Parents had complained for years about a former Dublin Coffman football coach whom a recent lawsuit accuses of cultivating a “toxic culture” within the high school’s football team, records show.
Emails obtained by The Dispatch through a public records request show that several parents and family members wrote to school administrators to share concerns about Geron Stokes and his coaching staff soon after he started coaching in Dublin in 2021. The complaints continued until Stokes left the team in December 2024.
School administrators also received several positive emails about Stokes in the fall of 2024.
District officials said last fall that they heard anonymous complaints about Stokes that season, but that they were difficult to investigate if people didn’t want to come forward.
At least one of the parents set up a meeting with Stokes and school leadership to share concerns about the culture of the football team in early 2022, including that several players had left the team because of how they were treated.
In an interview with The Dispatch, Stokes said that they “didn’t lose a ton of guys,” but he remained steadfast in his coaching approach.
“Our culture is built around values of extremely hard work, mental and physical toughness, loyalty and unselfishness,” Stokes said. “In our first year, we didn’t flinch on the values that we were going to display in our culture.”
Stokes was also suspended for about a week from coaching the football team and monitoring the weight room at his previous job in Minster, Ohio, in early 2019. The paid administrative leave came after Stokes allegedly called out students for an incident that school administrators told him not to discuss with the athletes.
Stokes said the students later admitted wrongdoing. The current superintendent declined to comment on a follow-up request for clarification.
The family of a former Dublin Coffman student filed the lawsuit in August against the Ohio High School Athletics Association over their son’s eligibility to participate in the current football season. The OHSAA did not approve a transfer exemption request for the student, which he was seeking because of Stokes’ alleged conduct, and his eligibility ended Sept. 20.
Stokes has denied the allegations in the lawsuit in interviews with The Dispatch.
Cassie Dietrich, a spokesperson for Dublin City Schools, declined an interview request with school administrators about the emails and what action they took.
“The district respects its obligations to safeguard student privacy. As a result, the district does not provide comment on student-specific and/or pending matters,” Dietrich said in an email. “The district does, however, take very seriously its obligations to appropriately address any complaints or concerns of which it is made aware and addresses them to the full extent possible based upon all available information.”
Dublin administrators heard complaints about Coffman football team for years
Stokes started coaching in Dublin in fall 2021 after spending several years at Minster in western Ohio. His 71-31 record included multiple state championship games.
Soon after he began, though, parents began raising concerns about Stokes and his coaching style in emails to the athletic director and principal. Dublin redacted personally identifiable information in the records provided to The Dispatch.
Parents wrote that Stokes kicked some students off the team after he started, while others left of their own accord.
“He was a man today and went in front of all the coaches and quit. They chastised him instead of realizing the bigger issues. I guess (Stokes) will be excited to tell you he got another soft, weak Dublin kid to quit,” a parent wrote of their son in an email to Coffman Athletic Director Duane Sheldon.
Luke Walsh, a Coffman student and football player who graduated in 2023, lost a cross he received as a gift during a game in fall 2021. An email from Walsh’s parent said it was paraphrasing Stokes as telling the player “Don’t sweat it, at least you don’t have cancer like [redacted] or a brain tumor like [redacted].”
Walsh’s grandmother was in cancer treatment at the time. Both his grandmother and a teammate who had cancer now are in remission, Walsh said in an interview with The Dispatch.
One of Walsh’s parents reached out to the school principal about their concerns and Stokes speaking to Walsh instead of responding to the parent.
Walsh’s parent said in the email that he considered Stokes’ comments “intimidation and bullying,” but Walsh told the Dispatch that it was a misunderstanding from what he said when he was upset. Some teammates later found the cross on the field, he said.
Stokes said that he, his daughter and his coaching staff searched the field after the game for the necklace. He confirmed that he had mentioned cancer and brain tumors, as another student was dealing with it at the time.
“We were just trying to put it into perspective,” Stokes said.
Walsh said that he would not describe the environment on the football team as “toxic” during his time there.
At least one parent met with Stokes, Sheldon and Principal Matt Parill in early 2022 about concerns with the culture on the football team, including “an unusually high number of players leaving the program citing the negative way they were treated.”
Stokes, according to a summary of the conversation, said that not all of the feedback had been “overwhelmingly positive,” but that some of the results were “intended” and “expected.”
“Our purpose in sharing our observations with you, (Principal) Matt (Parrill) and (Athletic Director) Duane (Sheldon) is to make you aware of what is happening within our community in hopes that we can all shift that dialogue and not have a repeat of the negativity of last year. We cannot go backwards, but we can all learn from it and start from where we are,” the parent wrote.
Stokes said he didn’t change his approach to coaching football after that meeting.
“We do what we do, we work extremely hard. We’re extremely demanding. We’re tough, we love the heck out of our guys, we teach them character, we pour our hearts and soul into doing it the best we can, and we create a culture of growth,” Stokes said.
Another family member wrote to the principal, athletic director and superintendent in October 2022 about alleged “mental and emotional abuse” on the football team.
“I was warned by other parents, grandparents, and students that this email probably would have no effect because nothing has been done previously,” the writer said.
Emails started coming in again two years later
After minimal emails to school administrators mentioned Stokes in 2023, school leadership got an anonymous email on Sept. 14, 2024, with other allegations about the culture on the football team.
“Coach Stokes has fostered an environment marked by harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Throughout the summer and into the season, he has consistently torn the players down, often making personal attacks on the kids, other coaches and even the training staff,” the email alleges.
Parrill, the Coffman principal, asked the sender for an in-person meeting with him and/or the athletic director.
Leadership received a flurry of additional emails — both positive and negative — in November. A few senders alleged that the booster club told some parents to reach out and share their positive feedback about Stokes.
“Coach Stokes and the team have fostered a welcoming and inclusive environment where [redacted] feels valued and supported,” one parent wrote Nov. 14.
“Our gratitude to Coach and his program cannot be understated. It is a huge part of the person [redacted] has become,” another email sent Nov. 29 says.
Several other emails mentioned alleged verbal abuse and bullying from coaches.
“I bit my tongue for 12 weeks as my [son] went through what can only be described as insufferable, oppressive, hellish and above all UNACCEPTABLE,” one parent wrote. They listed several examples and offered to meet with administrators.
Stokes briefly put on leave at previous job amid investigation
Stokes coached at Minster Local Schools from 2013-20, where he led the team to multiple championships. In 2019, the then-superintendent of Minster Local Schools placed Stokes on paid administrative leave from coaching the football team and running the weight room.
Stokes heard rumors that some players were drinking in Hocking Hills in fall 2018, which he reported to the athletic director, according to a letter in his personnel file obtained through a public records request.
The students denied the allegations and were not disciplined, according to the letter. The athletic director told Stokes not to bring it up to the players without an administrator there, but he allegedly told some students that other students thought they were “a joke.”
According to notes from a meeting with six Minster students, whose names were redacted, they said they went out of their way to avoid Stokes in the hallways.
“He has to change or we need a new coach. He should have been gone a while ago,” former Minster athletic director Josh Clune wrote in his notes about what the students told him.
Stokes said that the students later admitted to the incident, and they were disciplined.
“Nothing was done incorrectly or inappropriately, and it was handled properly. The investigation lasted 2 days, nothing came of it other than they held kids accountable,” Stokes said.
Stokes said that he told Dublin City Schools about the incident before he was hired.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers the northwestern suburbs for the Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at awinfrey@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Dublin schools heard complaints about former Coffman football coach Geron Stokes for years
Reporting by Anna Lynn Winfrey, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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