Coach quit after being cleared

HURON — A police detective who is a part-time Huron Schools coach refused to talk with students and their parents who complained about another coach in the district because "nothing criminal was being reported." Matt Jacobs BCSN That's according to public records from the school district the Register obtained late Thursday. Detective Matt Jacobs interviewed just one of the student-athletes who school officials talked with about concerns that the coach, a volunteer with the district, was forming "inappropriate" relationships with students. The boy told Jacobs the coach would buy him gifts, including a car, concert tickets and tickets to see the Cavaliers, according to the three-page police report Jacobs filed. Other complaints&emsp;&emsp; The boy said he even went on an overnight trip to a ski resort in western New York state with the man, who was in his late 30s, and another boy, during which they all three shared a room. But nothing physical happened, the boy said, on that trip, or at any of the other times he visited the coach at his home. There had been occasions in the locker room at school when the coach would give him back rubs, the police report states. Those sometimes happened with the boy being shirtless, or the coach would rub the student athlete's injured ankle. The coach also liked talking with student-athletes when they were in the shower area of the locker room, the boy told Jacobs, according to the police report. Jacobs did not ask the boy, who was 18 when he was interviewed at the school in March 2018, when he and the coach became friends or when the ski trip happened. The boy told Jacobs he learned over time what "grooming" is, and he began to wonder if that was the nature of the friendship. Jacobs finished that investigation in one hour and 20 minutes, concluding "nothing criminal" occurred. The detective never interviewed the other boy who went on the ski trip to New York; he never interviewed either boy's parents; he never interviewed the coach or other coaches or school officials. Jacobs also never talked with a prosecutor before deciding to close the investigation, and later, he refused to talk with other parents who went to school officials expressing concerns about the coach. Let's talk School officials did talk with the coach, who, according to the school records obtained by the Register, said he gives students gifts because he has the means to do that, and because he lives his Christian faith. He's involved in sports programming because he was very engaged in sports when he was in school and growing up and he believes "coaching is more than teaching," the school records state. After that first complaint, the school district mandated that the coach: • Establish a mechanism through the school athletic department for "appropriate gift-giving that provides separation between contributor and beneficiary." • Update Pupil Activity Permit training as "a refresher." • Maintain a "positive, productive mentorship-based coaching style that has the appropriate degree of professional distance." School officials did not address the issue of physical contact in the locker room the boy mentioned, or the concern he expressed about the coach talking with players while they were in the shower room, according to the records. They also did not mention to the coach that the boy had become concerned he was being "groomed" to have an inappropriate physical relationship, according to the records the district provided. Under fire Two district families are suing detective Jacobs alleging he mishandled another investigation involving a student-athlete. Two McCormick Junior High students were victims of sex crimes committed by a third student at the school — an athlete who Jacobs coaches in his role as a part-time contract employee with the school district's athletic department. Jacobs, the families contend, is close friends with the boy's family and he told the victims' families to destroy obscene photos and video the boy sent to the girls. The school district also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which contends district officials failed to protect the girls after they reported the abuse in March 2019. That same school year other parents went to school officials about concerns they had about the coach, but Jacobs refused to take a second look. "He decided that there was nothing criminal being reported, and stated that the Huron police would not be doing another investigation," the school records show. But some of the parents who later complained were adamant. "I have done my research and everyone I talk with says this is inappropriate," one parent told school officials, according to the school records. Another couple told school officials "nothing criminal has happened," but said "where there's smoke there's fire," according to the school records. They said the coach "has players over to his house for dinners," goes to the beach with them and gives them rides on his Jet Ski. The coach generates negativity among student-athletes, they said, because he plays favorites. One woman said she becomes very upset when she thinks of her son being alone with the coach. Coach gets support Some adults who district officials spoke with defended the coach, saying the complaints against him were scurrilous. One father told school officials he's completely comfortable with the relationship between his son and the coach. The coach is interested in "helping kids become better thinkers," the man told school officials. "Nothing is going on behind our backs." School officials talked with at least seven other students on Nov. 6-7, 2019. None of them accused the coach of having inappropriate physical contact with them or anything else illegal or unlawful. One boy felt very appreciative toward the coach, other boys said he played favorites, according to the records the district provided. The volunteer resigned in November 2020. In a two-page letter to the head coach he expressed gratitude for having spent years with the athletic department. He also expressed some frustration. What used to be respectful criticism of players and coaches has escalated in recent years, he said. It's become "malicious and sometimes defamatory personal attacks," he wrote. "I grew more frustrated with each passing year that the social media culture has taken so much of kids' attention away from preparation."