Coaches' group presses school board on safety after Winter Springs High locker-room confrontation

A statewide group that represents school coaches asked the Seminole County School Board on Tuesday to improve protections for coaches, weeks after a parent allegedly headbutted Winter Springs High School's head football coach in a locker room.

"We want coaches here in Seminole County to feel safe," Dr. Andrew Ramjit, executive director of the Florida Coaches Coalition, told WESH 2 News.

Ramjit spoke after head coach Tim Dycus and his son, assistant coach Walker Dycus, resigned last month following the Sept. 14 incident.

What the police report says

Winter Springs police were sent to the school at about 10:15 p.m. that night on a battery call after a junior varsity game, according to a police report cited by WESH.

Walker Dycus told officers he opened the locker room's back door after hearing a knock, thinking a player was outside. He said the parent forced the door open, shoved him and threw punches that did not connect, then went to Tim Dycus, pushed him and headbutted him, the report says. Tim Dycus backed up his son's account and told officers he believed the confrontation grew out of the coaches correcting the parent's son during the game.

The parent was gone by the time officers arrived. Both coaches turned down medical care and chose not to press charges, according to the report. The parent has not been publicly identified.

The board meeting

Ramjit told the board that an angry parent had gotten past a security gate and into a boys' locker room while students were inside. He also questioned why a woman who came into the locker room afterward, whom he described as the parent's partner and a school employee, had faced no consequences. He said Walker Dycus had been suspended after stepping in to protect his father, and that the head coach resigned rather than watch his son "get dragged through the mud."

Dr. Connie Collins, an assistant superintendent for Seminole County Public Schools, said school administrators began investigating the next morning and that a trespass notice was delivered to the parent's home. She said the woman who entered the locker room after hearing the commotion was an assistant coach for the team, a district employee and a parent.

"The facts presented here are that law enforcement was contacted immediately. The coaches declined to press charges. School administration thoroughly investigated the incident. The parent was trespassed, and both coaches voluntarily resigned," Collins said.

The district said the parent had been allowed into the locker room with coaches and students on several earlier occasions. It was not clear whether that complied with the school's locker room procedures, WESH reported.

Source: wesh.com.

Sources

wesh.com