University of California-Berkeley athletic director Jim Knowlton, responding to widespread criticism that he and the university for years have ignored or mishandled bullying allegations against women’s swimming head coach Teri McKeever, told team parents that he and school officials shared their concerns in an email Friday obtained by the Southern California News Group.

The email was sent against the backdrop of mounting calls for the firing of McKeever as well as Knowlton and Jennifer Simon-O’Neill, Cal’s senior associate AD, McKeever’s longtime close friend, who until recently was the direct supervisor of the women’s swimming program.

Parents of Cal swimmers are particularly enraged by Knowlton’s appearance on a Tuesday video call with them in which several parents said Knowlton didn’t appear to have an agenda for the call or a long-term plan for the program and ended with the AD shouting, “Go Bears!”

“Knowlton totally misread the room,” the parent of a current Cal swimmer said.

Cal placed McKeever on paid administrative leave on May 25. McKeever, who grew up in Southern California and was a standout swimmer for USC, is one of the most successful coaches in the sport. In 29 seasons at the school, McKeever has led Golden Bears swimmers to four NCAA team titles and 36 Olympic medals,

Cal’s decision to place McKeever on leave came a day after the publication of an SCNG investigative report that revealed at least six Cal women’s swimmers since 2018 had made plans to kill themselves or obsessed about suicide for weeks or months because of what they describe as McKeever’s bullying.

To date 34 current or former Cal swimmers, 17 parents, a former member of the Goldens Bears’ men’s swimming and diving squad, two former Cal coaches and two other athletic department employees have told SCNG how McKeever routinely bullied swimmers, often in deeply personal terms, or used embarrassing or traumatic experiences from their past against them, used racial epithets, body shamed and pressured athletes to compete or train while injured or dealing with chronic illnesses or eating disorders, even accusing some women of lying about their conditions despite being provided medical records by them.

The university has also commissioned a Los Angeles-based law firm to conduct an investigation overseen by the school’s human resources office into the allegations.

Knowlton told current team parents during the video call Tuesday the investigation could take up to six months.

“The general take-away from the meeting is the lack of urgency on something that should have been taken care of a long time ago,” the parent of a current Cal swimmer said of the video call.

Another parent said the message and action “seems inconsistent with truly taking the steps that lead to getting to the truth, resolving this issue and moving on as quickly as possible.

“The pace and speed doesn’t bring a lot of confidence to the parent group that (Cal) is willing to do a true investigation and get to the truth.”

In an apparent attempt at damage control, Knowlton touched on the video call in Friday’s email to current team parents.

“I hope it was helpful and, based on feedback I have heard, I wanted to follow up with a note to ensure that I clarify areas where there might have been confusion,” Knowlton wrote.

Knowlton said the intent of the call was “to listen to your concerns; help you understand the process we are now in; the efforts we are making to support your student-athletes; and the process moving forward.”

Knowlton was hired by Cal in May 2018 and on Tuesday acknowledged that some of the alleged bullying took place during his watch.

Current and former Cal swimmers and their parents have said Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill have either ignored or failed to take seriously repeated complaints about McKeever’s behavior.

Four Cal seniors on the 2021-22 roster recently met with Knowlton and Simon-O’Neill and alleged bullying and verbal and emotional abuse by McKeever, according to three people familiar with the meeting. Knowlton told the swimmers that McKeever was just a hard, tough coach who they would appreciate in the coming decades, according to the three people.

“As a parent of five graduated college student-athletes, I sense and share your concern regarding the well-being of your student-athletes, and your desire to better understand our process,” Knowlton wrote in Friday’s email. “Hopefully this will clarify what Eugene Whitlock— the university’s Human Resources lead— and I covered during the Zoom meeting.

“First and foremost, I want to assure you that the well-being of our student-athletes, in this case your daughters, is our first priority. Acting Coach Jesse Moore is currently running the optional practices at Cal and working to accommodate practice time requests. We have Dr. Graig Chow, the Director of our High Performance and Well Being program engaged with the team, along with Gordon Bayne, who is now the lead Sport Supervisor, with the assistance of Josh Hummel. Each of these individuals is committed to doing all that they can so that the swimmers and divers here at Cal can thrive and train in a positive environment.

“As you know, we are in the midst of an ongoing investigation. As we explained on the call, due to a shortage of available internal investigators, the university elected to use an outside investigator in order to prevent delay. In response to allegations of misconduct, our university is always committed to supporting investigations that are thorough, fair, and proactive. Investigators reach out to individuals involved and independently pursue information. The university is also bound to protect everyone’s right to due process and privacy, and thus we will not be able to discuss the specifics of the investigation. What I can say is that the university has policies and procedures that are designed to enable the university to respond effectively when there are allegations of misconduct that are inconsistent with our values, rules, and policies. I have been assured by our Human Resources office that those policies and procedures are being followed now, and will continue to be in the future”

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