A Cody High School girls’ basketball coach told Cowboy State Daily that he denies accusations of sexual harassment against him, which he said are motivated by parents who want him ousted from the team.
Sam Buck is the subject of two Title IX investigations stemming from his interactions with athletes on the basketball team and a student in his special education classroom.
Buck said school administrators told him that multiple parents and staff had come forward with concerns he had inappropriate interactions with several of the female students via text and in person interactions.
When faced with the allegations, Buck made a rare decision to have a formal termination hearing to allow the story to be heard by the public.
“I have zero to hide throughout this whole thing,” he said of his decision to make the hearing public. “I have zero to hide.”
Vernon Orndorff, superintendent of Park County School District 6, told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday email that the school would follow all applicable laws throughout the hearing process, but could not release specific details.
“Park County School District 6 will always follow federal and state law, the Department of Education rules and regulations, and school board policies, rules, and regulations,” he wrote. “Park 6 remains steadfast in our commitment to placing the safety and well-being of the PCSD 6 students, faculty, and staff at the forefront of all we do.
"Park 6 will continue to uphold that commitment in every decision we make."
He declined to connect Cowboy State Daily regarding any accusers or present the investigative reports on the accusations, citing confidentiality laws.
A secretary in Orndorff’s office said the school did not have public records from Buck’s termination hearing as they were still being prepared by the hearing officer.
Cowboy State Daily could not contact any of the alleged victims or their parents.
Park County School District 6 administrators say Buck engaged in misconduct, including exchanging 1,300 texts to student-athletes from his personal device throughout the day and in the evenings, the Powell Tribune reported.
An internal investigation concluded that Buck gave a student shoulder rubs and made comments on her clothing.
The school district's attorney, Alexandria Zafonte, called Buck's actions "unsettling."
Allegations
Buck told Cowboy State Daily he was involved in coaching girls’ basketball from early middle school to high school at the district for several years and believed he was well-liked.
He described having good relationships with each of his players and their parents.
“I had great rapport with these kids, great rapport with their parents, the relationship couldn't have been better, and I couldn’t have been more well-liked,” he said.
The situation changed after Buck married his wife Nicole, who was head coach of the high school volleyball team, he said. Parents of players in that program were dissatisfied with Nicole’s coaching and wanted to force her out, he claimed.
“There was a parent who called my wife and said that her daughter was being bullied by another one of the girls,” he said. “To kind of head that off, she just met with that group and sat him down and was really just trying to help them work through this and not turn it into a big issue.”
“Well, from that, it turned into a big issue,” he added. “And then some of those parents decided to go after her and kind of pressure her, you know, in wanting her out. And so at the time, at that point in time, she was like, 'I, you know, I love coaching, I love volleyball, but I don't really want to do this. This isn't what I didn't sign up for this.' So she just chose to resign.”
Buck said that incident sparked tension within his own team.
Despite trying to keep things professional with his athletes, he said he was made into “the devil.”
School officials later approached Buck saying they had received concerns from parents and staff members about his alleged conduct with several female athletes and a student. Their concerns ranged from late night text messages to players, to inappropriate touching.
Buck said some of those allegations have been “debunked,” but argued school officials have already made up their minds.
“To me, it's been a witch hunt,” he said. “They just pick and choose the different people they wanted to interview and get information from and most of them were these parents who had a kind of a vendetta out against me.”
Hearing
Buck said that this led to his decision to call for a public termination hearing. He also said he made such a move to allow his wife and parents to be present during the proceedings.
That three-day hearing happened in mid-October and a hearing officer is now expected to release findings this month. After a response period, school officials have 30 days to decide whether to dismiss Buck over the allegations.
While this process could stretch into January, Buck said he expects a decision much sooner.
“I personally feel like they've already made up their decision,” he said. “They just want something that they can use to support it. But I don't think it's going to be later. I would think it's maybe sooner, and maybe that's just me personally bracing for whatever happens.”
Buck argued he is the victim of a flawed Title IX investigation process, which sees school district officials repeatedly work with the same third-party investigator.
“It's just basically like any other person you're using as a paid employee, when you're using them with such regularity, which we just find interesting,” he said. “The investigator and the decision maker just happened to come from the same town as their attorney, the school's representation, and so we just find it like maybe that's just a coincidence and it's absolutely nothing.
“Maybe having the same person over and over or with regularity is normal practice for school districts, but it's just, at least on my side from where I'm sitting, I just find it a little bit odd. There's just so many things that to it that are, are more than eyebrow-raising, I think."
Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.
