Olson still coach at Rock Falls

ROCK FALLS – Scott Olson is still Rock Falls High School varsity basketball coach, Superintendent Jane Eichman said after Tuesday’s school board meeting.

Olson, who is in his second season in Rock Falls and 24th overall as a head coach, was the subject of two closed sessions at the meeting. One lasted nearly an hour before the meeting opened and another lasted 20 minutes before the board adjourned.

During the meeting, parents representing 12 players in the Rocket program accused Olson and assistant coach Dave Northcutt of verbal and emotional abuse and bullying, and of neglecting players on team trips to Bloomington for the State Farm Classic.

Five players supporting Olson were at the meeting. Olson did not attend.

“Whenever there are allegations of verbal, emotional abuse, or bullying, the school board takes it very seriously,” Eichman said. “We are going to continue to investigate this situation. We are going to follow up on things said tonight. We are also going to look with more scrutiny at our policies and how it deals with the conduct of coaches and the treatment of players.”

Eichman said that the board had interviewed 20 parents, 15 players and the three Rock Falls basketball coaches.

At Wednesday’s meeting, each community member was allowed 3 minutes to speak, with a time limit of 30 minutes for the whole discussion.

Josie Anderson is the mother of junior Jace Anderson.

She said Olson stopped varsity practice on several occasions during last season, while Jace was running sprints during sophomore practice, ridiculed him in front of the team for being too slow and said he’d never play varsity being that slow.

Doug Leaf, father of Alex Leaf, said Olson singled out his son after a loss to Marengo on Dec. 10, 2011, and blamed Leaf for the loss.

In all, 15 community members spoke against Olson and the Rock Falls coaching staff.

Among the claims: that coaches did not check bags when the teams stayed in Bloomington at State Farm Classic the last 2 years, and that players were drinking during the trip.

Eichman said there is nothing addressing bag checks in the Rock Falls handbook. When she worked at Quincy, there were bag checks, and it may be time Rock Falls start requiring them for such trips, too, she said.

Brandon Cain, a junior guard, said bags were checked three times at the State Farm Classic.

Cain, Davontay Euell, Tyree White, Austin Babcock and Elijah DeJesus attended the meeting in support of Olson. Euell, Cain and White all spoke in open session.

“I believe coach Olson should be kept,” Euell said. “I’ll agree that some of his tactics are tough to deal with and that he is tough on us.

“I know now that I needed him to be tough. I needed to get tougher in order to be the player that I wanted to be. He has me playing better than I ever have.”

Donnie Chappell, the varsity baseball coach at Rock Falls and father of senior Brett Chappell, said he respected the players for saying what they felt, but there were 12 other players who didn’t attend who think the opposite.

Olson coached the Rockets to a 23-7 record in his first season, which included winning an NCIC title, the 1A/2A title at the State Farm Classic, and a regional title.

The Rockets are 10-9 this season and 2-5 in their first season in the Big Northern West. The team has played the entire season without junior forward Steven Armoska, who is on disciplinary suspension.

Olson was approved by a 4-2 vote on Aug. 18, 2010, after a lengthy school board meeting. He was 51 at the time of his hire.

That night he met strong opposition from community members, led by former Rock Falls’ standout Zach House, who based their argument on a guilty plea for reckless driving in 2008 in LaSalle. Olson was coaching at LaSalle-Peru at the time.

The original charges were for driving under the influence, improper lane usage, no insurance, speeding and improper turning, according to a report by the Ottawa Times.

Olson also has coached at Orion, United Township, Danville and LaSalle-Peru high schools. He teaches in the high school’s alternative program, and is married with three children.