NLR district 'really wanted me to resign,' coach says

North Little Rock High School head football coach Brad Bolding said this week that the school district pressured him to resign before he was given notice that administrators intended to fire him.

In interviews with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Bolding said he was urged to resign so he would be spared a public airing of the allegations made against him by the district.

"They really, really, really wanted me to resign," Bolding said.

Bolding said the push for him to step down came from Gregg Thompson, the district's human resources director, during a Jan. 30 meeting at which a member of the nonprofit NLR Athletic Foundation was also present.

Bolding said Thompson also called him after the meeting and offered him two to three months of pay in exchange for resigning. But Bolding rebuffed the offer.

"If you resign, every rumor that is out there, everybody is going to assume that those are true," Bolding said.

Reached Wednesday, Thompson said he couldn't confirm or rebut Bolding's description of the meeting or phone call because he couldn't discuss a personnel matter.

"I wish I could visit with you about it, but unfortunately, it's a personnel matter of which I'm not at liberty to say," he said.

Other district officials also declined to discuss Bolding's version of what led the district to fire him.

"Anything and everything related to Brad Bolding is a personnel matter that I cannot discuss," Superintendent Kelly Rodgers said.

Multiple attempts to reach North Little Rock athletic director Gary Davis were unsuccessful.

Bolding's comments come as the school district is working to set a date for Bolding to appeal his termination to the North Little Rock School Board.

Bolding was given notice of his termination Jan. 30. The notice accused him of failing to follow district purchasing and inventory procedures regarding athletic equipment, failing to comply with the district's policy for disposal of personal property and unprofessional conduct regarding a Facebook posting in November.

The district also accused Bolding of violating Arkansas Activities Association rules regarding contact he had with Montez Peterson, the stepfather of North Little Rock's receiver K.J. Hill, in early 2013.

Bolding was accused of giving Peterson a check for $600 from the NLR Athletic Foundation in February 2013 before Hill enrolled in the district. Hill, who enrolled in March 2013, signed a national letter of intent last week to play football at Ohio State University.

The district reported the $600 check to the AAA last week, saying it was a violation of recruiting rules. On Feb. 5, the district forfeited more than 30 games in football and boys basketball, including the 2014 Class 7A state boys basketball title.

Bolding denies that he committed any AAA violations. He said he never gave Peterson the check and that when he first met Peterson in December 2012, he directed Peterson to high school administrators.

Peterson and Bolding have said that Peterson volunteered to help the football team in the months before Hill's enrollment and that the $600 check was used to buy items for the football program.

Bolding said he believes the district reported a violation to the AAA to tarnish his reputation and bolster its case for firing him.

Bolding said district administrators pressured him to resign in a meeting also attended by Jay Amberg, a member of the NLR Athletic Foundation.

Amberg said in an interview that he handles the finances of the foundation, which raised $112,882 in 2013 and spent nearly $93,000 on "goods and services for the North Little Rock High School Football team," according to the nonprofit's tax form.

On Jan. 30, Amberg went with Bolding to the meeting with Thompson, Rodgers, Davis and Denise Drennan, the district's chief financial officer. During the meeting, Thompson went through all of the allegations against Bolding, Amberg said.

Then all of the administrators left the room and went to Rodgers' office. Bolding said Davis, Thompson and Rodgers returned, and Rodgers informed him that he would be recommending termination.

Then, Bolding and Amberg said, Thompson looked over at Rodgers and asked him to leave the room. Rodgers did, they said.

"Greg got up, came around and sat down beside me and said, 'If you were my son, this is what I would suggest that you do. And I would resign.' He said 'resign' four times," Bolding said.

Thompson also told him that all of the allegations would be "sealed," Bolding and Amberg said.

"Everything would be sealed," Bolding said. "When I say everything would be sealed, when I look at everything, I'm assuming that's anything to do with K.J., anything to do with the foundation. I'm thinking everything."

Bolding told Rodgers he wouldn't resign. He left and went home where his father and wife were waiting for him, he told the newspaper.

"I get to my house. My wife and my dad are both there. I talk to Gregg Thompson. He calls. I have the phone just like this [pulled away from his ear], and I'm leaning over here to my dad and my wife, and he says, 'In my 35 years of teaching, I've been able to negotiate two and three months, to get you paid for two or three months if you'll just sign the resignation,'" Bolding said.

Bolding said he told Thompson he wouldn't resign.

Bolding gave the Democrat-Gazette access to his personnel file Monday, and according to the file, he scored high marks on his annual evaluations from 2007 through 2012.

Bolding said he loved his job and got along with the district's administrators during his first six years.

His only blemish before 2013, in the records provided to the newspaper, was a reprimand for violating the school's policy on religion in schools. The reprimand regarded 21 football players who were baptized in a cow trough in the school weight room as part of a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting in 2010.

Things changed for the coach in the summer of 2013, Bolding said, when two years of "hell" began after Davis was named athletic director. Davis had worked as one of Bolding's assistant coaches.

In August 2013, Thompson reprimanded Bolding for purchasing uniforms without authorization.

At the time, Bolding signed a memo outlining the district's policy that no equipment, goods or services would be accepted without the prior written approval of the athletic director. The memo said that if the policy wasn't followed, the district wouldn't be obligated for payment of any unauthorized item.

Thompson reprimanded Bolding again in September 2013, that time for failure to follow the chain of command.

On Nov. 25, 2013, Bolding bought helmet pins and receptacles, which help keep the helmet's face mask secure but allows for quick removal in case of injury. He paid $109.39.

North Little Rock played Cabot four days later in a Class 7A state semifinal game, so Bolding said he couldn't wait for what he called a two-week process to order supplies through the district, citing player safety.

Between February and April 2014, the NLR Athletic Foundation purchased items worth more than $41,000 for the football team.

Among those purchases were a generator for the fieldhouse, a television and mounting brackets, a two-man football sled, sideline equipment cases, protein powder and hand sanitizer.

The largest single purchase was new headsets for the team for which the foundation paid $22,000. It also got a $5,800 credit for trading in the football program's old headsets.

Bolding said he never hid any of the purchases. He said Davis commented about liking the equipment cases, which were on the sidelines during games this past season.

Bolding said he wasn't questioned about the items until this year. According to his personnel file, Thompson wrote on Jan. 5 that the coach had violated district procedures regarding the equipment purchases. Thompson cited the previous reprimand from a year and a half earlier.

A day later, Jan. 6, Thompson wrote another memo reprimanding the coach for walking out of a meeting with Davis and the district's director of facilities. The meeting concerned the new athletic complex being built by the district.

"The meeting continued in your absence, and facilities plans were redrawn to reduce the size of the AD's office and expand student athlete and coaches' office areas," Thompson wrote to Bolding.

Ten days later, Jan. 16, Davis recommended that Bolding be suspended for 10 days without pay.

Davis cited the Facebook post, which he said was "inappropriate and did extensive harm to the public's image" of the football program and district. Davis also cited the purchases made by the NLR Athletic Foundation and directed Bolding to "immediately stop" any purchases from any source other than the school district.

Bolding also was told to turn over "all deposits, expenditures and a list of all items purchased by the North Little Rock Athletic Foundation."

Amberg said he complied later that day. He gave the district all of the nonprofit's bank statements and receipts from 2012 through 2014. He also included the foundation's nonprofit tax information for 2012 and 2013.

On Jan. 20, Bolding was given a five-day suspension with pay that the district said was necessary to "afford district administrators time to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding your unauthorized ordering of equipment."

That same day, Drennan contacted the foundation and requested 15-20 canceled checks, which Amberg said the foundation turned over later that day.

Among the canceled checks was the $600 check written to Peterson, Amberg said.

Bolding received another five-day paid suspension Jan. 26 in which Rodgers broached the subject of the $600 check.

After Bolding was given the suspension letter, Amberg provided the district with receipts and an explanation for the check. But Amberg said his explanation was ignored.

Amberg's account was backed up by NLR Athletic Foundation President Billy Starks.

On Wednesday, Bolding said he believes the district didn't give the AAA a full picture of what occurred.

"I've seen what they gave the AAA," Bolding said. "They didn't give them hardly any of the stuff that we have."

A Section on 02/12/2015