Policy breach prompts exodus of coaches at Crocus Plains

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This article was published 02/11/2022 (1249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local high school fielded football coaches who hadn’t completed Brandon School Division-mandated background checks this season, a Sun investigation has revealed.

Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School principal Chad Cobbe confirmed to the Sun on Oct. 20 that the school became aware of the issue after its first Winnipeg High School Football League home game on Sept. 9.

Concerns were raised about the behaviour and coaching style of some community coaches, including offensive co-ordinator Frank Devine. That included a controversial halftime speech made by Devine while the Plainsmen trailed 40-14 against John Taylor.

Crocus Plains subsequently called a parents’ meeting for the Sunday after the season opener, which the Plainsmen ultimately lost 49-14.

Following the meeting, seven coaches were either removed or chose to step away from the team, including head coach Clint Howie, who told the Sun via text message that he had quit for health reasons. The school initially stated that all the coaches chose to step down, which frustrated some of those who had no intentions to leave.

Brandon School Division requires all coaches to complete their criminal record check, child abuse registry check and as of the 2022-23 academic year, Respect in Sport course.

“Following the September 9th game, the school became aware that not all coaches at the time were in compliance with these requirements, and addressed it,” Cobbe told the Sun via email on Oct. 20.

Cobbe added the school was “made aware of additional parental concerns” afterward. The Sun since learned Devine was text messaging with athletes one-on-one — with permission of the athletes’ parents, he said. Sport Manitoba’s “Pathway to Safer Sport” advises against one-on-one contact — digital or in person — between coaches and athletes.

The community coaches initially thought they would be included at the meeting, then were told it was limited to coaches who teach at Crocus Plains.

During that week, after defensive co-ordinator Mason Kaluzniak was promoted to head coach, the Plainsmen lost to the host Kelvin Clippers on Sept. 15.

The next day, Cobbe told the Sun “There were several community coaches that stepped away for personal reasons.”

Since then, some of the former coaches came forward to the Sun.

“That was a slap in the face to us, what the school said,” said Zack Hardman, who joined the team to work with defensive backs during the summer.

He found out he was done at practice on Sept. 12.

“I was escorted to the clubhouse and told I’m not allowed to make eye contact with any of the kids, not allowed to talk to the kids. I pretty much have to keep my head down, grab my stuff and leave,” Hardman said. “I was never given a proper reason, and honestly, it kind of broke my heart, because I spent all summer with those kids and built a personal connection with a lot of those kids.

“I’ve had kids reach out to me, which I’m not sure I’m even allowed to talk to them about. Their mental health and physical well-being has always been my first priority, and I wish I could have explained to them that we’re not just leaving you, this isn’t our choice.”

Hardman played football in Brandon for 14 years and aged out of junior ball this year but wanted to stay involved and give back. He said he was “in the process” of completing his background checks.

There was a stronger emphasis on the record checks this year, in the wake of Vincent Massey Collegiate (Winnipeg) football coach Kelsey McKay’s arrest in April. McKay was charged with 30 offences against nine of his former players, including sexual assault, luring and sexual interference. The incidents allegedly occurred between 2004 and 2011 when he was at Churchill High School and then VMC.

Devine saw the writing on the virtual wall when former offensive co-ordinator Ron Shaluk was added to the Plainsmen group on Teamlinkt — an app to manage team communications, schedules and more — after the John Taylor game.

Devine took over Shaluk’s role for 2022 after helping out with the team in 2021 and felt that the return of the previous OC implied he would be removed.

Devine said he was in the process of completing the checks — updates were required after the McKay incident for the 2022-23 academic year — but since he works out of CFB Shilo, he would have to go through military police, not Brandon Police Service, and the process was slower due to staffing issues.

On Oct. 21, Shilo military police Capt. Matthew Hall told the Sun the last few checks they’ve had have come back “within a day or two.”

Devine was an all-state offensive lineman in Alaska in 2004. He bounced around a few teams afterward, including a year with the University of Ottawa, two with the Winnipeg Rifles of the Canadian Junior Football League and two with the University of Manitoba Bisons.

He brought an intensity to Plainsmen training sessions he felt was necessary to help players continue to higher levels of football. He admitted some of his words and actions were over the top but maintains they were meant to motivate and get the most out of the players.

“The new coach now [Kaluzniak] thought we were running them too hard,” Devine said. “One instance, he complained to the school board. Clint heard about it, then Clint asked me … ‘I heard you guys did 90 up-downs and ran them for two hours.’

“We did 30 minutes of conditioning at their own pace.”

Devine also noted the former coaches’ efforts to help the program change. He said he spent time and personal funds to fix the football field’s tower and purchase new equipment. The coaches wanted to implement an academic average minimum to participate.

They had two-hour training sessions plus an hour of film study most days. He reasoned that some of the changes would help players earn scholarships and transition to post-secondary football.

The current coaches feel they adjusted to more appropriate structures with reduced time commitments. They still had academic standards: if players miss a class, they sit out a quarter. If they miss two, they’re benched for a game.

They also maintained daily conditioning sessions, albeit with lower intensity than the first few weeks.

“We haven’t run into the problem of the lack of conditioning,” said defensive line coach Pat MacInnis. “During that time [before the first game], that structure, we had a game where we had a player having not to dress because he had heat stroke and another player injured because he hurt his leg in the last sprints before the game.

“We dialled it back a little bit.”

Overall, there was a clear difference in philosophies between BSD, Crocus Plains and the coaches that left.

Supt. Matthew Gustafson noted philosophies vary from one program to the next, but the division emphasizes some things over winning.

“Everybody likes to win but … we don’t have high school athletics because we want to only win,” Gustafson said in a phone interview on Sept. 15. “We want people to participate, we want them to be physically active, we want them to be able to have that connection with their school, to be able to represent their schools and represent them in a very positive way.

“We want them to develop those skills, whether it’s leadership, teamwork, work ethic, it’s those kinds of things that our programs are trying to instil.”

In the meantime, Devine engaged in one-on-one messaging conversations with Plainsmen athletes and continued after stepping down.

Devine said he’s still in contact with players because he works with the Manitoba Selects football program, adding he only communicates with athletes whom he has parental permission to contact.

“I’m here to help get players where they need to go,” Devine said. “Unfortunately, I’m probably one of the fewest people in this province that can do that because I have connections in the States, I have connections in Manitoba … I have St. FX (St. Francis Xavier in Nova Scotia), I have tons of connections. At the high school level, that’s amazing.

“I’m protecting myself, obviously. Parents are involved and all that other stuff. If they message me individually, I don’t respond.”

Devine has also taken some Crocus football players to Winnipeg for Manitoba Selects sessions, with his girlfriend present in the car, he said.

On one return trip with two players, they mentioned a friend with a difficult living situation who could potentially be good enough for the team.

Devine told them to pass on his contact information and offered the player a bed at his house, rent-free, to help him focus on football. Devine said it’s an arrangement he made with two students in New Brunswick a few years back. He explained their situations, one with a drug-using parent and another who was kicked out of his house.

Devine said the athlete — who declined to provide a comment to the Sun — spoke to his mother about it, then didn’t respond to the offer.

“He never called me, so I just dropped it,” Devine said. “All I did was try to give this kid a place to stay, a proper place where he could do everything.”

Following the Sun’s conversation with Devine on Sept. 30, both Selects players texted the Sun just over an hour apart to vouch for Devine and his willingness to help their teammate.

Devine was frustrated with the way things unfolded.

“You messed with the wrong person. You went after the guy that actually will fight, because my character is my biggest thing,” he said. “Because my words have meaning. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it.

“I got nothing to hide. Why? Because I know I cover myself every time.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

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