Utah high school football coach fired after angry voicemail left for player
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Josh Furlong, KSL.com
CLEARFIELD (KSL.com) — First-year head football coach Don Eck has been fired from Clearfield High following an investigation into an angry voicemail he allegedly left for one of his players.
Eck, who also was a physical education teacher at the school, was fired Tuesday afternoon, according to the Davis School District. He had been placed on administrative leave on Oct. 25 until the district was able to conduct an investigation.
“The district then investigated the situation and concluded that disciplinary action was needed,” the district said in a statement. “The district does not condone such behavior from any of its employees.”
The incident, which was first reported by the Standard-Examiner on Monday, stems from one of Eck’s football players who quit the team ahead of a playoff game. Eck is accused of leaving a voicemail for the player in late October where he angrily chastised the player for leaving the team.
The full voicemail was originally posted to the Clearfield High football Facebook page before it was deleted. The Standard-Examiner said the voicemail started with an individual identifying himself as “coach Eck.”
“Hey, give me a call when you can. I want to meet with your parents, man, ’cause I keep hearing your mom’s putting all sorts of (expletive) on social media talking (expletive) about the coaches here and I’m gonna put a stop to that, bro,” the voicemail said, according to the Ogden-based newspaper. “What they let you do, quitting on your teammates, is the most selfish thing I’ve seen in all my years of athletics, and I’ve been around a lot of players.
“But by them letting you (expletive) quit on your teammates and go into this game shorthanded like we did is the most despicable thing I’ve ever seen in all my years of coaching, and I want to let both your parents know that and I want to tell them face to face, so call me back so I can set up a meeting with your parents. Thanks, bye.”
The voicemail was shared with school administrators and Eck was placed on administrative leave.