A Montana high school football coach was fired after reports that one of his players was hospitalized following a boxing match that took place at a leadership camp.
The Billings Gazette reports that Park High School football coach Bruce Knerr was terminated, effective immediately, after a unanimous vote from the Livingston Public Schools Board of Trustees.
The boxing incident at the Aug. 11 “leadership camp” led to one student being sent to the hospital in need of reconstructive surgery on his skull.
Video, offered below, appears to show Knerr in a school gym, watching as the boxing matches occurred. Video shows students using small, MMA-style gloves for the boxing matches, as others acted as referees. Parents identified Knerr as the man sitting on the sideline with a plate of food.
Tim Peterson, the injured player’s father said that his son, Austin, suffered five different fractures in his skull, including four to his eye socket and one to his nasal cavity.
“His skull was smashed in a depth of nine millimeters, putting pressure on the brain,” Peterson told the Gazette.
Peterson wrote to the school board, claiming that Austin had previously suffered two concussions and that Knerr was aware of them.
In addition to the boxing fiasco, allegations emerged that Knerr had sent inappropriate text messages to students. The texts were sent to players, and suggested Knerr had a sexual interest in their young girlfriends or mothers.
Knerr said that any texting occurred at times that he could not be considered an employee, since he is not a teacher.
