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BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
Caroline High School football coach Ben Boyd apparently will be allowed to guide his team this season while facing two felony charges of forging and uttering a public document.
Boyd was arraigned in Caroline County Circuit Court yesterday. He requested a jury trial, which is scheduled to begin Dec. 8. He has a motions hearing set for Sept. 8.
Boyd's attorney spoke for him at his arraignment yesterday.
"I believe my client will be found not guilty and exonerated," said Morgan Griffith of Salem, who is also the majority leader in the House of Delegates.
Caroline Assistant Superintendent Eric Cunningham said it is up to the discretion of the School Board whether to suspend an employee who is facing a criminal charge. The Virginia High School League has no policy on coaches charged with crimes because "coaches are school division employees," VHSL Deputy Director Tom Zimorski said.
Cunningham said the School Board didn't discuss suspending Boyd at its Monday meeting.
"The School Board [is allowed to] suspend, but it has acted not to do so at this time because it's not a crime against children," Cunningham said.
Boyd's contract doesn't officially start until Aug. 1, two days before fall practice begins. But he was directing the team's weight lifting sessions until he was arrested on school grounds July 1.
Caroline players and assistant coaches said Boyd hasn't been back for workouts since his arrest. The team gathers Mondays through Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. It's unclear when Boyd will return.
"I hope he comes back because he's a really good coach," Caroline standout senior wide receiver/defensive back Quinton Broaddus said. "We developed a bond. We talk a lot. We joke around a lot. We just have fun."
Boyd, 53, was hired by Caroline May 11, after three years as the head coach at Franklin County High School.
The decision sparked controversy because of his 1991 federal misdemeanor conviction for misbranding and illegally dispensing anabolic steroids.
Caroline Commonwealth's Attorney Tony Spencer has declined to disclose the specifics of Boyd's two recent indictments.
Several members of the search committee who helped hire Boyd told The Free Lance-Star in May they didn't know of the coach's past because it wasn't listed on his application.
But Caroline assistant football coach George Spaulding said Boyd should be cleared if the charges are pertaining to his application.
"It was on there that he had a misdemeanor," said the 72-year-old Spaulding, who was the school's first football coach and former athletic director. "You don't have to explain what it is. He told quite a few people."
However, the county's teaching application asks for an attached explanation if the applicant has been convicted of a violation of law other than a minor traffic offense.
Spaulding said he didn't know Boyd's misdemeanor involved steroids until later.
Caroline Superintendent Gregory Killough and two School Board members said in May they didn't know about the convictions, either, but they are standing behind Boyd, who will also teach a strength and conditioning class at the school.
At Monday's School Board meeting, Milford businessman Roger Cavendish told board members they are "a disgrace" for hiring Boyd and later reaffirming his appointment. He said teachers and coaches should be "above reproach" because they're dealing with children.
Cavendish vowed to donate $500 to any candidate who runs against four of the School Board members in the next general election. He said he'll donate $1,000 to anyone who runs against board Chairwoman Margaret Watkins.
"When you all approve a coach that's been convicted and now he's been arrested, what are you thinking?" Cavendish told the board. "You should resign if you were good citizens because it's pitiful what you have done to this county."
No one else at the meeting spoke on the coach's hiring.
The controversy over Boyd has not seeped into the team, assistant coach Bobby Somers said. Somers, a Spotsylvania County deputy, pointed out that the Cavaliers won a 7-on-7 tournament in Virginia Beach the weekend before Boyd was arrested.
He said the team is averaging between 47 and 50 participants in its weight lifting program and has not seen a drop-off since Boyd's arrest.
"We really haven't discussed [Boyd's issues] with any of these kids," Spaulding said. "The only thing I can go by is the enthusiasm they're showing. They're looking forward to football, and that's our No. 1 focus. It's not anything else."
--Reporter Portsia Smith contributed to this story.
Taft Coghill Jr.: 540/374-5526
Email: tcoghill@freelancestar.com
