Bill Richards is entering his 36th season as the men's tennis coach, but said this is the first time he saw Ball State University coaches receive notes like the ones given to the men's basketball coaching staff.
Sunday morning, notes containing racial slurs were discovered in the office of men's basketball coach Ronny Thompson and in the offices of Thompson's three assistant coaches.
Currently, Thompson is the only African-American head coach at Ball State and he has two African-American assistant coaches, Troy Collier and Bill Howze.
"I'm appalled that this happens," Richards said. "Coaches get criticized at different times in their career for not winning but I haven't seen an incident like this."
Richards began his coaching career in 1972 and is the longest tenured coach at Ball State. He said was disappointed to hear about the notes and was "puzzled" why anyone would write them.
"We all have the same thoughts to support our fellow coach and you don't want to see someone have to deal with that," Richards said.
Several other coaches, such as soccer coach Michelle Salmon and women's golf coach Katherine Mowat, said they heard about the notes the men's basketball coaching staff received but declined to comment because they were out of town on recruiting trips and didn't know enough about the situation.
Women's tennis coach Kathy Bull said she returned home from a recruiting trip at an Indianapolis amateur tennis tournament Tuesday and was upset to hear the news.
"I was disappointed in people in general, and to hear someone acted like that on our campus," Bull said. "As far as I know I've never seen anything like that."
Women's volleyball coach Dave Boos said he was surprised to hear about the notes.
The upcoming fall season will be Boos' first at Ball State after being the associate head coach at the University of Minnesota since 2002. Boos said while he was at Minnesota a coach never received notes similar to the ones in the men's basketball offices.
"Nothing like that happens there," he said. "But I don't care where you are, it can happen anywhere even at a place like Ball State."
Boos said since being hired in January the community has welcomed him with open arms, and working in Muncie is a great experience.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tom Collins and President Jo Ann Gora hired two experts on multiculturalism in the workplace to conduct an assessment of the athletic department's work environment, according to an e-mail Gora sent to Ball State students Wednesday.
Bull said she understands why the university is taking strong measures to detect any problems.
"Considering the situation it's an appropriate protocol and it has taken a lot of people off guard," Bull said. "Sometimes with things like this you have to look within internally."
Boos said he isn't worried about the investigation into the athletic department's work environment.
"Only positive things can come from this," he said.
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