Coaching Scandal

JOSEPH DIBACCO ’19
NEWS EDITOR
Dan Doyle, former Trinity Men’s Basketball head coach and promoter for Sugar Ray Leonard, is seeking a new trial in his embezzlement case involving his foundation, the Institute for International Sport. Doyle was arrested by the Rhode Island State Police and indicted on May 3, 2013 for 18 counts of embezzlement and fraud. On December 5, 2016, Doyle was convicted on all 18 counts. It was recently found that Doyle embezzled as much as $1 million from his foundation and used it for personal expenses such as plastic surgery, his daughter’s college tuition and donations to his alma mater, Bates College.
Last year, as auditors were looking into a false claim by Doyle that his contract enabled him to pay his children’s tuition with money from the Institute, Doyle took to civil disobedience as a way of getting his message across. Doyle released a music album, Stay Relevant, with protest songs on it, and also said that he would soon begin working on a documentary about the grand jury system in the United States. In an article he wrote on a website called Medium, Doyle made brief mention of a play he is writing that is to be released this year called Shoeless Joe about the infamous Chicago White Sox baseball player. On June 29, 2016, Doyle initiated a 3-day protest fast to bring attention to his cause. He has made it clear that he will keep doing these temporary fasts until his name is cleared.
Institute for International Sport is a nonprofit founded by Doyle with the goal of establishing peaceful and respectful relationships between countries by way of sports. The foundation has had thousands of clients across the world, including a few dignitaries, namely President Bill Clinton, and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The institute began having problems about 6 years ago when Doyle borrowed money and used it to invest in real estate in North Carolina. He bought a few properties with one of his Bates classmates, but he only ended up losing money. Everything really started going south when Doyle received a grant from the state of Rhode Island worth $575,000 to construct a building on the campus of URI. The building was never finished, but the money disappeared. After being audited, a grand jury investigation resulted in his being indicted for forgery and embezzlement.
Back in 2012, the Kingswood-Oxford School, located in West Hartford, Connecticut, told Doyle it would no longer be hosting his various basketball camps and clinics in light of news about the financial problems plaguing the Institute. In turn, Doyle announced that his camps would be moving to the American School for the Deaf, but they also turned him away. The Institute’s future is unclear at the moment, but the website is still up and running with an announcement about the second phase of a new website to be released on March 7, 2017.
Doyle is a graduate of Bates College and the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and also has honorary degrees from Bridgewater State College and the University of Rhode Island. He was an assistant men’s basketball coach at Brown before serving as the head coach at Kingswood-Oxford and finally, Trinity. He finished his coaching career with an excellent 142-45 record. His final year at Trinity, his team was ranked 13^th overall and he earned the New England Coach of the Year award. He is a recipient of the Terrance Cardinal Cooke Humanitarian Award and is a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.
Doyle is the author of three books. He has written two novels by the names of The African Rebound and Are You Watching, Adolph Rupp? He wrote a non-fiction book called The Encyclopedia of Sports Parenting. Doyle has been a prolific public speaker in his career, delivering talks at over 450 functions, including a White House ethics conference, 125 colleges and universities, and the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick’s dinner (an event at which two U.S. presidents and many U.S. senators have spoken).
Doyle recently lost his West Hartford home, where he and his family had lived since 1978, to foreclosure. In 30 days, he will find out from the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office whether or not he merits a second trial.