COACH CONTROVERSY HAS DIVIDED GOLDEN
Allegations of abuse against ex-golden boys basketball coach John Anderson have fractured the team and the community
GOLDEN» Adam Thistlewood, businesslike in his shirt and tie, milled about the hallway outside the Golden locker room before a recent Jefferson County League boys basketball game against Evergreen.
asked about the drama that has clouded the Golden program since early December, when longtime head coach John Anderson was investigated for allegations of verbal and physical abuse of players, the Drake-bound senior put an emphasis on blocking out the negativity.
“We’re just trying to focus on playing basketball,” Thistlewood said. “Everything that happened, happened. We need to focus on the game and on playing for each other. That’s how we move past this as a team.”
The allegations against Anderson stem from his actions at a practice Nov. 29, an investigation of which led to a leave of absence and eventually his resignation Dec. 22. Instead of providing closure, however, the community and team remain as fractured as ever.
Is Anderson, who coached the Demons
to more than 200 wins over two decades, being railroaded by families and select players upset about playing time and perceived nepotism?
Or — as those players and families claim — is Anderson a bully and an abuser who should never be allowed to lead young men again?
This much is sure: Through four meetings of parents, a Golden police investigation and a Jefferson County Public Schools internal investigation, opinions on both sides have become even more entrenched.
Anderson, 50, said the entire situation is a vendetta instigated by disgruntled parents upset about playing time for their sons, extending to the end of last season. He maintains that he has never struck a player. And, he wants his job back next season.
“I want this over,” Anderson said. “I want it over and to move on — these kids, my kid, my family, this community. I just want it over, so I can go do what I need to prepare myself for the next chapter.”
Anderson’s detractors not only want him gone from coaching for good, they don’t want him to teach anymore at Golden. And they want the school’s administration held accountable for what they believe was a slow response to reports of the coach’s abuse. In multiple discussions with a faction of concerned parents who are directly involved with the program, none would go on the record about their complaints, fearful of retribution — legally against themselves and on the court against their sons.
A resolution to the conflict doesn’t appear close, even as Class 4A No. 4-ranked Golden (17-3) prepares for the start of the postseason in a couple weeks.
Practice incident sparks investigations
The Golden police offense report from the Demons’ Nov. 29 practice at Golden High School reveals vastly contrasting ver- sions of both what happened that day and the longtime coach’s disposition as a whole.
In the incident report, written by Golden school resource officer Jamie Guess, Anderson is alleged to have pushed or punched multiple players during a warm-up because he was upset that the team wasn’t properly lining up. Of the eight varsity players Guess interviewed, six said they witnessed the physical contact. One player described a “two-palmed push to the front shoulder area” of a player, followed by pushes and punches to the midsection of several other players.
That account is at odds with the two other players Guess interviewed, as well as the accounts given by then-assistant coaches Erik Buehler and Tim Blodgett, all of whom said they didn’t see Anderson push or punch anyone.
Anderson describes his actions to Guess as “moving kids by their shoulders, with a closed fist in the chest or lower area pushing them to their perspective (sic) spots.”
“Nobody lost their balance,” Anderson told The Denver Post. “In my mind, pushing is when someone loses their balance.”
By way of an open records request, the Golden Police Department allowed The Post to see the footage by the school’s surveillance camera of the practice. The details of what may be a push at 3:05 p.m. are diluted by the panning of the camera, the distance of the camera from the team as well as a hoop in the line of the shot. With no conclusive footage, combined with the fact that none of the witnessing players believe Anderson had the intent to harm, Guess closed the case with the conclusion that third-degree assault hadn’t occurred.
As part of Guess’ investigation, however, other allegations emerged against Anderson not connected directly to the Nov. 29 practice.
Specifically, two players told Guess they have heard Anderson say vulgar phrases around the team, in addition to calling a player “retarded” in front of the team.
In his interview with The Post, Anderson admitted to gratuitous use of vulgar language in past seasons but said his cursing was never targeted at a particular player and that “I’ve made a concerted effort this year not to cuss.” He explicitly denied ever calling anyone retarded.
“I wouldn’t qualify (my behavior) as verbally abusive,” Anderson told The Post. “It was wrong use of language, and I’m a very sarcastic person, so that’s another part of the problem that I probably need to tone up a little bit.”
Anderson also said he’s not a bully, which contrasted with the sentiments of six players in Guess’ report who described the coach’s behavior as either bullying or over the line.
One senior player described Anderson’s coaching style as “old school, strict and only about what he wants,” and that “the majority of the kids do not want to play for a coach like Anderson.”
Guess noted another player, also an upperclassman, “explained over the last four years, he believes there have been multiple bullying incidents at the hands of Coach Anderson,” describing bullying as “unnecessary verbal comments as well as directed personal comments towards players.”
All accusations, according to Anderson’s attorney, Anthony Leffert, are “completely unfounded.”
Anderson told Guess he believes the accusations from the Nov. 29 incident to be “retribution (by parents), and revenge for their kid’s lack of playing time and his son being on the varsity team.”
The coach’s son suited up for the varsity during the playoffs last season as a freshman, a move some parents felt was inappropriate and unearned.
“John’s coached here for 23 years, and he’s never had another complaint by a parent prior to the end of last season,” Leffert said. “The history of this is important, and the history here in the fact that he’s never had another complaint.”
Multiple parents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, disputed the assertion that Anderson has never had a complaint lodged against himself before the end of last season, which is when Leffert said the venom toward Anderson began to grow. The complaint Leffert mentioned was brought to the Golden administration by the parents of a varsity player that were concerned about perceived favoritism toward Anderson’s son in the state playoffs.
Anderson believes that family’s ill will, along with discontentment within another family of a varsity player, carried over to this season, when the coach kept those two players on the roster against the advice of his assistants.
Both of those players, along with a third, are named as victims in the offense report, and both subsequently quit the team in early December.
Jeffco’s handling of the incident
In her narrative, Guess said she “received a report regarding a Golden High School basketball coach bullying players” on Monday, Dec. 4, at about 9 a.m. That report was made to the school on Friday, Dec. 1, at 2:05 p.m. via
More coverage: Go online for the Nov. 29 incident report, letters of support for John Anderson and Anderson’s letter of resignation »