Oklahoma Football Coach On Leave After Altercation with Player

August 25, 2021 / Athletic AdministrationCoachingFootball
Parents are calling for the job of an Oklahoma high school football coach after video surfaced of the coach chasing after and grabbing an opposing player during a fight between two teams.

During a scrimmage between El Reno High School and Clinton High School, players from both sides engaged in a scuffle following a play, according to a report from Fox2Now.com. Things began to subside before the Clinton coach grabbed a player by the shoulder pads and began pushing him away from the brawl.

“I was highly upset,” Kim Sparks, the mother of the player who was grabbed by the Clinton coach, told Fox2Now.com “Seeing a grown man basically assault my son.”

El Reno head coach Chuck Atchison described the situation to Fox2Now.com as deescalated before the Clinton coach engaged with the El Reno player. Things got heated when an El Reno player felt he got his helmet ripped off after a play and threw the ball. The referee threw an unsportsmanlike flag on that player.

“Everything got broke up. Really wasn’t a big deal, you deal with those types of things all the time,” Atchison said to Fox2Now.com. “Everything was pretty much over and everybody was kind of walking away.”

That was the case until the Clinton coach engaged with the player and pushed the jumble of players from the middle of the field to the sideline, where punches were thrown from both sides, and even a helmet was thrown.

According to Fox2Now.com, Clinton Public Schools issued the following statement on the incident.

“There is nothing more important to Clinton Public Schools than the safety of all students. The assistant coach involved has been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcoming of a joint investigation between Clinton Public Schools and El Reno Public Schools. Because this is a personnel issue, I am unable to share additional information about this situation. It is a matter we are taking very seriously.”

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Sparks said her son wasn’t hurt and has put it behind him now. El Reno and Clinton have begun a joint investigation into the situation.

To read the full report from Fox2Now.com on the Oklahoma head coach, click here