INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — The Indiana High School Athletic Association tells 13 Investigates it received multiple complaints about the behavior of Center Grove High School head football coach Eric Moore. IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox confirms the complaints came in over the last several months and his organization relayed those reports to the school district. Cox says he is pleased district officials are investigating the concerns about how students are treated.
13 Investigates first reported Wednesday the Center Grove School Corporation hired an independent investigator to review accusations that the coach abused his power by verbally abusing players. In the day since that report, Eyewitness News has learned several more families have come forward to report incidents to that investigator. It appears those additional interviews are pushing back the expected completion of the investigation. At the beginning of the week, Center Grove Schools told WTHR it expected the investigation into Coach Moore’s behavior to be done within days. Thursday night, Center Grove communications director Stacy Conrad told 13 Investigates, “At this point, we do not have an estimate on when it will conclude.”
One father who has already spoken to the school’s investigator told WTHR that he received a death threat Thursday. Other families say they are simply too scared to file a report at all because they fear for the safety of their children.
People close to the investigation told 13 Investigates that the reports to the investigator involve bullying and threats, derogatory slurs, and vulgar language targeting students.
Cox said the complaints received by IHSAA mirror those and involve alleged improper language and “overbearing treatment of the coach to the student athletes.”
He says he applauds the district’s response. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a veteran coach or a rookie coach – at the end of the day we’re educators. And if we’re gonna act as educators we have to behave like educators. And that includes how we interact with student athletes,” Cox said.
Cox says coaches on the field should use the same conduct as a teacher in a classroom.
"We expect that same language to be used in the athletic setting. It’s an extension of the classroom," he told Bob Segall. "There's no room for vulgarity. There’s no room for bullying.”
Cox points out that eliminating vulgarity and degradation does not mean a coach needs to talk quietly and gently to athletes or coddle them. Cox says coaches can and should let athletes know when they are not happy with a performance.
"I don't get real worried about volume," he told 13 Investigates. "I think when coaches are yelling, if they're yelling positively to motivate students, I don’t have an issue with that. But when it becomes abusive, and we’re trying to tear down students or we’re using terms that we wouldn’t use in an education setting then I think we’ve got issues."
IHSAA rules require member school to investigates and report cases of inappropriate behavior by coaches, but the organization itself does not investigate complaints of this nature. Cox says if IHSAA receives a complaint, he talks with the principal and or athletic director to share the information.
Cox acknowledges coaching has changed over the years and that ISHAA is working to train coaches across the state in a "21st century approach to coaching." He says that through the Inside Out Coaching initiative, IHSAA is focused on building a "transformational coach." Cox explains that the idea is to shift from a more bombastic style of coaching based on wins and losses to a coach who "invests in young people so that the young person performs at the optimum levels for the school, for the coach and for the community."
Sixty-two coaches are part of the first group to go through training with the expectation that they will train their assistant coaches. Another 62 coaches will go through the second round of training next fall.
As news of the district’s investigation spread, hundreds of former and current players and parents, along with friends and other people familiar with Moore, came forward to voice their support for the coach. A number of them with 13 Investigates Thursday.