In bizarre incident, coach allegedly “humps” player yet may avoid punishment
A bizarre case is unfolding in Elida, Ohio, where the mother of a football player is demanding that the school superintendent and three board members resign because of their refusal to act on what she deems -- and rightfully so, if the allegations are true -- to be wildly inappropriate actions by the local football coach. Meanwhile, the implicated coach refuses he did anything wrong at all, all while other parents have come forward claiming that their children verified that the incident occurred.
As reported by the Lima News, Kimbra Maag is upset about the actions taken against her son, Brandon Maag, by Elida football coach Jason Carpenter, who is pictured above. There's good reason behind that discontent: While the younger Maag was stretching face down in the school's weight room in March, 2011, Carpenter reportedly walked over, straddled him, began to have mock intercourse with him while he was on the floor and asked if, "this is what big Bubba did" to Maag in the juvenile detention center.
Prep Rally was first made aware of the incident by the father of another Elida football player, who confirmed in an email that the incident had occurred, despite the insistence of both Carpenter and the town's Sheriff's and Prosecutor's Office that a criminal act had not taken place. That parent also claims that Kimbra Maag's initial inquiries into the event were pushed aside and intentionally "hushed up" while Elida was still alive in the 2011 state playoffs.
"The boys mother has filed a charge against the head coach Jason Carpenter, only to be discouraged by authorities and school officials as Elida [was] in the state playoffs," the unnamed concerned Elida parent wrote to Prep Rally in an email.
The reference to the juvenile center came from a sentence handed to Maag in relation to a November 2010 incident in which the high school junior and three other Elida students robbed a pizza deliveryman of his food with an airsoft gun. No cash was taken during the robbery, and all four were sentenced to time in what the News called "a local treatment facility." Maag was also forced to sit out from all varsity athletics for an entire year, but was allowed to lift weights with his teammates and be involved in other social team activities.
According to the News, the elder Maag was first alerted to the incident in October and immediately brought a claim against the coach to the Allen County Sheriff's Office and Lima Prosecutor's Office. Yet the Sheriff's Office could not gain substantial proof in interviews with Maag and Carpenter to validate the full extent of the incident, and thus refused to move forward with any legal charges related to it.
Still, the Maags insist that Carpenter's humping actions were wildly inappropriate and that the coach is in need of official punishment for the weight room humping and prior indiscretions. Among them was Carpenter's response to an earlier apologetic text from Brandon Maag himself. When the junior apologized for his involvement in the robbery, the coach reportedly sent him a text response that read, "Way to f--- up the football program."
"I am absolutely appalled that Elida schools has accepted this type of behavior from their staff," Kimbra Maag told a Tuesday Elida school board meeting. "I feel by [Superintendent Don Diglia] and the current board members, with the exception of Brian Anders and Brad Settlage, not acting on this is the same as condoning such acts and in doing so sets a bad example for the students and staff they represent."
Meanwhile, Carpenter continues to steadfastly refuse the incident took place at all, a claim which flies in the face of both what Maag and other Elida football parents were told happened by their children who were also in the weight room that day.
"None of it is true," Carpenter told the News. "I think this is her way of being upset with me that her son could not play at Elida this year.
"It saddens me that as much as we care for Brandon that this is coming up."
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