LISBON, Maine (WMTW) – The Lisbon School Department has decided not to renew the contract of Lisbon High School’s head football coach after hazing allegations disrupted the 2024 season.
Superintendent of Schools Richard Green told our media partner, WMTW, he notified Chris Kates that he would no longer be the head coach of the Lisbon High football team last week.
Green informed parents of players of the decision to move on from Kates via email on Jan. 8. In that email, the superintendent explained that he and the athletic director met with Kates in December to discuss his employment following the school’s investigation into the hazing claims.
“The conversation outlined our concerns, expectations and goals for the football program moving forward,” Green said in his email. “It was through this conversation that it was clear that in order to change and address the negative concerns related to the culture of the program that we need to move in a different direction.”
Some parents expressed their support for Kates during a Lisbon School Committee meeting on Monday. Those parents also expressed frustration toward Green for how the matter was handled.
“Coach Kates earned his respect due to his actions, which always put the players and the team first. In a nutshell, the culture of the Lisbon High School football team was community-oriented, community-supported and player-focused,” Lisbon resident Jesse Walling said during the meeting. “Lisbon lost a coach who genuinely cared about his job, his coworkers and the kids he was entrusted with.”
On Oct. 4, 2024, all football-related activities were suspended due to a hazing investigation, which resulted in the team forfeiting its final four games of the season.
The Lisbon School Department hired Portland-based law firm Drummond Woodsum to investigate a hazing incident at the high school that involved football players. Following its investigation, Drummond Woodsum concluded that a “culture of hazing and roughhousing” existed within the Lisbon High football team.
Drummond Woodsum’s report stated that some players, primarily underclassmen, were trapped with a cage door by upperclassmen, and some were poked with a broom handle by upperclassmen. According to the law firm, it was clear that this activity was not new to this year’s football team. Drummond Woodsum also found that players whipped each other with leather belts in the locker room in a manner that left a mark on at least one freshman, according to the report. In addition, the law firm said it found that a freshman student was put headfirst into a trash can by a junior.
Meanwhile, the Lisbon Police Department launched an investigation into a separate hazing incident that also involved Lisbon High School football players. The case was eventually submitted to the Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office, which ultimately decided not to pursue criminal charges.
Kates was hired as Lisbon High’s head football coach in March 2017. Maine’s Total Coverage contacted Kates with a request for comment, but has not yet received a reply.
The Lisbon High School football team faces a two-year ban from competing at the varsity level as a result of forfeiting the remainder of its season. According to Appendix Z of the Maine Principals’ Association Handbook, a school that submits a game schedule in Heal Point or Crabtree sports for a specific sport and does not complete that schedule “will be prohibited from participating in varsity competition leading to postseason play in that sport for the following two years after that season.”
Green said Lisbon High School will appeal the ban by requesting a waiver from the MPA Interscholastic Management Committee for extenuating circumstances. The superintendent said school officials are scheduled to make a presentation on March 20.
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