|
In this 2006 photo, Ben Boyd talks to players during practice at Franklin County High, where he was head football coach. Caroline hired him as its head coach May 11. |
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
After Ben Boyd was hired as Caroline High School's football coach May 11, Cavaliers Athletic Director Dan Dickey said a 10-person search committee had thoroughly vetted his past.
However, three members of the committee said in recent interviews with The Free Lance-Star that they weren't aware of Boyd's 1991 guilty plea to federal misdemeanor charges of misbranding and illegally dispensing anabolic steroids when they recommended him for the position.
And School Board members Wendell Sims and Fred Peatross said they had no knowledge of Boyd's past when they gave the final approval of his hiring.
Sims said he may ask the School Board to review the hiring. Peatross said he stands behind it.
"I feel real bad I let this guy slip through," search committee member Tom Ball said. "I should've known. I don't think I'm the only one who feels that way."
Caroline Superintendent Gregory Killough worked in Franklin County with Boyd as recently as 2005 but said he discovered the coach's past convictions only after Boyd was recommended by the committee.
Killough also stands behind Boyd, who has been praised by Dickey and others for reforming his life.
"Not a day goes by that I don't try to make up for the mistake I made," the 53-year-old Boyd said last week. He has not returned repeated calls this week seeking additional comment.
Still, the coach's hiring has sparked strong reactions in Caroline County. Some residents, including players' parents, said the school should have hired a coach with a less-troubled past.
Reggie Underwood, a former Caroline High assistant principal and basketball coach, said it's "conscientious ignorance" for administrators to stand behind a recommendation not based on all the facts.
Players' parents plan to attend the next School Board meeting on June 8 at Caroline Middle School to voice their objections to Boyd's hiring.
"My concern is that there are plenty of young coaches out there who have clean records," Underwood said. "They deserve an opportunity, too."
THE SEARCH PROCESS
The search committee was assembled to find two candidates to submit to Superintendent Killough, Principal Jeff Wick and other administrators for a second round of interviews.
Search committee member Rory Smith said the group was impressed by Boyd's resume, which included a three-year stint at Franklin County High in southwest Virginia. He resigned in January.
Smith said Dickey, the athletic director, told the committee Boyd had "some issues with steroids," but didn't discuss an arrest and conviction.
Smith said the conviction wasn't listed on Boyd's application, which asks if the job candidate has been convicted of a violation of law other than minor traffic offenses. The application says that omitting information can be grounds for dismissal.
Dickey wouldn't say if Boyd listed a conviction on his application. When asked if he told the committee about the conviction, Dickey said, "I don't remember."
Ball, a former Caroline football player, said he was "blown out of the water" when he received a call from a parent about Boyd's past.
"It was bad because they asked me, 'How do you feel about it?'" Ball said. "I said, 'I feel like I was deceived and lied to.'"
Ball said the search committee was told that Boyd had admitted to using steroids in his past, but its members did not know about the convictions.
He said the school system's personnel specialist, Patricia Taylor-Smith, told committee members they could not ask Boyd about steroids unless they asked all the applicants the same question. Because some other applicants had already been interviewed, the committee didn't question Boyd about the issue, Ball said.
Taylor-Smith declined to comment because the hiring is a personnel matter.
Committee member Donnell Howard, the county's parks and recreation director, noted that Boyd was 34 when he was arrested.
"It would've meant less to me if [the arrest] had happened when he was a teen," Howard said.
If he had known the details, Howard said he would have given his recommendation to hire Boyd more thought. "Steroids is a hot issue at this time, especially in professional sports," Howard said. "I would've argued, 'Are we making the right decision?'"
'HEATED' PARENTS' MEETING
The day after Boyd was hired, about 25 parents gathered at Caroline High to meet him.
Jerome Dickerson, who has three sons in Caroline's football program, described the meeting as "very heated."
Dickerson said he's wary of Boyd's hiring but is willing to give the coach a chance. He said young athletes constantly hear about professional players in trouble for steroid use, so Boyd's hiring "sends a very mixed message."
"When I heard [about Boyd and steroids], I was like 'Why would you hire him?'" Dickerson said. "I can understand giving a second chance, but they should've come to the parents first."
Tanya Keen, whose daughter, Stephanie, was Caroline's starting kicker last season, said she walked out of the meeting in anger.
School Board member Tami Redding said parents "should reflect on their own lives" before judging the coach.
But Howard said he understands the parents' concern.
"I believe the coach will be highly scrutinized from the beginning," Howard said. "It's just a barrier we're going to have to get over."
SCHOOL CHIEF KNEW BOYD
Killough was an assistant superintendent of instruction in Franklin County while Boyd was a teacher and assistant coach there.
Killough left Franklin to become the Wise County superintendent in October 2005, one year before Boyd became Franklin's head coach and his conviction was revealed to administrators there, who stood by him.
Killough said he "walked by [Boyd] in the hallways," but they weren't close friends.
"I saw that he really cared about young people," Killough said. "I was amazed at how well young people were drawn to him."
Search committee members say they weren't aware Killough knew Boyd until after they made their recommendation.
Killough said Boyd "went through the normal interview process."
The superintendent said he didn't ask Boyd about steroids in the second round of interviews. He said he trusted the search committee had made a good decision.
"The recommendation was made, and I'm going to stand behind it," Killough said. "It's just time for us to move forward."
Taft Coghill Jr.: 540/374-5526
Email: tcoghill@freelancestar.com
The details of Ben Boyd's 1990 arrest were reported in a 2006 Roanoke Times article written after an anonymous tipster pointed out Boyd's past to Franklin County High, where he worked at the time. According to The Roanoke Times, police in Salem (a small city adjacent to Roanoke) arrested Boyd in August 1990 at a hair salon he owned. The police had obtained search warrants on a package and the salon. The newspaper reported police found 300 tablets of Oxandrolone Spa, three boxes labeled Primobolan Depot, one vial labeled Testosterone Cypionate, three vials labeled Nandrolone Deconoate, 210 hypodermic needles, $860 in cash and a handwritten note. Police investigated after a postal clerk noticed Boyd was sending packages with incorrect return addresses, the newspaper reported. Boyd, who wasn't working in public education at the time, was indicted on federal felony charges of illegal possession of steroids. The felony charges were dismissed based on a "strategical decision," Assistant U.S. Attorney Arenda Allen told The Roanoke Times in 1991. Boyd, a competitive bodybuilder and hair stylist at the time, was sentenced to 18 months probation and a $250 fine. He said the steroids were for personal use. Boyd was originally charged with intending to distribute anabolic steroids, but there wasn't sufficient evidence presented in court that he sold them. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of misbranding and illegally dispensing anabolic steroids. --Taft Coghill |
