When Mike Holt was fired as boys' basketball coach at Grundy County last week, it continued a trend of coaching turnover at the school that has been going on for more than two weeks.
Holt was fired after an alleged hazing incident took place on a bus ride home from team camp at Tennessee Tech University.
"As far as I know, the investigation is still going on, so there isn't much I can say right now," said Holt, who had coached the Yellow Jackets for eight seasons. "There's still a lot of speculation right now, but I will say that I did not resign. I was fired."
Holt did confirm that he had told investigators that an upperclassman exposed himself and made contact with a freshman player's face near the back of the bus in what was described as a "cheetah pounce" while on the ride home. Holt said he sits near the front of the bus and did not see the alleged incident. He said he learned of the act the next day at camp when a team statistician informed him.
Holt and team members were later called in by investigators for individual questioning at the coach's office in the gym. The basketball program has been suspended while the investigation is being completed, but Holt added that he plans to continue working within the school system this year.
Repeated attempts to reach Grundy County Principal Rick Rust for comment were also unsuccessful.
Prior to that firing, almost simultaneously Ted Ladd stepped down as athletic director and Leon Woodlee resigned as girls' basketball coach, both after just one year. Ladd will remain on staff as baseball coach. Softball coach Juan Clariday also resigned to take over the baseball program at Macon County.
"Because I was still teach a full load of classes, plus coaching baseball, the AD job was just too much," Ladd said. "As AD, everybody else's problem is yours, and I was spending way too much time out of my class and away from my family dealing with AD issues. About 50-percent of my time was spent on AD jobs and it only accounted for five-percent of my pay, so it just wasn't worth it.
"As for what happened with Coach Holt, everything I know is strictly rumors. If I were still AD, I would've had to be knee deep in it. But thankfully I'm not, so somebody else can deal with that. It's not easy to always know what's going on on a bus full of kids, but as the coach, you have to know what's happening. It's been a long year up here, and now it seems like the whole athletic department is upside down."