Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 10, 1993 TAG: 9302100287
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHLANDS LENGTH: Long
RICHLANDS SHOCKED, SPLIT OVER COACH'S `RAW DEAL'
The agony of a proud little town spilled onto the lawns of Richlands High School as hundreds of students and other citizens congregated Tuesday to protest the suspension of Dennis Vaught as football coach.The suspension was issued Monday by the Tazewell County School Board in the wake of Vaught'spublic admission that his team had worn illegal cleats in a state Group AA Division 4 victory over Salem in December.
"Every day that this suspension is not lifted, we are going to continue to be out here," senior Melanie Smith said.
Joyce Mullins, one of the parents and other adults on hand, added that she supported the walkout. "We got a raw deal. I'm late for. work now and I'm leaving, but if these kids are out here tomorrow, then I will be, too."
Reaction was hostile Monday night at Tazewell High School, where a public hearing was held before the School Board. The crowd was much too large for the board's normal afternoon session, held in a stately converted mansion that includes the county school administration offices.
Despite strong support for Vaught from a crowd estimated at 500, the board voted 4-1 to suspend him as a coach, effective immediately, through the 1993-94 school year. He will retain his job as an economics teacher at the high school.
"We have not told him that he will never coach in this county again," said School Board Chairman Phillip Hearl, one of two board members from Richlands. "I think it is likely that he will have a chance to coach here again."
Friends and team members said Vaught, who declined to answer questions from the media, intends to serve his suspension, then attempt to come back.
"He told me today that he wanted to stick it out," Richlands businessman Gene Hurst said. "I hope he does."
That will depend on the board, which approves coaching contracts. Member B.L. Susman, a Tazewell optometrist, was the lone dissenting member in Monday night's vote.
"The penalty wasn't severe enough," he said. "He ought to be fired. Somebody who cheats and lies is not a good role model for students."
The attitude among many who supported Vaught was summed up by Diane Breedlove of Richlands:
"He didn't murder anybody," she said. "He made a mistake. We all make mistakes."
Others were not so lenient.
"The coach knew what he had done and he must take responsibility," said Carolyn Mitchell, whose son is a senior at Richlands High. "What he did was not fair to the other teams. What he did was wrong. He has to pay the penalty, like any of the rest of us must pay a penalty if we do wrong."
"I feel for the Vaughts, his wife [Ann] and their children," said Mary Culbertson, a member of the Richlands Class of 1983. "Everybody has a right to make mistakes. But I believe that for our educators, there is an obligation to be more morally correct."
Susman said Vaught had been offered a chance to speak to the crowd Monday in order to say he accepted the decision so the community could start pulling back together again. Vaught declined, Susman said.
"Does that indicate to you his remorse?" Susman said.
After being accused by Salem of using illegal cleats on a muddy field for the Blue Tornadoes' 17-7 victory in December, Vaught denied the charges. Richlands went on to win its first state football title and finished with a 14-0 record.
Then, shortly before the schools were supposed to appear before the Virginia High School League for a January hearing in Charlottesville, Vaught came clean in a letter to Richlands Principal Brenda Lawson.
Vaught said in the letter that he and his assistant coaches believed that Salem also was wearing illegal cleats. Salem has denied those charges.
Vaught's letter was subsequently presented to the VHSL, which hit Richlands with a strong probation. The school will not be allowed to defend its title next year but was allowed to retain this year's championship.
"We knew when he went public that he'd be ruined," Vaught's wife, Ann, said as she awaited Monday night's decision. "But we also knew that he had to tell his principal and the superintendent [Woodrow Mullins] the truth. We knew that he could not ask his players to lie for him.
"He made a lot of mistakes. By covering up one of the mistakes was wrong. But we all do wrong. It takes a lot of strength to come forward and admit you were wrong, facing the total destruction of your career."
Few seemed to think that Vaught should not be punished at all, but there were many who thought the sentence was too severe.
"I think the whole thing was handled poorly," said John Breedlove, a Richlands businessman and a friend of Vaught's. "Woodrow Mullins should have made a recommendation to the board, and it should have gone into executive session and made its decision. Then we would have avoided this circus."
After hearing more than an hour of Vaught testimonials Monday, the board convened behind closed doors for nearly 3 1/2 hours.
There were many questions about what the post-Vaught era would be like. Principal Lawson will select an interim coach. She declined comment Tuesday.
The idea of an interim coach was troubling to many.
"Who would want to take over under those circumstances?" Hurst said. "You could have two scenarios. One, the new guy comes in and goes 10-0. Then you have all these divided loyalties. Could Dennis have done as well? Or, the guy comes in and goes 2-8. These people would want to hang his danged hide."
Breedlove said he knew of "nobody in Richlands that is capable of running that team and commanding the respect that Dennis does."
Pain and bitterness was apparent across generational lines. There were strong sentiments against members of the media, including the Roanoke Times & World-News. Many said the newspaper was conducting a personal vendetta against Vaught, who had been fired at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke for uttering a racial epithet.
Orange County, the loser of the state championship game at Richlands, formally accused Richlands' fans of using racist taunts during the game.
Lawson acted swiftly in the wake of those charges, saying that offenders would be told immediately to leave and that they would not be welcome at high school activities again.
Still, many Richlands people were bothered that the entire town, which is mostly if not entirely white, had been portrayed as a bigoted enclave.
Coy Richardson, a speaker at Monday's public hearing, told of serving with the forces that ushered James Meredith to classes at the University of Mississippi, in the desegregation of that institution in the 1960s.
"I am not a racist; I don't think our community is racist; and I don't think our school is racist," he said.
Many others said they had been deeply hurt by the names - "racist, bigots, hillbillies" - they were called and the manner in which they had been treated by others when they left town.
"All we have is the reputation of cheaters," said Christi Sluss, a junior at the high school. "Everything has been ruined. . . . It's like the dumb jokes people tell about West Virginia. Now people are telling them about Richlands."
During the demonstration at the school Tuesday, Vaught was among those who several times came out and urged students back to class. Nevertheless, many students loitered around the school in the warm sunshine and up and down the street for most of the day.
"If they don't lift the suspension on coach Vaught, then we're just going to be out here tomorrow," student Ryder Richardson said. "We'll just play football right out here in the grass.
"And we'll wear illegal cleats."