PATRICK SCHMIEDT Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Saturday, July 29, 2006 12:00 am
High school coaches in Wyoming were recently given a strong reminder that their chosen profession isn't all fun and games.
Last Thursday, former Lingle girls basketball head coach Buddy Patterson was charged with four counts of second-degree sexual assault and a count of indecent liberties with a minor for incidents that allegedly occurred in 2002 and 2003. Patterson was released on bond Friday.
Patterson resigned his teaching and coaching positions July 5.
Other coaches in the state say such allegations are the exception rather than the rule, and that ethics and morals should help guide coaches in their decisions.
Coaches also said that, although Patterson may later be proven innocent, the accusations themselves are often enough to ruin a career.
"Hopefully, the kids can bounce back from that," Arvada-Clearmont boys basketball coach Tim Marton said. "But the coach probably won't."
Marton and other coaches from throughout Wyoming were in Casper for this week's Wyoming Coaches Association's summer clinic and today's WCA all-star games.
Lingle activities director Mike Lashley declined to comment on Friday. However, Lingle Principal Ty Flock said the allegations alone are enough to hurt Patterson's chances to return to coaching the Doggers.
"It would be up to Mr. Patterson to choose if he wanted to come back," Flock said. "(But) it would be very tough for hime to come back to teach at Lingle."
Tongue River girls basketball coach Dianne Moser, who has spent 32 years coaching in Dayton, said coaches and teachers are trained to recognize sexual harassment and how to avoid it.
Glenrock girls basketball coach Tony Lehner added that rules limiting contact between players and coaches would not be enforceable.
"I think you can put in all the rules in place you want, but it comes down to making the correct decision with these young people," Lehner said.
Lehner, like most other coaches, wasn't aware of any district or state rules limiting a coach's contact with players.
Flock said allegations of misconduct in Lingle's school district, Goshen County No. 1, are investigated by an impartial panel of district administrators from outside the school. However, no allegation was ever made against Patterson by any school staff, students or community members to Flock or to any other school staff member.
Wyoming High School Activities Association Commissioner Ron Laird said Friday that there are no rules in place at the state level that would limit contact between coaches and players.
Even if there were rules in place, Lehner said, they would make coaches ineffective.
"I don't think you can be as effective as a coach if you distance yourself from kids," Lehner said. " … I don't think you can isolate yourself from your kids."
"Certainly, kids get attached," he added. "They learn to trust you and respect what you say and do."
When spun in a positive direction, that trust and respect often help build a successful team. Rarely does that trust turn physical, though - and if it does, the coach not only breaks the trust of the player, but breaks the law, as well. Patterson, if found guilty, could serve up to 90 years in prison.
Lehner said similar allegations, if raised three decades ago, may have never been made public.
"If it happened 30 years ago, something may have never been done, except the coach is gone," Lehner said. " … The teacher would be dismissed, nothing is said and that's the end of it."
Marton said it's up to coaches to maintain a certain amount of distance between themselves and their players so such accusations will never have merit.
"When you have the kind of influence that coaches do, it leads to situations that coaches don't want to find themselves in," Marton said. " … You just have to be sure that you don't put yourself in that situation."
Added Farson boys basketball coach Rick Mitchelson, who coached girls basketball for eight years, "There's all sorts of situations a coach can get into innocently."
Patterson was no stranger to success. Lingle won the Class 1A girls state championship in 2006, and Patterson was named the Class 1A girls basketball coach of the year by the Wyoming Coaches Association. He was the coach for 12 years at Lingle.
As proven this week, though, allegations of sexual misconduct can happen to any coach. However, such worries are not driving coaches out of the profession.
"If we worried about everything that could happen to us in coaching, we wouldn't be in it," Moser said.
Contact high school sports coordinator Patrick Schmiedt at (307) 266-0615 or patrick.schmiedt@casperstartribune.net.