15 hours ago, theguru said:

For context, this is what D Lamont Smith posted on Facebook late last year:

I’ve been getting phone calls and text messages with questions of why my daughter is no longer a part of Cooper High School’s basketball team. So I’ll answer that question…

I wanna start by saying I am not a fan of NOT good people, especially to my daughters. This started when my daughter was in 8th grade, the “coach” fabricated a “custom criteria”, specifically for my daughter, to give excuses as to why she couldn’t get an “INVITE” (yep, gotta get invited) to OPEN gym, that either didn’t exist in previous years. Apparently he didn’t know that I knew this was something new, bc girls before her were not subjected to this “criteria”. This was an “unspoken” criteria (from what this “coach” told me)…how convenient? Thanks for letting “little ol’ me” in on your “secret handshake”. I’m not a fan of a “coach” who talks about my daughter to some of her teammates behind her back, but never talking to her. Not a fan of a man with “Mean Girl” ways talking about kids via text, and/or in person with other girls on the team, but never addressing his issues he has with them directly. I’m not sure how someone could think it’s okay being a “mean girl” as a grown man, let alone a “leader”/“coach” of young people.

It’s come to my attention that he told the team that my daughter was no longer on the team, bc I couldn’t follow guidelines. And said my daughter couldn’t follow guidelines either. Anybody who KNOWS me knows that I'm a “rule follower”. I don’t even deviate from recipes from food I prepare. Here’s the thing, I’m not a fan of a “coach” who refuses a meeting with my daughter, when she initially requested her father be present. Then after she was denied such a meeting, and was adamant about wanting her father to be presence denied again. So I called a meeting, with him, with my daughter included (“protocol” per team, “Cooper Jaguars Coach-Player-Parent Communications” states “As a parent, if you would like to discuss your daughter’s academics, scheduling conflicts, or any area in which the staff can assist in a player’s growth, we strongly encourage you to reach out. If an issue needs to be discussed a parent and the player must both be present.”), I’m not a fan of a “coach” dodging a meeting with parents, bc he wasn’t pregamed with the context of the meeting (duh, the meeting will have the “context” in it). Essentially this guy didn’t want me to hear any of the [redacted] he was gonna feed my daughter, and point it out to her. Bottom line is “if his lips are moving, he’s lying”. He was exercising his privilege and this “superiority complex” that he has, by denying us the meeting that other parents and players have been given without question.

 After requesting a meeting I’m not a fan of a “coach” catching a “sucka attack” (through text), and jumps on the defensive, telling me “Based on my requests and the information you received at the parent meeting, we will not discuss (playing time, team/game strategy or other members of the team) with parents.” The ONE meeting in the 2 seasons that my daughter has been in this program, with him and his staff has never pertained to any of those, only the treatment of my daughter. My girls will earn they’re playing time/role on any team their on. I’m not a fan of people who draw conclusions and make assumptions and dodge issues. His behavior and attitude is that of being cowardly amongst men, and a “mean girl”/bully of teenage girls.

Shame on Cooper High AD for co-signing the lies about the “fabricated, custom, unspoken criteria”, and even doubling down on the lies after I presented him with the proof that I know they’re lies. Trying to smooth over lies with semantics is crazy to me. I MAY look slow, but I’m not. Newsflash…you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. After telling the AD and the “coach”, via text, that my daughter was “intimidated”, by the “coach” there was no suggestion of meeting with a parent/player and “coaches” and/or AD meeting. This guy was still was still pressing this meeting with my daughter and the same person she’s intimidated by. Not on my watch. I will ALWAYS put my best foot forward to protect my girl’s mental, emotional and physical health.

This so much more than this. This has been two years of lies, coverups, discrimination, etc. My daughter busted her [redacted] for the Cooper High School program for two seasons. In 8th grade starting freshman, and getting a lot of time on the regional champion jv team. 9th grade starting jv (‘23-‘24 Regional Runner-ups) AND starting freshman (‘23-‘24 Regional Champs)…playing two full games (no other kid in the program was playing two full games a night) on nights when both teams played. Doing two-a-days (freshman and JV/varsity practices) for an entire season. This kid thought two-a-days and two full games a night were normal. One of the top producers on both teams. Only to be lied to, and talked about by the “coach”.

I didn’t tell her anything about what was going on initially, bc I didn’t want to distract her, or have her be as disrespectful to the staff as they were to her. After a meeting with her “coaches” I realized that this wasn’t a good situation. I decided to tell her how she was being treated during the season, and how that wasn’t “normal”. The only reason she wanted to play at Cooper was bc she wanted to play with friends. But when your kid tells you that a coach or staff are making her hate the game it’s time to go.

After meeting with the Principal (Cooper High School Principal) for about 30mins, he completely ignored my concerns about how my daughter was being mischaracterized by a member of administration, mischaracterized and mistreated by the “coach”. Also how the AD supported the lies that were told to me. The principal even sent me an email response in my follow up with him, he “copied and pasted” a new version of one of the lies from the AD (further incriminating himself) using different wording, and further goes to my claim of discrimination. After I established with the principal via email, essentially, that I’m not stupid, and his lack of action were disappointing, I never heard from him again.

The the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion “investigator” for Boone Co Board of Education, who is caucasian, made a mockery of my claims of “Discrimination, lies, and mischaracterization of minorities” against the “coach”, AD, and Principal. She should be ashamed of herself for the “cover up”. Took her 42 days to complete the 30 day, per Boone Co “guidelines”,“investigation” (if that’s what she wants to call it). What’s sketchy is on Day 39 she sent me an email saying “Due to unforeseen circumstances and situations that were out of my control, I do not anticipate the report to be finalized until Thursday.” So After this email on day 39, it left me wondering what were the “unforeseen circumstances and situations that were out of my [her] control” Then she sent a bogus filled report that was completely contradictory from what she was telling me about my claims being serious. After providing her with text, emails, audio, and video supporting my claims, and her “finding of facts” was riddled with opinions and things that never happened. None of my claims were addressed in her “finding of facts”. It was as though they filed a claim against me.

When I submitted the response to the DEI “investigator’s” “finding of facts” (per the 10 days I had to respond) to the (at the time) “superintendent of (Boone Co) schools”, who had 10 days to respond, responded on day 13 of the 10 days he was allotted to review and respond, only AFTER I reached out on that 13th day via email, was when he responded with a letter through “snail mail”, dated that 13th day, agreeing with the DEI “Investigator”. Either he NEVER reviewed any of the documentation provided or just didn’t care.

 For “sweeping my claims under the rug”, my thoughts are, [redacted]…the “coach”, AD, Principal, DEI “Investigator”, and former superintendent don’t “CARE about black people (minorities)”…our concerns…how our kids are treated...don’t care to understand how to communicate with our kids…our kids experiences…etc. They live in a privileged world. This is the “Good Ol’ Boy Network” personified. EVERYBODY listed is part of the problem, definitely not the solution. As a minority, and a parent of a minority child, nobody heard us, nor did they care to hear us.

People who know me, or who have seen me at games know I don’t heckle officials, the other teams, I don’t talk to the our teams “coaches”, I only come support to our team, and I go home. For the “coach” to lie to me wasn’t necessary. I was never a “threat” to him personally, his team, his staff, etc. Well…they got the right one. I’m a present father of girls, and I will defend their rights to be treated equally and OUR name.

Bc I’m a “large” male, with an intimidating stature to some I feel the need to DOCUMENT interactions, so none of my actions or words can be misconstrued. That includes the individuals listed in this post. The scary part about it is these people are texting and emailing with such confidence, bc there have been no consequences to their actions.

Stay tuned…my claims of mistreatment of myself and my daughter have been well documented and will be presented…

This sounds like a miserable no win situation for any father, but as far as timelines he references, many times in schools, a "____ day timeline" only encompasses days that the school district is in session. Weekend days do not count, holidays do not, snow days do not. I wonder if that's what this fell into. 

I know nothing about Boone County's school system so it's possible it did not fall into that. 

The Rondon kid is a problem. Rumor is he and other Newport kids acted like fools when the football team played at KCD in the quarterfinals back in November. 

Coach Sullivan deserves to leave Cooper on his terms for what he has accomplished during his tenure. One bad kid and family should not tarnish that. I hope he and Cooper make a run to Rupp. 

34 minutes ago, FootballGuy2121 said:

The Rondon kid is a problem. Rumor is he and other Newport kids acted like fools when the football team played at KCD in the quarterfinals back in November. 

Coach Sullivan deserves to leave Cooper on his terms for what he has accomplished during his tenure. One bad kid and family should not tarnish that. I hope he and Cooper make a run to Rupp. 

Sometimes Coaches realize that the kids needs sport, more than the sport needs them.  Add into that a kid having some talent, and a lot of coaches struggle with the balance of kicking kids to the curb vs what is best for program and team (winning).

 

After trying to bring clarity to this foggy brain, I am strongly feeling there is a glaring inconsistency in what is happening to Sully.  Here you have a highly successful coach that has annually produced young competitors that wholeheartedly buy into being totally committed to the Team.  “Team above self”.  At the same time this same coach is not buying into the school culture and accordingly not being a good teammate.  Just seems hard for this old guy to “buy”.  

I agree. The coach has to have his players back to a certain extent. If his superiors believe in a one strike and your out mentality then no one can succeed. 

In 32 seasons as a head coach, I have had some guys do some stupid stuff on Friday nights. We addressed it and handled it inside the family. Our guys were held accountable, but we did not broadcast the punishment.  I would think many coaches, and very possibly Coach Sullivan as well, would operate like that. 

Also, in football.... guys are further from the crowd, they wear a helmet, and it is hard to hear what they say.  Basketball is much tougher to navigate stuff like this because everyone knows more of what happened and everyone has an opinion on how it should be addressed. 

Keep in mind, two very good & successful coaches could handle an incident entirely differently. And, often, there is still another layer to the incident, etc. that others don't know. 

Glad I don't coach basketball. ?

 

2 hours ago, Oldercoach said:

After trying to bring clarity to this foggy brain, I am strongly feeling there is a glaring inconsistency in what is happening to Sully.  Here you have a highly successful coach that has annually produced young competitors that wholeheartedly buy into being totally committed to the Team.  “Team above self”.  At the same time this same coach is not buying into the school culture and accordingly not being a good teammate.  Just seems hard for this old guy to “buy”.  

So what culture would one want to be a part of? The schools culture or the coach's culture? If your on the team you really have no choice but to buy into the coach's culture so that's a choice to buy in or not be on the team. As a student your subject to the school's culture which doesn't seem optional. Apparently the cultures are not consistent but can't be avoided either as being a part of both. With over 2500 signatures on a petition in favor of Sully it seems majority would prefer the culture be consistent with the coach's. The school would rather put an end to the coach's culture but if he were to win this it could be the beginning of the school's culture being over thrown. At that point I feel the school as a whole wins and not just the players that coach Sully has blessed with his presence.

On 3/5/2025 at 3:48 PM, theguru said:

For context, this is what D Lamont Smith posted on Facebook late last year:

I’ve been getting phone calls and text messages with questions of why my daughter is no longer a part of Cooper High School’s basketball team. So I’ll answer that question…

I wanna start by saying I am not a fan of NOT good people, especially to my daughters. This started when my daughter was in 8th grade, the “coach” fabricated a “custom criteria”, specifically for my daughter, to give excuses as to why she couldn’t get an “INVITE” (yep, gotta get invited) to OPEN gym, that either didn’t exist in previous years. Apparently he didn’t know that I knew this was something new, bc girls before her were not subjected to this “criteria”. This was an “unspoken” criteria (from what this “coach” told me)…how convenient? Thanks for letting “little ol’ me” in on your “secret handshake”. I’m not a fan of a “coach” who talks about my daughter to some of her teammates behind her back, but never talking to her. Not a fan of a man with “Mean Girl” ways talking about kids via text, and/or in person with other girls on the team, but never addressing his issues he has with them directly. I’m not sure how someone could think it’s okay being a “mean girl” as a grown man, let alone a “leader”/“coach” of young people.

It’s come to my attention that he told the team that my daughter was no longer on the team, bc I couldn’t follow guidelines. And said my daughter couldn’t follow guidelines either. Anybody who KNOWS me knows that I'm a “rule follower”. I don’t even deviate from recipes from food I prepare. Here’s the thing, I’m not a fan of a “coach” who refuses a meeting with my daughter, when she initially requested her father be present. Then after she was denied such a meeting, and was adamant about wanting her father to be presence denied again. So I called a meeting, with him, with my daughter included (“protocol” per team, “Cooper Jaguars Coach-Player-Parent Communications” states “As a parent, if you would like to discuss your daughter’s academics, scheduling conflicts, or any area in which the staff can assist in a player’s growth, we strongly encourage you to reach out. If an issue needs to be discussed a parent and the player must both be present.”), I’m not a fan of a “coach” dodging a meeting with parents, bc he wasn’t pregamed with the context of the meeting (duh, the meeting will have the “context” in it). Essentially this guy didn’t want me to hear any of the [redacted] he was gonna feed my daughter, and point it out to her. Bottom line is “if his lips are moving, he’s lying”. He was exercising his privilege and this “superiority complex” that he has, by denying us the meeting that other parents and players have been given without question.

 After requesting a meeting I’m not a fan of a “coach” catching a “sucka attack” (through text), and jumps on the defensive, telling me “Based on my requests and the information you received at the parent meeting, we will not discuss (playing time, team/game strategy or other members of the team) with parents.” The ONE meeting in the 2 seasons that my daughter has been in this program, with him and his staff has never pertained to any of those, only the treatment of my daughter. My girls will earn they’re playing time/role on any team their on. I’m not a fan of people who draw conclusions and make assumptions and dodge issues. His behavior and attitude is that of being cowardly amongst men, and a “mean girl”/bully of teenage girls.

Shame on Cooper High AD for co-signing the lies about the “fabricated, custom, unspoken criteria”, and even doubling down on the lies after I presented him with the proof that I know they’re lies. Trying to smooth over lies with semantics is crazy to me. I MAY look slow, but I’m not. Newsflash…you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. After telling the AD and the “coach”, via text, that my daughter was “intimidated”, by the “coach” there was no suggestion of meeting with a parent/player and “coaches” and/or AD meeting. This guy was still was still pressing this meeting with my daughter and the same person she’s intimidated by. Not on my watch. I will ALWAYS put my best foot forward to protect my girl’s mental, emotional and physical health.

This so much more than this. This has been two years of lies, coverups, discrimination, etc. My daughter busted her [redacted] for the Cooper High School program for two seasons. In 8th grade starting freshman, and getting a lot of time on the regional champion jv team. 9th grade starting jv (‘23-‘24 Regional Runner-ups) AND starting freshman (‘23-‘24 Regional Champs)…playing two full games (no other kid in the program was playing two full games a night) on nights when both teams played. Doing two-a-days (freshman and JV/varsity practices) for an entire season. This kid thought two-a-days and two full games a night were normal. One of the top producers on both teams. Only to be lied to, and talked about by the “coach”.

I didn’t tell her anything about what was going on initially, bc I didn’t want to distract her, or have her be as disrespectful to the staff as they were to her. After a meeting with her “coaches” I realized that this wasn’t a good situation. I decided to tell her how she was being treated during the season, and how that wasn’t “normal”. The only reason she wanted to play at Cooper was bc she wanted to play with friends. But when your kid tells you that a coach or staff are making her hate the game it’s time to go.

After meeting with the Principal (Cooper High School Principal) for about 30mins, he completely ignored my concerns about how my daughter was being mischaracterized by a member of administration, mischaracterized and mistreated by the “coach”. Also how the AD supported the lies that were told to me. The principal even sent me an email response in my follow up with him, he “copied and pasted” a new version of one of the lies from the AD (further incriminating himself) using different wording, and further goes to my claim of discrimination. After I established with the principal via email, essentially, that I’m not stupid, and his lack of action were disappointing, I never heard from him again.

The the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion “investigator” for Boone Co Board of Education, who is caucasian, made a mockery of my claims of “Discrimination, lies, and mischaracterization of minorities” against the “coach”, AD, and Principal. She should be ashamed of herself for the “cover up”. Took her 42 days to complete the 30 day, per Boone Co “guidelines”,“investigation” (if that’s what she wants to call it). What’s sketchy is on Day 39 she sent me an email saying “Due to unforeseen circumstances and situations that were out of my control, I do not anticipate the report to be finalized until Thursday.” So After this email on day 39, it left me wondering what were the “unforeseen circumstances and situations that were out of my [her] control” Then she sent a bogus filled report that was completely contradictory from what she was telling me about my claims being serious. After providing her with text, emails, audio, and video supporting my claims, and her “finding of facts” was riddled with opinions and things that never happened. None of my claims were addressed in her “finding of facts”. It was as though they filed a claim against me.

When I submitted the response to the DEI “investigator’s” “finding of facts” (per the 10 days I had to respond) to the (at the time) “superintendent of (Boone Co) schools”, who had 10 days to respond, responded on day 13 of the 10 days he was allotted to review and respond, only AFTER I reached out on that 13th day via email, was when he responded with a letter through “snail mail”, dated that 13th day, agreeing with the DEI “Investigator”. Either he NEVER reviewed any of the documentation provided or just didn’t care.

 For “sweeping my claims under the rug”, my thoughts are, [redacted]…the “coach”, AD, Principal, DEI “Investigator”, and former superintendent don’t “CARE about black people (minorities)”…our concerns…how our kids are treated...don’t care to understand how to communicate with our kids…our kids experiences…etc. They live in a privileged world. This is the “Good Ol’ Boy Network” personified. EVERYBODY listed is part of the problem, definitely not the solution. As a minority, and a parent of a minority child, nobody heard us, nor did they care to hear us.

People who know me, or who have seen me at games know I don’t heckle officials, the other teams, I don’t talk to the our teams “coaches”, I only come support to our team, and I go home. For the “coach” to lie to me wasn’t necessary. I was never a “threat” to him personally, his team, his staff, etc. Well…they got the right one. I’m a present father of girls, and I will defend their rights to be treated equally and OUR name.

Bc I’m a “large” male, with an intimidating stature to some I feel the need to DOCUMENT interactions, so none of my actions or words can be misconstrued. That includes the individuals listed in this post. The scary part about it is these people are texting and emailing with such confidence, bc there have been no consequences to their actions.

Stay tuned…my claims of mistreatment of myself and my daughter have been well documented and will be presented…

Wow. Sorry to read about your daughter's situation. Everything about it is wrong. Not sure how those people are able to act that way and get away with it. Discrimination and Lying are WRONG!!! I trust that this situation can be resolved in the very near future and your daughter can play the game and enjoy it with her teammates.

Sounds about right. Everyone in the 9th region can smell what the rocks cooking. 

On 3/7/2025 at 8:47 AM, Zeleke3 said:

Wow. Sorry to read about your daughter's situation. Everything about it is wrong. Not sure how those people are able to act that way and get away with it. Discrimination and Lying are WRONG!!! I trust that this situation can be resolved in the very near future and your daughter can play the game and enjoy it with her teammates.

And yet you have heard one side of the story from a parent who has a singular focus and goal ..his daughter. Fine .. I get it. But ... are you 100% sure? (or even 1% sure)

How you read that and automatically believed the parent ..(who just like another parent there) I will never know ..especially when the coach is pretty well respected.

And let me say this ... you have one person who makes a bunch of videos ...where this person was all about blowing the lid off things ...similar to what this parent did ... and you don't even say "I wonder what the coaches side is?"

I find it pretty doggone interesting that patents feel the need to run to the internet and get their side of the story out there .. you know ... to "support their kids".... when the reality is the kids are handling the situation significantly better than their parents .. makes me wonder why the parent doesn't say "I am proud of you for working through a tough time ...this is real life and as you get older  this is going to happen A LOT ... and there will be nothing I can do in those situations"

Know why it doesn't happen like that? Because 99 times out of a 100 .. its Mommy and Daddy's ego that is hurt ...not so much the kid.

Mr. Bigshot moneybags from a month or so literally talked about himself for 21 out of 27 minutes ...yet there were a ton of people right there encouraging that trainwreck. It wasn't about the kid (who to this day I have not heard one cross thing about him ...Moneybags...ha ha yeah ...yeah different story)

Anybody actually think that those people are doing the right thing for their kids by making it about themself? 

Funny how every coach mentioned has been extremely successful there ...yet some how a few people air their dirty laundry in public without hearing both sides ... and we automatically believe the adult with their feelings hurt. If they were truly concerned about their kids instead of their self they would make it a teaching moment and not make it worse by making a spectacle of their self in public (because that is what it really is)

27 minutes ago, gbballfan21 said:

Mr. Bigshot moneybags from a month or so literally talked about himself for 21 out of 27 minutes 

Mr Bigshot Moneybags has such an amazing accent, I can't help but watch them.  

Justin Holthaus is an amazing person and Coach and I'm going to be believe that until I see it proven otherwise.  

Same for Tim Sullivan.  

2 hours ago, The Double Deuce said:

Mr Bigshot Moneybags has such an amazing accent, I can't help but watch them.  

Justin Holthaus is an amazing person and Coach and I'm going to be believe that until I see it proven otherwise.  

Same for Tim Sullivan.  

Exactly .. someone gets it (obviously a lot of people do)

Coaches accept this stuff when they begin coaching ... they keep their mouths shut when people are spreading lies and intentionally trying to push them out ... purely for the benefit of the players that they are responsible for and for the programs/schools they represent.

If they were as bad as these internet tough guys try to portray ...they would fight fire with fire.

Instead .. they take it ...while their wives/husbands and families have to sit back and watch selfish,  ego-driven maniacs try to destroy people they care about. They do it knowing this. 

We have to start standing up for the right values again. Portraying ones self as an internet tough guy under the disguise for "fighting for their kids" wreaks of a third string bench warmer holding a grudge from 30 years ago. Great to see people standing up for Sully.

If Cooper wins regional title, is Cooper admins forced to bring him back? 

 

If not, where does Sully go next?