Content Warning: Discussion of suicide and/or self-harm. If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, dial 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. View options for mental health services on campus through University Health Services.
Former University of Wisconsin women’s basketball player Tessa Towers went public with emotional abuse and mistreatment allegations against head coach Marisa Moseley. A TikTok post uploaded Sunday, Jan. 26 detailed several instances of alleged unfair treatment and emotional abuse spanning Towers’ two years at Wisconsin.
Towers transferred out of Madison following her sophomore season and is currently playing for Ball State University, where she’s averaging 3.1 points and 1.8 rebounds across 5.5 minutes per game.
She appeared in three games as a freshman at Wisconsin before taking a leave of absence in mid-December. She didn’t appear in another game that season and she played less than one minute in her lone appearance as a sophomore.
Some of the stories shared by Towers in the 14-image TikTok slideshow post include:
“My coach made me sign a release form for her to access my therapy sessions, or I’d be kicked off the team.”
“My coach gave me a choice between admitting myself to a mental hospital or getting kicked off the team.”
“I was forced to sign multiple ‘agreements’ that only applied to me, and was not official rules of the NCAA rather things that the coaches and staff made up. I was told I had to sign these or else I would be kicked off the team.”
“My coach and staff said if I were to say anything remotely close to thoughts of suicide or death to my therapist, I would be kicked off the team.”
These stories were shared in the format of a TikTok trend in which users mimic their response to the hypothetical statement “you’re funny” with past traumas. The first image of Towers’ post noted that her freshman year at Wisconsin was “ruined.”
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UW issued an official statement Monday night which was obtained by the Associated Press.
“We are aware of comments shared online by former Badger student-athlete Tessa Towers and will be looking into this matter,” the statement read. “We care deeply about the physical and mental well-being of all of the student-athletes on our teams, during and after their time on campus. While we would like to share additional context around Tessa’s comments, federal privacy laws prohibit us from publicly addressing the health-related claims made on Tessa’s social media account.”
While Wisconsin was unable to comment further due to privacy laws, current and former Wisconsin women’s basketball players gave support and echoed the sentiments of emotional abuse alleged by Towers.
Tessa Grady was one of the Badgers players who interacted with Towers’ post. The sophomore from Dublin, Ohio appeared in 25 games as a true freshman but averaged just 2.6 points per game in five appearances in 2024-25. She has been listed as unavailable on the Big 10’s official availability report since Wisconsin’s Jan. 7 loss to Washington and has been absent from the bench recently.
Her comments indicated she wouldn’t be back with the team, saying “now this sounds familiar! Glad we got out of that sh*t hole!”
Imbie Jones, who transferred from UW to the University of Nevada last offseason, commented “I’m glad we are away from that.” Jones was also part of Moseley’s 2023 recruiting class.
Krystyna Ellew spent two seasons in Madison before transferring to the University of Illinois Chicago ahead of the 2023-24 campaign and left a pair of comments under Towers’ post. “I gasped,” the first one read. “But then I thought oh wait I’ve been through that too.”
Other players like Lexi Duckett (21-22), Sacia Vanderpool (22-24), Savannah White (22-23) and Sara Stapleton (19-23) appeared in the comments.
While Towers’ allegations are merely that, there has been an abnormal amount of turnover within Wisconsin’s women’s basketball program under Moseley.
Moseley’s staff for her first season with the Badgers consisted of three assistant coaches Scott Merritt, Kate Barnosky and Caroline Doty. This trio of supplementary coaches lasted two seasons before all departed the program.
Merritt left for a head coaching position at Gardner-Webb, Barnosky became the head coach at Division 3 Babson College and Caroline Doty isn’t currently coaching. One of the three new coaches for 2023-24, Tiffany Morton, lasted just one season before accepting a head coaching job at Division II West Alabama.
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There have also been several instances of players being dismissed or taking leaves of absence from the program during the last four seasons, outside of Towers and Grady. In Moseley’s first season, three players didn’t make it through the full year.
Sydney Hilliard – an All-Big Ten honorable mention in 2020-21 – appeared in just 16 games and led the team in scoring before stepping away. In an official statement issued by the university, Hilliard cited a focus on “mental well-being” as the reason for her stepping away from basketball.
“I have complete understanding and respect for Syd’s decision,” Moseley said later in the statement. “We will miss her in our program but we all wish her the best moving forward.”
Alex Luehring’s fourth season at Wisconsin coincided with Moseley’s first. Luehring appeared in the Badgers’ first seven games of the season and averaged 14.1 minutes per game before departing under murky circumstances. A Wisconsin State Journal article from Feb. 26, 2022, noted there was no announcement of Luehring’s exit and Moseley did not offer any comments.
The final player to leave the program was Swedish native Lovisa Djurstrom, who left to return to Sweden, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
Resources regarding suicide prevention and mental health:
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988 https://988lifeline.org/help-yourself/loss-survivors/
- Crisis Text line: Text HOME to 741741 https://www.crisistextline.org/
- Trevor Lifeline crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ+) young people: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/
- UHS 24/7 crisis support 608-265-5600 (option 9)
- UHS suicide prevention resources: https://www.uhs.wisc.edu/prevention/suicide-prevention/