North Little Rock High School head football coach Brad Bolding said Monday that he never recruited star wide receiver K.J. Hill to play at his school and that allegations made by the school district that he violated Arkansas Activities Association rules are untrue.
In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Bolding said that he believes the school district overreacted last week when it voluntarily forfeited more than 30 games from the 2013-2014 academic year, including a boys basketball state championship.
"Obviously, I want my job back, but I've put that on the back burner," said Bolding, who was notified last month that he was being fired. "I'm in this business for the kids. What was done to those kids, without an investigation, I almost threw up when I got the message.
"That's not how you handle where kids have worked so hard. You ask anybody and they'll tell you the first thing they thought, 'This is a get-back at Coach Bolding,'" he added.
Bolding's comments came as he released documents to the newspaper that show a series of disciplinary measures the school district took against him over the past few months. He also gave further insight into his discussion with the Nashville School District about its head football coach position.
Bolding's attorney, David Couch, mailed a notice of appeal to the school district on Monday, contesting the decision to fire the coach and requesting a public hearing before the North Little Rock School Board to present evidence that he says shows Bolding did nothing wrong.
Bolding said he plans to refute allegations made in documents submitted to the AAA by the North Little Rock School District last week.
In the documents, the district said an employee of the football team violated AAA recruiting rules by giving a $600 check to Montez Peterson, Hill's stepfather. Hill signed a national letter of intent with Ohio State University last week.
The documents submitted by the district included a letter from Peterson saying Bolding gave him the check from the NLR Athletic Foundation, dated Feb. 7, 2013, to pay for expenses for a football camp in Texas.
In Bolding's termination letter, the district said the coach personally gave Peterson the check about a month before Hill enrolled at North Little Rock High School.
The district cited the check and "improper contact" with Peterson as justification for forfeiting 10 football games and at least 24 boys basketball games, including a boys basketball state championship won in the 2013-2014 academic year.
The district said the forfeits were necessary because an ineligible player participated in those games.
In response to the district's AAA filing, Couch, who represents Bolding and the NLR Athletic Foundation, released documents last week that he says show that no rule violations occurred.
Couch also backed up a second letter Peterson wrote -- which the school district also provided to AAA -- that said the check was given to him to pay for items for the football program.
Couch produced receipts that he said show Peterson used more than half of the money to buy food for a cookout and for tires used in workouts.
Billy Starks, president of the foundation, backed up the account, saying he gave Peterson the check.
When reached by the Democrat-Gazette on Monday night, Peterson said he and his lawyer, Democratic state Rep. John W. Walker of Little Rock, are discussing the possibility of contesting the district's forfeiture of victories in which Hill played.
"I felt bad for the kids," Peterson said. "I work with kids. I've been working with kids for 20-plus years. Everything should be worked out here shortly."
Bolding said he never touched the $600 check and never actively recruited Hill to play at North Little Rock while the athlete was still enrolled at Bryant High School.
Bolding said Monday that he first met Peterson in a meeting during Christmas break in December 2012. In January 2013, Bolding said, Peterson and his family moved to the North Little Rock School District even though Hill was still attending Bryant High School.
Peterson, who had experience with North Little Rock's football players through AAU basketball and Pee-Wee football, then started volunteering with the football program, Bolding said.
"He ran errands. He took kids home. He wanted to see what the heck [Hill] was fixing to get into," Bolding said.
Hill officially enrolled at North Little Rock High on March 4, 2013, three days after Bryant's boys basketball loss to North Little Rock in the Class 7A state tournament.
Peterson worked as a campus supervisor at North Little Rock's West Campus from August 2013 until last week.
On Monday, Bolding said he first heard of questions regarding Hill's eligibility late last month when North Little Rock School District officials began trying to fire him.
"I didn't think there would be a violation," Bolding said. "Lots of people saw him. Everybody knew he was there. It was established they were moving, because they were already moving."
On Monday, Bolding provided the Democrat-Gazette access to his personnel file. The file shows no mention of the $600 check until Jan. 26.
The file does show that district officials began scrutinizing Bolding after he wrote a Facebook post after the team's loss to Bentonville on Nov. 28 in the Class 7A semifinals at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
In the post, Bolding said he believed his program faced disadvantages that teams in Northwest Arkansas don't. Bolding also noted that he had to teach classes when other Class 7A head football coaches don't.
Bolding, whose annual salary is $79,393.13, teaches physical education at North Little Rock High School-West Campus in addition to coaching football.
Bolding said he removed the post within 15 minutes, but school administrators later received a screenshot of it, which led to him being reprimanded on Dec. 15.
"When you go back and look at the Facebook stuff, it's factual," Bolding said. "Should I have put it on there? No."
After the Dec. 15 reprimand, district administrators also began looking at Bolding's involvement in equipment purchases made by the NLR Athletic Foundation, his personnel file shows.
On Jan. 16, athletic director Gary Davis drafted a memo that Bolding refused to sign. The memo recommended the coach be suspended for 10 days without pay for failing to follow district purchasing procedures.
Later that day, Bolding said he called Nashville Superintendent Doug Graham to inquire about the school's football coaching position. Bolding met with Graham at a Chili's restaurant in North Little Rock on Jan. 17 before traveling to Nashville on Jan. 19, which was Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
North Little Rock is in the state's largest classification, Class 7A, while Nashville is in Class 4A, the state's fourth-largest classification for high school football-playing schools. That was not an issue for Bolding, who called Nashville one of the best jobs in the state regardless of classification.
But Bolding, pointing to his personnel file, said he'd "been through hell" during his eight years at North Little Rock.
"I just feel like they didn't appreciate the job I've done," Bolding said.
When Bolding returned from the trip to Nashville, he met with North Little Rock administrators, who suspended him for five days with pay. The suspension was later extended to another five days on Jan. 26.
He was served with a notice of the district's intent to terminate him on Jan. 30.
The district has accused Bolding of violating school equipment policy by trading in used headsets when new headsets were purchased by the NLR Athletic Foundation. The district also accused the coach of not following district procedures regarding six additional equipment purchases made by the foundation between November 2013 and April 2014.
Bolding denied any wrongdoing.
Bolding said he called Graham last weekend to apologize for involving Nashville in his employment situation. He said he supports new Nashville coach Mike Volarvich, who was the offensive coordinator at Henderson State University.
"I don't want him to think he was second fiddle," Bolding said of Volarvich. "He got the job. He's who they wanted."
Bolding said he's received more than 100 supportive phone calls and text messages, including some from North Little Rock teachers.
"I've told my players, when you are right, you fight like hell. If you're wrong, you admit it and you go on and you learn from it," Bolding said. "But if you're right, you fight. And by God, I've been right."
A Section on 02/10/2015