SEATTLE -- A high school basketball coach in North Central Washington who was placed on leave after getting into a verbal confrontation with a teacher -- including threatening a "beat down" -- was reinstated last week. The incident was recorded on a student's cell phone.
The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle reports Tonasket High School boy's basketball head coach Kevin Landdeck was suspended after interrupting Jim Caddy's class in January. Landdeck reportedly thought Caddy had called Landdeck's son "a princess."
Video: High school teacher confronts coach via Omak Okanogan Chronicle
Caddy asked the coach to leave the classroom. Landdeck refused.
Caddy: "I don't know who you are, but you can't come into a classroom and...
Landdeck: "I can do anything I want.
Caddy: "... in front of kids.
Landdeck: "Yeah, I can."
Landdeck then tells Caddy not to come to his games anymore.
Caddy: "You can't tell me what I can and can't do."
Landdeck: "And you can't tell me what I can and can't do. I'm not a kid. Don't try and treat me like one of your kids."
Then Landdeck takes it further.
"You'll get beat down, you understand?" he said.
Caddy then says he wasn't the one who said it.
Landdeck: "Yes you did. Now you're lying. Now you're going to lie in front of everybody?"
Caddy: "Whoever said that to you, I would like to sit down and..."
Landdeck: "Oh, so my mom's a liar now? So we're going to call her a liar, too? She was sitting right in front of you."
Caddy: "I didn't say that."
Landdeck: "Mike Larson heard you, too."
Caddy: "I didn't say nothin' about being a princess."
Then near the end of the video, as it appears Caddy is trying to escort Landdeck from the room, Landdeck says "Put your frickin' hand down before I knock your ass out, OK?"
One local resident reportedly gave the Tonasket School Board an earful, asking why charges were not filed against Landdeck.
“There’s no damn excuse for it, guys," said Gerald Cox, according to the Chronicle.
The board announced last week it was reinstating Landdeck by a vote of 4-1 after hearing from "students, team members, parents, community members, staff, the superintendent and administrative team, as well as Coach Landdeck." The board said its decision went against the recommendations of Superintendent Steve McCullough.
"The Board believes this decision is in the best interest of our boys basketball student athletes at this moment," a statement from the board read.
Landdeck was allowed to coach the team in the state 2B tournament in Spokane this week. Tonasket was eliminated in the first round by Adna, 76-50.
Two days after his reinstatement, but before the state tournament, Landdeck was reportedly arrested in Douglas County for failure to appear in court for driving with a suspended license.
