[2][5] She graduated in 1982 with a master's degree in physical education from Indiana State University, where she began her coaching career in track and field.
[8][9][10] Kearney and her attorney, Derek Howard, told the Austin American-Statesman that she did not know she was required to inform the women's athletic director about any relationship she had with one of her players.
[11] Patti Ohlendorf, UT Austin's vice president for legal affairs, noted in comments to CNN that the distinguishing feature of Kearney's conduct was her position as a head coach and the status of the directly subordinate student-athlete, saying that the relationship "crosses the line of trust placed in the head coach for all aspects of the athletic program and in the best interests of the student-athletes in the program.
Two friends died on the scene including Ilrey Oliver Sparks, a 40-year-old academic counselor at UT and a former Jamaican Olympic track star, and Muriel Wallace, the mother of the driver.
She first stood on her own four months after the car accident in front of a crowd of 20,000 cheering people in the Mike A. Myers Stadium during the 2003 Texas Relays.
Each spring during the Texas Relays weekend the organization hosts a symposium and networking conference for teaching, inspiring and mentoring student-athletes and the entire community.