A Texas high school football coach whose team won its last game 91-0 says a district investigation has found "no grounds" to support a bullying complaint filed by a parent of the losing team.
Aledo High School coach Tim Buchanan said Wednesday administrators told him they found no evidence of bullying before or during Friday's lopsided victory over Fort Worth Western Hills.
State law required the district to investigate the complaint.
A copy of the complaint obtained by The Associated Press accused coaches of "not easing up when the game was in hand."
The parent, whose name was redacted, said in the complaint, "I did not know what to say on the ride home" to his or her son to explain the behavior of the coaches.
Earlier Report:
A Texas high school football coach is dealing with a bullying complaint this week after his players ran roughshod over another team Friday night.
The undefeated Aledo Bearcats pummeled Forth Worth's Western Hills Cougars, scoring 91 points and holding their opponent scoreless. But at least one Western Hills parent thought it was more than just a lopsided win and filed an official complaint through the school system. KXAS obtained a copy of the letter, which reads in part, "My son plays for western hills football team on friday night we all witnessed bullying firsthand, it is not a pretty sight." That punctuation is theirs, not ours. (Via Vimeo / BearcatVision, KXAS)
Aledo Coach Tim Buchanan said he wasn’t trying to embarrass the other team and he actively tried to keep the score down.
BUCHANAN: "Our starting running back touched the ball five times. He scored three touchdowns." (Via WFAA)
According to Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Western Hills Coach John Naylor thought Buchanan and Aledo handled themselves fine. He told the paper, "They're No. 1 for a reason, and I know coach Buchanan. … [Aledo] just plays hard. … They get after it, and that's the way football is supposed to be played in Texas."
Even so, Aledo’s superintendent said he and the school’s coaching staff are taking the complaint seriously. He added one solution to Aledo’s blow-out problem could be putting the team back into a tougher district.
Aledo won several state championships in recent years and has made a name for itself this season by putting up basketball-like numbers against teams. On the other side, Western Hills has struggled. They're 0-7 this season and only had 30 players on their roster Friday. (Via Bleacher Report)
Although the superintendent presented a solution, one writer for Forbes says more blowouts like this are inevitable because of the contrasting economic statuses of the schools.
“About 40 percent of Western Hills’ students are considered economically disadvantaged, compared with 11 percent of Aledo’s. … by the time Aledo faces Western Hills, and the many other Fort Worth schools in its district … its kids have played football longer, had access to more and better coaching … and generally have come from a far more economically stable environment that allows for a lot of time focused on football.”
Aledo’s principal will have to investigate the complaint and prepare a written report.
AP contributed to this report.
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