A Flagler County faculty district investigation of now-former Flagler Palm Coast excessive College basketball coach Anthony Wagner discovered that he had improperly supervised grownup gamers he’d invited to apply with workforce women, used profanity in workforce members’ presence, mishandled in a single day preparations throughout a workforce journey to Tampa final December, and used a money app the athletic director had not authorised for transactions. 

The investigation was the results of a criticism filed by the mum or dad of a scholar on the workforce,  strongly bolstered by an assistant coach and supported in some regards by the testimonies of 9 of the 12 scholar athletes the interior investigator interviewed. The monetary improprieties had been a parallel matter and concerned solely the improvised use of the money app, not lacking funds, and Wagner had used it brazenly. 

Wagner had additionally been a trainer at Buddy Taylor Center College. His contract has not been really useful for renewal subsequent 12 months. He has filed a grievance. That course of is ongoing.  

The mum or dad’s criticism had listed many extra points and issues a couple of “detrimental, poisonous and abusive workforce tradition he has cultivated at FPC since September 2022” than had been sustained within the restricted investigation carried out by Bob Ouellette, the chief human sources officer who conducts all inner investigations. 

Wagner acknowledged that his errors probably compromised the security of his athletes and conceded that his language may often be foul, however he downplayed the severity of his actions and insisted he handled all his workforce members like household–a declare not essentially supported by among the college students’ testimonies. 

The investigation, in sum, reveals that Wagner seems to have had no malice or meanness in his conduct. However he was susceptible to critical misjudgments, one among which resulted in a scholar spending the night time in the identical resort room as an assistant coach and his girlfriend throughout the Tampa journey, on the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational–to talking too freely inside earshot of scholars and spectators. He spoke unflatteringly about Steve DeAugustino, the previous and long-time athletic director at FPC who has simply been reassigned. And he perpetrated  a harsh, old-school tough-it-up strategy not acceptable on highschool campuses. 

“There is no such thing as a proof anyplace that this system or [its] workers is pro-woman in any means,” Sue O’Lear, who filed the unique criticism, wrote the superintendent in march. “In reality, my preliminary assembly within the workplace with Wagner and [Assistant Coach Thomas] Dailey was spent with Dailey telling me his plans for turning the workplace right into a ‘man cave’ for him and Wagner to hang around in earlier than video games. I questioned him about what that needed to do with a feminine athletic program, and he stated ‘the women have the locker room to hang around in.’ They had been advised to be a workforce however had been compelled to compete with one another for optimistic consideration from coaches, and those that didn’t acquired insults or punishments, or, like my daughter, ended up completely erased and ignored.” 

One of many college students interviewed advised the investigator that “in the beginning of the season she bled by means of a apply pair of shorts as a result of coach would let her go to the toilet throughout apply and he commented that was disgusting.” Wagner didn’t dispute the declare about her having to apply, however referred to as the allegation that he referred to as it disgusting “ridiculous.” 

One other scholar cited the time when three Flagler Palm Coast Excessive College student-athletes had been in a extreme automotive crash in Palm Coast–one among them was airlifted to a hospital–and the FPC-MHS basketball sport was scheduled. One of many college students interviewed for the investigation “acknowledged that initially Mr. Wagner disregarded the automotive accident that occurred and wished to play the sport that night time,” in line with the report, “however the Principal, Mr. Bossardet, got here within the locker room and referred to as off the sport.”

O’Lear in her criticism acknowledged explicitly that this system “wants feminine management,” which the investigator took as an indication of “improper bias.”

Wagner, in a five-page, single-spaced assertion defending himself towards the allegations, noticed it very otherwise. “Outdoors of my spouse and 4 daughters, these gamers are my household. I take a look at every student-athlete like they’re one among my very own youngsters,” he wrote. “Our Teaching workers has been there for them by means of among the hardest occasions of their lives. We’ve got been the shoulders they cried upon when their dad and mom break up up, when their dad and mom acquired divorced, when they’re having issues at house, when they’re having points with friends, when they’re fighting life and the issues they undergo, once they want somebody to speak to. We take a look at our roles as extra than simply basketball coaches, we try to not solely develop these younger folks into aggressive athletes, but additionally making an attempt to equip them with expertise that they’ll make the most of to achieve success in all areas of life. That is one thing we consistently preach to them.”

Wagner in an electronic mail shared a textual content from one among his student-athletes: “Hey wagner… I see every part occurring, and I need you to know that I actually did get pleasure from you being my coach even with the ups and downs. I don’t utterly perceive why she is doing all of this,” an obvious reference to O’Lear, “however I actually simply wished you to know that you’re a nice coach and also you gave us time that you can’ve been spending with your loved ones and I drastically admire that:)

Mother and father and former assistant coaches made “a number of allegations of misconduct” towards Wagner, however the investigation, Ouellette wrote, didn’t deal with facets “extra particular to teaching model, temperament and greatest practices.” 

There was no query, for instance, that Wagner allowed his assistant coach and his girlfriend to remain in the identical resort room they shared with the workforce’s tools supervisor–a scholar–in Tampa. 

College students reported to the investigator that “Wagner has a mood and swears on a regular basis,” however the identical scholar stated that each one coaches do, suggesting that Wagner’s conduct was standing out solely due to the investigation. However nearly each scholar on the workforce that the investigator interviewed described Wagner utilizing foul language to 1 extent or one other–and all of them stated (as Wagner stated) that it was by no means directed at any single participant. However some had been particular, saying he referred to the junior varsity workforce as “trash” or “shitty” to the purpose that one of many college students didn’t need to trip house on the bus from an away sport. The scholars reported that his swearing was additionally heard on the bus. 

One scholar acknowledged that “Mr. Wagner doesn’t see us as folks first,” citing an instance many college students and O’Lear cited: the athletes had been required–or compelled, in some interpretations–to put on footwear that had been too tight-fitting. Some college students bled of their footwear. Wagner, in line with some, advised them to “suck it up.” 

College students stated he was higher disposed when the workforce received, but additionally described him as sulking when he felt the workforce would lose: “He was solely good to us after we had been successful,” a scholar wrote. “If we had been having a troublesome sport he went proper again to ordinary. Yelling, insulting, pouting, negativity.” 

O’Lear had inspired college students to electronic mail the administration to complain about Wagner, who might have had official causes to suppose that O’Lear was gunning for him. However the investigator targeted on one-on-one interviews with the scholars, not their emails, and the allegations about an unhealthy setting had been particularly supported by Amanda Tyminski, an assistant coach often called Coach Amanda. 

“Nothing on this program teaches these younger women on how you can be acceptable, first rate, respectful, understanding human beings,” she wrote Bobby Bossardet, the principal at FPC, in early February, earlier than the investigation. It was one among a number of complaints that went to the principal. (O’Lear complained that Bossardet didn’t reply till the complaints moved as much as the superintendent’s workplace in march.) 

“None of this displays the aim of the FPC Ladies Basketball Program,” Tyminski continued. “This system is supposed to be extra than simply basketball. It’s imagined to be a protected place that younger females can go to play ball, open up to one another, be themselves with out judgment, be guided into maturity by real adults that need to see the women succeed with no circumstances. It’s imagined to be a optimistic staple in these women’ lives, not one thing that they dread on daily basis. It’s imagined to be a spot freed from anger and prejudice. Each single one among these women, need all of this, want all of this. They want this program to maintain them from taking a detrimental path in life. To some, it may very nicely be a matter of life or demise.”

The difficulty with the unsupervised grownup gamers developed after the workforce’s journey to Jacksonville, the place the workforce went to a camp hosted by Edward Waters College. Two school college students who stay in Volusia County subsequently practiced with the FPC workforce at FPC–one among them simply as soon as, the opposite a number of occasions–and a romantic relationship developed between one of many school college students and one of many student-athletes. 

Ouellette reported the problem to the Division of Youngsters and Households, which declined to analyze: although the school scholar was over 18, relationship a minor who was over 16, there was no felony concern in play, because the school scholar was youthful than 24. However there was a distinct matter of security: the 2 school college students had not been “badged,” or cleared as volunteers, to apply with the workforce–an error Wagner additionally acknowledged. 

“Once more after I look from a distinct perspective, I can see the potential of one thing taking place,” Wagner wrote. “It’s my mistake that I take my belief in folks whom I do know very significantly, and would by no means put the gamers in any hazard, nevertheless, I can’t take a look at it that means and have to take a look at it as how it may be perceived by others exterior of the workforce. If I may return with the attitude I’ve now, I’d positively make totally different selections/selections for each conditions. Though they’re distinctive and totally different they nonetheless signify security, and the very last thing I need is for anybody related to our program to really feel unsafe or uncomfortable.”

He defended his use of the money app, which he stated was the results of college students asking for ease of fee on the concession stand and through fund-raising at Publix, the place many donors stated they wanted the app to contribute. He stated he had spent as much as $500 of his personal cash, by no means reimbursed, to assist workforce actions. 

“I understand I would like to vary my perspective, which I’ve performed so,” Wagner concluded within the assertion in his protection. “Going by means of this course of since Aug. seventh, answering to lots of the identical allegations over and again and again has taken its toll on me. It has led me to query if what I’m doing is correct; if I must be teaching as a result of I not really feel the enjoyment and pleasure. I nonetheless need to see the gamers achieve success and can do no matter I can do inside cause to assist facilitate that, however so far as teaching is worried I don’t really feel I’ve the drive to do it anymore. To be consistently harassed and performed so with out assist actually knocks you down. If I do return to the sideline although, I do know it needs to be totally different, the choices I make should be performed with extra thought into what’s the worst that may occur and never with what’s the very best factor that may occur.” 

Formally, Wagner acquired a written reprimand. It was not his first. He had additionally acquired a written reprimand because of an unrelated, earlier investigation in his capability as a trainer at Buddy Taylor Center College.

The district’s investigation concluded on Could 15 that Wagner “acted inappropriately and/or unprofessionally” and was turned over to the Skilled Practices Part of the Florida Division of Schooling, which can follow-up with its personal investigation and penalties. That division oversees lecturers’ licenses. 

One of many emails within the investigative file relationship again to February, apparently from O’Lear’s daughter, had outlined lots of the identical points and elaborated on many extra, concluding on a extra private notice: “I don’t discuss this anymore. I attempt not to consider it. Even writing about it’s bringing me again to a time when my psychological well being sank. He broke my belief, abused me and others, and destroyed me and my love for the sport. When the ultimate buzzer sounded in our final sport, I wasn’t unhappy or upset. I had a weight lifted off my shoulders. I felt like I may breathe once more. I by no means felt protected round him. My guard was up 24/7 and it’s exhausting. I used to be in such a darkish place mentally due to him. I used to be relieved it was over. And I didn’t have to speak to him ever once more. Be close to him. He may not damage me. It was the primary time I felt protected in a very long time. This man just isn’t match for a head teaching job.”