Smith is suspended from coaching any sports that are part of U.S. Olympic and Paralympic activities and from all forms of contact with any athletes of those sports until Sept. 6, 2025.
Asked why a coach would be suspended, but not permanently suspended from working with children, a SafeSport spokesperson, Hilary Nemchik said penalties are dependent on each individual case, what the allegations are, and what the investigation finds.
The Gateway spoke with Smith this month about the allegations in this story.
He said he cooperated during the SafeSport investigation and participated in education courses by SafeSport.
“I’m working on myself,” he said. “I am very remorseful. The gymnast is the one that suffered, detrimentally, damage from all this, and that’s what I am most remorseful about.”
Smith told the Gateway he could’ve got a lesser suspension if he chose to go through with arbitration, which he said would have cost him nearly $20,000.
He said he was let go from NASA gymnastics in 2021, and that he went on to briefly work for Ascend Gymnastics in DuPont. He said those are the only two gyms where he’s worked.
Linda Smith, the owner of NASA Gymnastics and Andrew Smith’s mother, confirmed with the Gateway that her son is no longer a coach at the gym, and that there are no plans for him to return after his suspension ends.
Smith’s database entry lists “probation” under an “additional detail” section but doesn’t elaborate. The victim’s family told the Gateway he’ll be on probation for three years after his two-year suspension ends.
If he were to violate the SafeSport Code further, it could result in a longer suspension or a suspension for life, according to policies on SafeSport’s website.
Smith told the Gateway he has no current plans to coach after his suspension is over.
Allegations of misconduct
The victim filed a petition for a sexual assault protection order against Smith, and a civil protection order was issued by Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Terri Farmer in August 2022.
“Andrew Smith violated me on many occasions between August 2021 — December 2021,” the petition alleged in part. She was 15 during that time period. “He used his ability to touch me inappropriately when ‘spotting’ me for gymnastics. He also texted me and facetimed me in Nov.-Dec. 2021, telling me to not tell my parents. He got verbally and physically aggressive with me.”
She wrote that Smith “frightened me on numerous occasions,” and that “He has shown many signs of mental instability and ‘obsession’ with me.”
Also in August 2022, Smith’s wife at the time sought and received a civil domestic violence protection order against him in Pierce County Superior Court.
“Andrew is very unstable, violent, and destructive,” she wrote in the petition for the protection order. “He has traumatized his children and I and is not safe to be around while un-medicated and abusing alcohol. He is a serious threat and harm to himself and others.”
Smith told the Gateway his ex-wife made substance abuse allegations in an attempt to get custody of their daughter.
Those petitions are public records in Pierce County Superior Court.
SafeSport’s investigative reports that outline allegations against a coach are not public, according to the agency.
Asked why, SafeSport spokesperson Dan Hill said parties are not allowed to “share investigative reports or documents that might out witnesses and victims, disclose confidential medical information, or compromise individuals in other ways. These are very sensitive matters of course and one of the reasons so many people report abuse to the Center is because they know that this information is protected in the (SafeSport) Code and by Federal law.”
Respondents and claimants are allowed to share their stories, Hill said, but not the report.
The victim’s mother agreed to speak with the Gateway on the condition of anonymity, to protect her daughter’s identity. The Gateway does not name victims of sexual assault without their consent.
In July 2022, a month after the victim decided to permanently leave NASA Gymnastics, her mother received a phone call from a gymnastics coach in another state.
He was concerned after hearing of a misconduct allegation against Smith, the victim’s mother told the Gateway.
It was then that the victim told her mother what happened and they decided to make a report.
The mother said the family reported the allegations of sexual assault to SafeSport in August 2022.
That same month, the victim and her family met with a Pierce County Sheriff’s Department detective.
A police report was taken and a formal victim statement was given to the detective describing multiple incidents where Smith made her feel uncomfortable and unsafe, the mother said.
Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Darren Moss confirmed that a police report was filed and that it includes the victim’s statement. The Gateway reviewed the family’s copy of that police report and has a pending public records request to get a copy of it from the Sheriff’s Department.
Adam Faber, spokesperson for the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed that the Pierce County detective sent the case to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Andrew Smith was not charged with sexual assault or any crime in connection to the allegations because there was insufficient evidence to prove a crime, Faber said.
The victim’s mother told the Gateway that a Pierce County detective reached out again Sept. 30, asking for information about the SafeSport investigation.
With the SafeSport investigation complete, if SafeSport or the victim’s family send new evidence to the department, Moss said, prosecutors could reconsider filing charges.
The victim’s mother, citing Safesports’ findings, told The News Tribune that Smith admitted to SafeSport investigators that he communicated with her daughter without a parent present, trained her without another adult present, gave her gifts and tried to engage in an intimate relationship with her by discussing his personal life, kissed her forehead and hugged her excessively, cursed at her during training, and pushed her to do skills without proper training — to the extent that she would sometimes land on her head and neck.
The mother, again citing Safesports’ findings, alleges he also admitted to verbally and physically aggressive behavior with another victim out of state, such as telling her he had put cameras in her home, asking her to marry him, and threatening to rape her if she told anyone about their communication.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department detective who investigated, Jennifer Wade, confirmed with the Gateway Thursday that she spoke with the victim out of state and that Wade wrote in her police report that the victim said Smith threatened to rape the victim. Wade said that victim was also a minor in the gymnastics community, but not someone who Smith coached.
The Gateway reached out to Smith for an additional comment regarding the rape-threat allegation. He was not immediately available.
The mother said it was common for her daughter to prop her phone up to record her and Smith working on skills, and that the victim and Smith would watch the videos back to critique her performance.
A video viewed by the Gateway appears to show Smith hugging the victim, kissing her on the forehead and touching her chin. The victim appears to try to pull away, and Smith keeps his arms around her. Smith is heard telling the victim to delete the video.
She didn’t delete it, and the video was later found by her mother, who said she provided it as evidence to the Pierce County detective and to SafeSport.
Coach’s account of what happened
Asked by the Gateway about the allegation of private coaching, Smith said: “The parents were 100 percent aware of the entire situation and were always invited to be there at the private lesson but chose not to be.”
Asked about the allegation of kissing a minor on the forehead, Smith declined to comment.
Asked by the Gateway about the allegation of excessive hugging and cussing, Smith said: “I’ve never been known to really be a hugger. But when you do have an athlete that hits a new skill, there is that moment of euphoria and celebration, and there may have been a hug.”
He said he did not recall ever using foul language.
When the Gateway asked if he pushed the athlete to do skills she wasn’t qualified for, Smith said: “This is where my coaching should have stepped up better. The mom really wanted her to get to a certain level and said they’d go to a different gym if I couldn’t get her daughter there. And so I feel like I did push the athlete too hard. It was my responsibility as a coach to think about the athlete first and I do feel remorse for pushing an athlete too far. And that’s 100 percent on me.”
Asked by the Gateway if he gave the girl gifts, Smith said he didn’t know anything about that.
Asked about Facetiming the victim, Smith said: “Most of the FaceTime communications were between me, her and her mother. Her mother was on the calls with me, or it was me communicating with her mom most of the time. There was zero asking for pictures and zero of me sending pictures. It was mostly just: ‘Hey, this is your workout.’”
What the gym owner says
When asked about the allegations against Andrew Smith, gym owner Linda Smith said: “Under the supervision of me and other coaches, we kept to a pretty strict schedule, rotations and lesson plans. … So those observations, I didn’t see.”
She added it was a confusing time, just coming off of COVID protocols, and the normal way of running things wasn’t completely back to normal.
“We have always tried and will continue to try and offer a very positive, safe environment, with quality coaching,” she said.
“It’s been a learning experience,” she said. “We’ve all learned from it, and we’re always trying to build a better environment. I personally feel that we have a very safe environment. We are not a pushy gym. We try to teach from a very fundamental, quality-based atmosphere, as well as skill and progressions. I hope people can see we’ve been in the community for a very long time and have had a positive effect on the community.”
The gym has been in business for 42 years and has an open-door policy for the public to come and watch practices at any time, she said.
