The Jefferson County School District will not renew the contracts of three longtime coaches at Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, saying they had violated district policies about the payment of coaches salaries.
According to district spokesman Rick Kaufman, boys track and football coach Don McGatlin, softball and boys basketball coach Bruce Dick and wrestling coach Jim Opperman will no longer be employed as coaches, although Dick will continue to teach physical education at the school.
Kaufman said Opperman has been relieved of his duties as assistant principal and athletic director and has been placed on paid administrative leave while the district investigates unprofessional conduct.
McGatlin retired from teaching in 2004.
The decision came Thursday after a meeting with community superintendent Ken Robke.
Kaufman gave few details about the incident, but said the district reported the infraction to the Colorado High School Activities Association. He expects the school to receive disciplinary sanctions, which at the least would be a letter of reprimand.
According to CHSAA commissioner Bill Reader, an assistant girls track coach at Green Mountain was not under contract through the school district, and the source of pay for that coach came from outside district channels. For liability reasons, CHSAA requires all coaches – volunteer and paid – to fill out paperwork with their respective school district.
McGatlin and Dick said they were shocked and confused by the ruling and will appeal to Jeffco superintendent Cindy Stevenson.
“We did not do anything wrong, to our knowledge,” Dick said.
Dick said he became an assistant track coach with the belief he would give a portion of the money he received for coaching to the assistant coach in question. Dick said when he received his first check the split had not occurred, so he gave some of his money to McGatlin to pay the assistant coach.
“I thought I was doing an honorable thing by giving the money to Don,” Dick said.
McGatlin said he passed the money along to the assistant, unaware the proper paperwork had not been filled out. McGatlin said he did nothing in secret.
“There’s a lot of gray area,” McGatlin said. “No one told me it was wrong.”
Opperman declined to comment Wednesday and did not return a message left at his home Thursday.
The Green Mountain boys track team won the Jeffco League this year, and McGatlin was named league coach of the year. McGatlin has coached 32 years in Jeffco, 23 as head football coach at Green Mountain, where he led the Rams to Class 4A titles in 1995 and 1999.
Dick has coached boys basketball at Green Mountain for 24 seasons and guided the Rams to a 1992 state title and second-place finishes in 1991 and 1994.
