Ex-coach apologizes for offensive email

Northmont officials started probe after anonymous tip.

The former head football coach for Northmont High School said frustration with the school's football program prompted him to write an email to assistant coaches that referred to his student players in offensive language.

This newspaper obtained the email, dated May 20, 2014, late Thursday night as part of its public records request filed with Northmont City Schools. The email was included in some documents associated with an internal investigation conducted by the district.

“I was frustrated at how the program was progressing, and wanted the coaches to get a grasp of who needed extra guidance to get them onboard with what needed to be done for us to have success,” said Lance Schneider in a statement that was released to this newspaper on Friday.

The three-month long investigation resulted in Schneider announcing his resignation as head football coach and as a high school physical education teacher. Schneider’s May 19 resignation letter stated that his resignation was effective yesterday .

His teaching salary was $70,188 and his head coaching salary was $7,867.

Tony Broering was promoted to Northmont’s interim head coach this spring, but School Superintendent Sarah Zatik said the position would be advertised in January.

Zatik and other district officials received a statement dated March 6 of this year from an anonymous writer who also shared Schneider’s May 20, 2014, email with them.

The anonymous writer told the school officials, “As a dedicated coach and educator in this school district, I found Mr. Schneider’s emails to be inappropriate as well as insulting.”

Schneider’s email included his player evaluation notes where he grouped his student players in categories that included the headings “Defiant/Disinterested kids, Too absent to count on, Zeroes for both attendance periods (DO NOT Count on Me)” and other headings that included offensive language.

Schneider stated in the May 20, 2014, email that he had been compiling these observations throughout the second semester off-season.

Schneider referred to the players listed under Defiant/Disinterested kids as being “cancerous tumors whom need to be eradicated for us to have any chance at success…”

Schneider criticized the players under a “too soft” category by stating, “these kids ALWAYS have an injury and use it as an excuse as long as they possibly can.”

Schneider said of one player, “Weak, unathletic and unreliable are no way to go through life son. At least be fat, drunk, and stupid, it would be more fun.” He then goes on to state that this player came from the same family tree as Side Show Bob, “which immediately places him in the ‘can’t play’ category.”

Schneider said that the drills of two players reminded him of “pre-pubescent girls having a pillow fight at a slumber party.”

The former coach also called a parent a name.

When asked by this newspaper what Schneider did wrong, Zatik said, “This is a personnel matter and the district is satisfied with the resolution and is moving on.”

Schneider said Friday that what he wrote was wrong.

“I made a mistake in judgment in a light-hearted and greatly exaggerated evaluation given exclusively to my coaching staff. The email was never intended for public dissemination and absolutely not intended for the athletes,” Schneider said.

Schneider went on to apologize to the Northmont community for not upholding the values of the school district.

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