Coaches strike back with suit against troublesome parent

Out-of-control parents in the stands at high school games have become a cliche.

Finally, one of them has become a defendant.

A girls basketball coach in western Virginia and two of his assistants each have filed a defamation lawsuit seeking $1.35 million in damages from a parent they claim staged a "vendetta" against them.

Tired of seeing their reputations, strategies and tactics ripped by the father of a junior athlete, Rockbridge County High School coach Mike Hamilton and assistants James Clark and Stephanie Tyree hit back with a lawsuit against Roger Koehler.

Until now, the legal traffic has been one way. Parents with too little sense and too much time and money invested in broken dreams have sued coaches and their employers over everything from dress codes to playing time.

Don't be fooled by the man-bites-dog quality of this latest lawsuit, and don't bet it won't catch on.

"Personally, I hope it doesn't, but I think coaches across the country are going to see this and say, 'Wow,"' said Tim Flannery, assistant executive director of the Indianapolis-based National Federation of State High School Associations.

"And I'll be honest, I wouldn't be surprised to see more of these in the short run."

Flannery said in a telephone interview Wednesday he could recall only one other instance where a coach resorted to legal action against a meddlesome parent. In that case, he said, the parent's original claim and the coach's countersuit were dismissed as frivolous.

"But too many coaches have run out of ways to effectively deal with problem parents," Flannery said. "Maybe now, instead of resigning, some will view this as a way of fighting back."

The principals in the suit are all referring calls to their lawyers. But something said by James Creekmore, who represents Hamilton, probably applies to everyone involved: "He's just sorry that it went this far."

He shouldn't have been surprised.

After winning just three games in his first two seasons and seven last year, Hamilton must have expected some flak. What he got, according to the lawsuit, was "a systematic pattern of public attacks."

They began last fall, first with a letter from Koehler to Rockbridge County High principal Andy Bryan citing a "lack of team play."

Next, Koehler complained the offense was too guard-oriented. Then he got nasty.

In subsequent missives to the school or the board, Koehler charged the coaches were running kids off the team and violating out-of-school practice rules. In a February letter to Bryan, he claimed that after a practice, his daughter, Heather, was physically restrained by Clark against her will. Koehler then threatened to file criminal charges if the school didn't remove the coaches from their jobs.

Bryan declined comment Wednesday, but an investigation by the Virginia state association cleared Hamilton of any rules violations and the school's decision to retain all three coaches for this season speaks volumes.

"So many times over the years, coaches just say, 'We don't need this,' and they quit," Flannery said. "But this looks like an example where someone finally said, 'Why should we quit? We believe in what we're doing, trying to run a program in the best interests of all the kids involved."'

This mess won't go away anytime soon. Not when parents don't feel a bit of shame asking a court for $100,000 because their 15-year-old was denied a tryout with an all-star team.

The day when high school sports requires a lawyer on every bench at every game may be just around the corner, but at least there's a chance now for some consolation. If it happens, the people who turn kids' sports into a train wreck for everyone else won't always be listed as "plaintiff."

Jim Litke is a sports columnist for The Associated Press.