Lehi coaching situation has yet to be resolved

Lehi girls basketball coach Mike O'Connor has heard from everybody but his boss that he may be looking for a new coaching job soon.

"I've heard I'm going to be called in and told 'You're being released from your coaching job,' but I've run into Mr. Worthington (Lehi's principal) about a half-dozen times and nothing has occurred," he said.

The information surprised O'Connor, who has been at the center of a controversy for almost a year. Principal Sheldon Worthington stepped into the fray in the spring, issuing a letter that stood firmly behind his coach and warning parents that efforts to undermine the coach could result in their daughters being removed from the squad.

The situation escalated with dozens of parents crowding an Alpine School District board meeting in August, accusing the coach of various things, including verbal abuse of his players. At the time, Worthington said he'd attended 90 percent of the girls basketball games and never saw any of what was alleged. Worthington even told the Deseret Morning News that he thought some of what the parents asserted in their letters was untrue, although he felt most of them approached him and the board out of genuine concern for their daughters.

But then two weeks ago, O'Connor said, the principal dealt him a surprising blow.

"He said, 'If you cut certain girls, you're going to be released from your job as coach.' He said that if it came time, and they were cut, their parents would go to the board of education, and the board would get involved and tell my principal to release me. He said that was the likely scenario, if they were cut."

Worthington denies giving O'Connor an ultimatum or promising parents their children would make the team.

"What I told (the parents) is that their daughters would not be punished because of their parents," Worthington said. "There wouldn't be any retribution."

The two players in question not only have parents who have written to the principal and the board, but they have done so themselves. That's why O'Connor said he can't make any promises about who he'll keep and who he'll cut.

"I've never said I was going to cut anybody," O'Connor said. "I said I should have that responsibility. I should be the one to make the choice."

He quotes legendary hockey coach Herb Brooks, who led his team to a 1980 Gold medal, in saying that his picks will be based on more than just basketball skill.