Update: Rich Brown Jr. has been named interim coach of the Bellevue High School Wolverines football team, the district confirmed Friday.
Brown, a current counselor at Bellevue High School and the son of an existing Wolverines coach, will help the team move into spring and summer training. The school decided to name Brown as an interim coach to bring stability to the students and because he knows them well already, according to a district spokesperson.
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Original story: Bellevue High School administrators are moving to fire Wolverines football coach Butch Goncharoff and assistant coach Pat Jones in light of the district’s and WIAA’s investigations into the controversial program.
In a letter written by district human resources Executive Director Jeffrey Thomas, it was revealed that the district administration will recommend that the School Board fire Goncharoff after more than a decade as a coach and with 11 state titles under his belt. An investigation into the football program found that Goncharoff had received funding from the football booster club without board approval and given money to players.
“Given the most recent opportunities you have had to be forthcoming to the district … and your failure to do so, the district can come to no other conclusion other than you had been deliberately deceptive. It is unfortunate that only now do we have a full understanding of what has transpired,” Thomas wrote.
The Bellevue football program has been in hot water ever since allegations emerged last summer that the Booster Club and coaches were illegally recruiting students, giving them money and that students were being directed to attend the Academic Institute, where they were given easy passes.
Third-party investigators hired by the WIAA found “significant and long-standing violations”, although they were unable to find evidence to prove all of the allegations.
Following the investigators’ report, the district reviewed the evidence and found that coaches received excessive payments not approved by the School Board, per district and WIAA policies, according to the letter. However, Thomas reported that he believes claims that the district and coaches cultivated a close relationship with the Academic Institute and directed students to attend the school are unfounded.
District communications Director Elizabeth Sytman said they would not be commenting futher on Goncharoff and Jones’ termination, citing policy surrounding personnel matters.
During the district investigation, officials reportedly discovered that Goncharoff had received at least $420,000 from outside entities in addition to his district salary since 2009. This violated both the district’s policies and the WIAA’s policy that anything over $500 received from an outside entity be approved by the school’s board.
The Bellevue School Distict will be pursuing action against the football Booster Club, which the investigators found funneled money to Goncharoff and the Academic Institute.
“There’s going to be action taken…We’re going to be doing a lot of things in the next few weeks,” Sytman said.
Meanwhile, the Booster Club has maintained it did not break any rules. The WIAA report omitted wording that limits the School Board approval of funding to money given “in a season”, meaning that unapproved payments exceeding $500 outside of the football season are allowed, they contend.
Despite the report and the two-game suspension Goncharoff was handed last June after reportedly giving a student-athlete’s family money, many Bellevue football parents have stood by the coach and have decried actions taken against him.
Goncharoff has reportedly been placed on administrative leave while the board decides whether to terminate him or not.
The Bellevue School District reportedly presented this and what violations they could substantiate to a KingCo panel on May 23. The panel has yet to make a decision on what penalties the football program and school district will face.
