Former Roseville Coach Wins Defamation Suit

[WHAFightingSaints]

From the Star Tribune

http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/294596561.html



A former Roseville boys’ hockey coach, who resigned amid allegations he mistreated players, recently settled a lawsuit with a parent whose accusations led to his downfall.

The ex-coach, Jeff Pauletti, sued Felicia Busch in September 2013 for making what he claimed were defamatory statements about him after one of her sons was cut from his team, according to Ramsey District Court records.

The out-of-court settlement, reached last year, required Busch to sign a “correction statement” in which she said her previous statements about Pauletti were “not accurate.” Pauletti recently sent the statement to sports media outlets around the Twin Cities.

Such lawsuits are unusual, but more have surfaced since a law was passed in May 2013 to protect coaches from being dismissed solely because of parental influence, according to Rep. Dean Urdahl, who proposed the measure. Moreover, the Minnesota High School Hockey Coaches Association is now instructing coaches to seek legal counsel if they feel pressured by parents.

“The role of parents in the dismissal of coaches became more and more apparent to me,” Urdahl said. “The concerns of a parent should be part of the analysis of whether or not a coach should be kept or dismissed, but that should be in connection with other factors and not be the sole factor.”

Busch’s attorney, Christopher Heinze, and Pauletti’s attorney, Patrick Tierney, declined to comment on the case’s specifics, citing a non-disclosure clause in the settlement. Tierney confirmed the correction statement Pauletti sent to the media is authentic.

“I made statements about Jeff Pauletti that I felt were accurate but that I now understand were not accurate. I now acquiesce in the fact that neither Jeff Pauletti nor his business, Top Shelf Athletics, engaged in unethical, fraudulent, or illegal financial transactions with the school districts, sport teams, or booster club,” Busch said in the statement. “My statement that he engaged in extreme verbal and psychological abuse of players and physical acts of violent aggression and intimidation toward players was not accurate.”

A few months after Pauletti resigned, his store went out of business. Pauletti said he now works for a local franchisee covering “a territory in the eastern United States.”

Mike MacMillan, executive director of the coaches association, said he never bought into the allegations.

“I thought [Pauletti’s resignation] was completely unjust at the time and, you know, the end result showed that. There’s been a retraction and it’s sad that it had to come to that, but I think Jeff made the right decision,” MacMillan said. “Coaches need to get on the offense if parents are going to be that way.”

MacMillan, who testified in favor of Urdahl’s bill, said Pauletti’s case shows why the law passed. Urdahl said attorneys in cases involving other high school coaches and parents have reached out to him in recent months to learn more about the law.

“Had we done the law or not, I think there would have been some lawsuits,” Urdahl said. “They may have just used different reasons to bring them forward.”

Other recent instances in Minnesota similar to Pauletti’s prompted Urdahl to propose the bill.

According to MacMillan, Monticello-Annandale-Maple Lake’s Sheldon Weston was “forced out” in 2009-10. He noted Lakeville North let longtime coach Randy Schmitz go in 2011. Tony Sarsland resigned at Elk River in 2012 after allegations surfaced that he was abusive to players.

Coaches in other sports feel pressure, too. Former St. Louis Park girls’ basketball coach Tim Sension resigned last March after parent complaints.

“It’s all over the place. You know what, let the kids play, let the coaches coach and parents be parents and everybody would be fine,” MacMillan said. “But because of the undue pressures I think parents feel, it’s harder and harder for them to do that.”

After seeing the outcome of Pauletti’s case, the coaches association is advising coaches who feel pressured by parents to seek legal counsel moving forward.

“Coaches have to be a little more on the offensive than the defensive and it’s not good it’s come to that point,” MacMillan said. “Coaches need to protect themselves, too. I think far too often they haven’t and they need to and Jeff’s case is an example of that.”



Jack Satzinger is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Star Tribune.

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