Coach accused of biting player in face

Published Nov. 19, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

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Sam Gardner

Coaches have increasingly been put under the microscope recently as player abuse has become an especially hot-button issue in the past year. But one recent story out of Mississippi would make even Mike Rice raise an eyebrow.

According to the Jackson Clarion Ledger, a high school girls basketball coach resigned Monday after being accused of biting a player’s face during a game.

According to an assault complaint filed by the father of one of Doyle Wolverton's players at Leake Academy, Wolverton allegedly grabbed his daughter “by the shirt and then bit her on the right side of the face” during the team’s win over Columbia Academy on Nov. 12.

After the game, the parent, Toby Thaggard, took his daughter, whose name was redacted in the report, to the emergency room, where police noticed a “bruised bite mark on the lower right side of her face.”

According to the Clarion Ledger, Wolverton has been at Leake Academy since 1975 and ranks second nationally in high school girls basketball coaching wins. Wolverton entered the 2013 season with an all-time record of 1,245-181 after leading the Rebelettes to the state championship game last season.

“We are saddened by the departure of Coach Wolverton, who has been an integral part of the success of Leake Academy’s girls basketball program,” Leake Academy headmaster Jerry Crowe said in the statement provided to the Clarion Ledger. “However, at this juncture, we have accepted his resignation and are moving forward.”

Thus far, the parents of the player in question have declined to press charges.

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