The top three board members at USA Gymnastics have resigned amid growing calls for a total overhaul of the NGB in the wake of the Larry Nassar sex abuse trial. Chair Paul Parilla, Vice Chair Jay Binder and Treasurer Bitsy Kelley all stepped down yesterday, following former CEO Steve Penny as a casualty of the scandal. Ten days earlier, Parilla had been summoned to USOC HQ in Colorado Springs, where Chair Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun suggested he resign, according to sources.
“Since October of last year, we have been engaged in discussions with leadership of USA Gymnastics about the primary recommendation of the Daniels Report -- changing the culture of USA Gymnastics,” Blackmun said in a statement. “Those discussions accelerated over the holidays and today you have seen three board resignations.” Since the Jan. 11 meeting, dozens of former gymnasts, including three-time Olympian Aly Raisman, have criticized USAG and the USOC for failing to prevent Nassar’s crimes. The USOC cannot remove members of an NGB BOD, and it is not known if the USOC threatened to de-fund or de-certify if Parilla refused.
“New board leadership is necessary because the current leaders have been focused on establishing that they did nothing wrong,” Blackmun continued. “USA Gymnastics needs to focus on supporting the brave survivors. The Olympic family failed these athletes and we must continue to take every step necessary to ensure this never happens again.” New CEO Kerry Perry, who reports to the BOD, said “We believe this step will allow us to more effectively move forward in implementing change within our organization.”
Parilla, named chair in '15, was Vice Chair from '09-15, and was chair of a key committee before that. He signed off on Penny’s $1M severance package that first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The remaining BOD will identify an interim chair until a permanent selection is named. Two-time Olympian Shannon Miller, who was on the CEO search committee, said the new chair would probably require the same combination of traits that Perry has. Miller: "Someone who knows something about gymnastics, but also is maybe a bit of an outsider, is probably a good choice, just as it was for the CEO. Someone who can do the job, for lack of a better term, without any baggage attached."