Clint Layng will be the head coach of Jefferson High School’s football program this fall after the school’s Board of Trustees voted 4-2 at a special meeting Monday night to offer Layng a contract—reversing a decision two weeks ago not to renew his contract for next school year.
The vote came after about an hour of public comments and discussion among trustees in the school’s north gym, which was packed with public attendees. Public comments were mostly supportive of Layng and many who commented chastised the board for what they characterized as a lack of communication and transparency in the April 19 vote to oust Layng. However, some members of the public and trustees voiced concerns that Layng failed to meet standards set forth in a coaches code of conduct the board implemented in 2016, particularly as it pertained to use of profanity. Two trustees clarified that their previous votes against Layng were in response to a variety of constituent complaints about Layng and the football program.
After the vote, Layng told The Monitor he didn’t have much to say—just that it had “been a long couple weeks” and he was looking forward to the fall football season.
“I appreciate the support,” he said. “I’m happy to be back coaching these kids and [to] move on to the next steps.”
Trustees Kyrie Russ, Justin Willcut, Buster Bullock and Bryher Herak voted to offer Layng a contract. Trustees Dani Morris and Larry Rasch voted against offering him a contract.
In the original decision on April 19, trustees Bullock, Russ, Rasch and Morris voted against offering Layng a contract. Herak cast the lone vote in Layng’s favor. Willcut was absent. The head coach position paid $5,100 last year. The contract runs all year, from July 1 through June 30.
At the April 19 meeting, the trustees did not offer reasoning for their votes or discuss Layng in the meeting; employee rights written into state law and board policy dictate that employees must be notified if their performance will be evaluated at a meeting, and such evaluations generally take place in a closed session. But trustees can vote on whether to offer an employee a contract without discussing employee performance.
Before the board could again discuss the contract on Monday night, the trustees had to first vote on whether to reverse their previous decision not to offer Layng a contract.
During public comment on whether to undo the prior decision, Jan Anderson, a former editor and publisher of The Monitor who said she previously served on the Board of Trustees for seven years and covered the board for the paper for about 20, said she was “pretty amazed when I learned of the board’s action,” and that “while the board may legally be able to prevail, what happened procedurally I believe to be morally wrong.”
“There is no reason not to let that employee know of the concerns and not to let the employee respond,” she said. “You’ve squandered the trust of all the employees.”
Rasch directly addressed Layng: “Clint, I want to apologize to you on the manner that this was approached. I’m going to lay that partially on the board for not pushing our wishes through at evaluation time. I’m going to lay it on the administration for not following through.”
But, he added, “and I have to lay a little bit of that on you, Clint, for not responding” to previous board requests that he comply with the coaches code of conduct.
The board voted 5-1 to rescind its prior decision not to offer Layng a contract, with only Bullock voting against undoing the previous vote. That reverted the board to once again decide whether to offer Layng a contract—but this time the decision would be made with public comment and discussion among trustees, and with Layng present.
Most, but not all, public commenters encouraged the board to offer Layng a contract.
Keith Shultz, a parent of three JHS students, agreed with other commenters that “there was a lack in communication all the way through,” but said that his concern wasn’t with the board “because you are accountable to us” through elections. Instead, he said, his concern was with what he described as Layng’s failure to follow the code of conduct. Susanne Shultz reiterated that their “primary concern this evening is Coach Layng not following the Jefferson High School Coaches Code of Conduct.”
“It is an unprofessional way to communicate,” she said, referring to profanity. “If we allow those expectations to be disregarded, then what is the purpose of the code?”
Both encouraged the board not to offer Layng a contract. Keith Shultz’s comment drew a loud jeer of “boo!” from someone in the crowd, which was instantly met with a shout of “be respectful!” from another in the crowd.
All of the other comments were in favor of Layng, with current and former students and fellow coaches inside and out of JHS coming to Layng’s defense in front of the board.
AJ Eckmann, a former student and football player, told the board that, during his sophomore year, a fellow student and teammate killed himself, and that Layng was invited to speak at the funeral.
“There’s no one that cares more than Coach Layng,” he said. “To get rid of someone who cares this much … it’s the wrong decision.”
Luke Mondloch, a sophomore on the football team, said that “Coach helped teach me the game and help me be the player I am today,” and that “I have two years left for Jefferson and I don’t want to play for anyone else other than Coach Layng.”
“Removing Coach Layng destroys the confidence and trust he’s built in the team,” he said, adding that the board should have first consulted the players. “This is our team and he’s our coach.”
Jack Johnson, another sophomore on the team, said that Layng “taught me a lot about the game and how to be a good man,” and that “I don’t want to play football for anyone else. He’s my coach.”
Another former student argued that “if we fired every coach who used profanity, we would have no coaches and probably half the amount of teachers.”
Bryce Kaatz, who previously served as Layng’s assistant coach in Sheridan, told the trustees, “I can vouch for him … that his conduct is always above board.”
Ahead of voting, Russ said that “I do personally regret not informing the administration” of the concerns about Layng she’d heard from constituents, and that she was “on the fence” about how to vote on April 19. “If I could take that piece back I certainly would.”
She said that none of the trustees discussed their votes before the April 16 meeting, and that “there was no private meeting or anything like that.”
She said that her previous vote not to offer Layng a contract was based on complaints from constituents in her three years as a trustee, but that the recent outpouring of support for Layng since the vote had given her a more balanced view.
“I would like to start again, give Coach Layng a chance to address the issues,” she said.
Bullock echoed Russ’ comments about independent votes, saying that “I’ve been accused by the administration of collusion, but there was none.” He said he wanted to rehire Layng “with some expectations.”
“This, tonight, is where I wanted to be at so we can have a discussion” about expectations, he said. “This process was very good for all of us and I think it needs to go on.”
Bullock’s remark drew pushback from Cassidy Parsons, the school’s family and consumer science teacher who also serves as assistant girls basketball coach under Sarah Layng, who is married to Clint, and as the school’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America advisor. Morris voted against offering Parsons contracts for her coaching and advisor positions on April 19.
“I hear what you were saying, Mr. Bullock,” she said, “but I do not believe that a coach, a teacher, an advisor should feel threatened every single year, on the chopping block every single year.”
Parsons said it was “extremely morally wrong” to subject the Layngs to such public controversy simply to spark a discussion.
Morris said that during her time as a trustee, “never did I have anyone approach me with compliments or praise for Coach Layng,” and that “I have received numerous complaints about Coach Layng” from current and former players and families, JHS coaches and other coaches.
After her vote two weeks ago not to offer Layng a contract, she said, she and her family were targeted for abuse from people supporting Layng.
“The fact that family has been attacked is disgusting. The harassment has been so disgusting that I am confident I will not send my kids to JHS next year,” she said. “It has been extremely hard being attacked by my so-called friends.”
Morris told Layng he should “feel great” about the praise and support he received the past two weeks, but that “we all need to take a step back and realize there are two sides to this story,” and one side may overwhelm the other by being louder and by bullying.
Rasch said that “wins and losses don’t matter” and neither did routine complaints from parents that their kids didn’t get enough playing time. But Layng’s failure to meet the standards in the code of conduct, he said, did matter.
“That was established in May of 2016 primarily with concerns of our football program at that time,” he said. “That was the basis that, as a board, we have to uphold, and that as a board is our job to adhere to.”
Offered an opportunity to speak to the board by Board Chair Cami Robson, Layng walked to the podium amid loud applause from a portion of the crowd and delivered a brief remark: “I love these kids and I’d do anything for them. I want to be their coach, and I know we have a lot of great things coming, and I just want to thank everybody for their support. That’s it.”
Jared Padmos, an assistant football coach under Layng who will also teach math at JHS next year, said that the board needed to work to ensure that complaints trustees receive are rerouted to the proper chain of command: first to coaches, then up to the athletic director, then the administration, and finally the board.
“If a complaint comes to you guys, shouldn’t that be your say if Clint doesn’t know about it? How are we supposed to be better coaches if we don’t know about it?” he said. “As a coaching staff we didn’t hear a single complaint this year. I was a part of that coaching staff.”
An hour after the meeting opened, Russ, Willcot, Bullock and Herak voted to offer Layng a contract; Rasch and Morris voted against it. The motion to offer Layng a contract passed 4-2, and part of the crowd stood and cheered.
