Troy Pachner says “orchestrated parent campaign” led to resignation from Arapahoe basketball

CENTENNIAL — Four weeks before its first game, the Arapahoe High School boys basketball program suddenly didn’t have a head coach.

Troy Pachner, who led AHS the previous three seasons, resigned Nov. 2 after a group of 14 parents signed and emailed a letter to Arapahoe administrators a week earlier calling for his removal.

The parents outlined four “documented instances of inappropriate behavior” and nine “documented instances of unacceptable leadership conduct.” They argued Pachner’s actions represented an ongoing threat to his players’ well-being and mental health. Soon after, a group of 10 players also signed a letter stating they thought it best that Pachner leave the program.

Arapahoe administrators and Littleton Public Schools declined to comment despite multiple requests. But emails obtained by The Denver Post, combined with letters signed by players, parents, the district and Pachner himself, paint a picture of a program beset by conflict.

In an interview with The Post, Pachner blasted the effort to remove him as “an orchestrated parent campaign consisting of completely made-up, exaggerated, falsified accusations without merit.”

Both sides assert the situation was mishandled. The parent group claims Arapahoe and LPS administrators didn’t properly address their concerns. Meanwhile, Pachner called a letter sent out by LPS to the community that summarized the situation “stunning and inaccurate.”

So what went wrong? The Post’s month-long investigation takes a look.

Accusations against Pachner

The first accusation listed against Pachner in the Oct. 25 parent letter claimed he sent “a sexually suggestive video” on a team group chat, something the parents say they reported to Arapahoe principal Natalie Pramenko in May but was never addressed.

Further, the parent group accused Pachner of “making biased, derogatory, and threatening comments to a player, who is a person of color, regarding his appearance, specifically his hair.” The parents say this was reported to Arapahoe administrators in June and never addressed, although emails show it was addressed that month by Pachner and AHS athletic director Pat McCabe.

Pachner disputed both accusations, and said the video “has been completely miscast.” Pachner said he thinks he meant to send the video to his wife and daughter, whom he was also texting at the time. The offended parents said that video is “not consistent with any AHS value and (conduct that) should not be normalized.”

The 24-second video, reviewed by The Post, is from a Nuggets game in March at Ball Arena. It depicts a row of cheerleaders shot from a distance of about 20 yards, with background audio. Pachner declined to say what the caption was but said the video was reported to McCabe in mid-October. Pacher said he and McCabe reviewed the video, and that “there was no intent to (send a sexual message).”

“The video was reviewed by AHS administration,” Pachner said. “I didn’t even know the video was an issue until October, when right before the (parent letter), I sat down with Pat about it after it was brought to him. The video was vetted and I thought we were moving on. He asked me what it was, I explained it, and he reviewed it and (the accusation) was found to be without merit.”

The accusation about the player’s hair stems from a June trip to Arizona for a tournament. When one player showed up to the tournament wearing beads in his hair, Pachner questioned whether he would be allowed to play with them. Pachner said he “saw it as a potential safety issue” because some of the player’s beaded hair was hanging over his forehead.

Pachner said he didn’t know the NFHS had changed the rule on beads two months earlier, allowing players to play with them so long as they are “securely fastened to the head and do not present an increased risk to the player, teammates or opponents.”

“I initially told (the player) how much I appreciated the hair, because I thought it was amazing, and still do,” Pachner said. “I guess (he and his family) viewed any discussion about the hair as problematic.”

The player’s mom, Kristin McKinney, took issue with Pachner’s comments and reported those concerns to AHS administration on June 23, emails show. McCabe responded to McKinney that day, writing “I’ve made Coach Pachner aware his statements related to (the player’s) hair offended, and were perceived as culturally inappropriate, biased, and perhaps racist.”

On June 25, Pachner, the player and McKinney met at the Gold Crown Fieldhouse to address the incident.

Pachner described the dialogue as “productive.” McKinney used the same word to describe the meeting in an email to McCabe and thanked Pachner. In the same email, McKinney told McCabe she believed “there is still a lot of work to be done and opportunities for improvement regarding issues of culture and expectations for behavior.”

When reached by email, McKinney — the leader of the parent group who brought the allegations against Pachner — declined to comment to The Post.

“I thought we came away from that meeting in a very good place,” Pachner said.

The parent letter also alleges Pachner “repeatedly” complained about the use of pronouns and gender-neutral bathrooms; that his Twitter posts stoked “discord and divisiveness” with political retweets; that he created a “toxic” and “putative environment” within the program; that he failed to properly supervise players on out-of-state trips; and that his offseason absenteeism “fractured the integrity of the program,” among other complaints.

Pachner denied those accusations, though he acknowledged his small business, a storm restoration company, did take him out-of-state for large segments of this past offseason when he turned the program over to varsity assistant Greg Scheckenbach. But he said that he needed to re-focus on his business in the wake of the COVID pandemic.

“I have a right to earn a living wage,” Pachner said. “The truth is I made an evaluation that I had a very good staff, and I felt like these guys needed to grow their coaching voices as well if we are going to collectively coach as a body. And as a basketball coach I made $5,000 for the whole (CHSAA) season.”

Pachner also disputed the assertion that McCabe and Pramenko ignored concerns. Pacher said the only concern ever brought to him directly by a parent was over his hair comments. (The Post emailed all 14 parents who signed the letter. Only McKinney responded.)

“The only concern that was ever raised was dealt with in an appropriate process and manner,” Pachner said. “This idea that I’m unapproachable and that there’s a fear (of retaliation) is a backhanded justification for the fact they know they didn’t follow clear, transparent communication standards with me.”

Escalating internal conflict

By late October, it became obvious the tension within the program was becoming untenable.

McKinney emailed McCabe, Pramenko and LPS Director of Secondary Education Clay Abla on Oct. 25 with a subject line “Formal request for the termination or resignation of Coach Pachner.”

In the email, McKinney copied the other parents who signed the letter — Yasser Sedhom, Maggie McMonigle, Kenneth McMonigle, Megan Acker, Aaron Acker, Marilyn Bergstrom, Eric Bergstrom, Kory Foa, Jason Foa, Andrea Bruza, Andrea Warner, Jesse Crispe and Keith Gardner — and requested a response from AHS/LPS within 48 hours.

McKinney wrote that “if the matter is not resolved to our satisfaction, then we will escalate our concerns to CHSAA as well as media outlets.”

On Oct. 29, a two-and-a-half-hour team meeting was held at the school to discuss the state of the program and the issues mentioned in the parent letter. Pachner and the Arapahoe coaching staff, Arapahoe players and McCabe were all present, but no parents. Pachner said the meeting gave players a chance to share their concerns.

He also said the meeting didn’t happen without controversy. He accused one parent of eavesdropping by trying to listen against the door, and also said a parent sent him a text message saying the meeting had gone too long and needed to be ended.

McKinney was also displeased with the meeting. In an Oct. 29 email addressed to Pramenko, she wrote the meeting was “classic bait and switch” and that coaches used “fear tactics and intimidation.” McKinney called Pramenko “negligent” for allowing Pachner to hold it, and added, “I hold you accountable for the psychological trauma inflicted upon the boys.”

McKinney emailed Pramenko and the rest of the AHS/LPS administration about the issue again Oct. 30, and again Nov. 2, calling for an emergency LPS school board meeting on the topic. In the latter email, 10 hours before Pachner resigned, McKinney wrote all the coaches in the program “NEED TO GO” and that “we are being maligned in the community as a group of parents who are making false accusations.”

“We are not,” she wrote.

The letter of no-confidence that was signed and delivered by 10 junior varsity/varsity players on Oct. 31 was the breaking point for Pachner. He emailed his resignation letter on Nov. 2, 12 days before the first practice and the start of his fourth season at AHS.

“As a team, we decided that we can’t have you as our coach anymore,” the players’ letter read. “Through recent discussions and coercive tactics, there has been a huge loss of trust. The relationship is far too damaged to continue a healthy team environment.”

Pachner’s letter was co-signed with resignations by freshman coach Dan Steward, sophomore coach Paul Safford and junior varsity coach Brett Hammontree.

“Ultimately I am shocked and disappointed that (parents) would put their names on such a condemning document when only one of them had ever approached me with any concerns,” Pachner wrote.

Pachner believes the players’ letter “was clearly not written by the players.”

“When those kids are being put in that position, how could we possibly move forward?” Pachner said. “I knew at that point I couldn’t.”

After Pachner tweeted about his resignation on Nov. 6, McKinney emailed the district Nov. 7, saying the “safety (of the parent group) and that of our kids is at risk and I will hold all of LPS accountable should anything untoward happen.”

“(Pachner) is now ranting about us on Twitter and calling us a ‘toxic group of parents’ while thanking the LPS administration which has failed us and continues to conceal the truth,” McKinney wrote. “The statement put out by Pat (McCabe) and Natalie (Pramenko) on Nov. 4 in which they admitted the truth of the circumstances, including their own failures, while asking for unified support and trust is woefully sad and is not sufficient.

“If you value the safety of your students and the ethics of your employees as you claim, we need an immediate public rebuttal to the community refuting the lies about us and our children and with full transparency of the mistakes by the LPS administration and process.”

The next day, Abla and LPS Assistant Superintendent of Learning Services Melissa Cooper sent a letter addressed to the AHS boys’ basketball community. While Pachner said AHS and LPS administration supported him amid the complaints and through his decision to resign, the district’s letter struck a different tone.

In addition to thanking the parents leading the push to remove him, the district’s letter said Pachner’s resignation letter was “unauthorized” and “created additional unnecessary conflict.”

“Several of these complaints have already been determined to be with merit, while others are still being investigated,” Abla and Cooper wrote. “… The district has engaged its legal council to assist in the next steps of investigating the complaints and taking any appropriate disciplinary measures.”

The district did not address the specific allegations against Pachner in its letter, but emphasized “we take all allegations of discrimination and any kind of misconduct by an LPS employee very seriously and will take responsibility to stop such behavior at any district school.”

Pachner said the LPS letter contains many inaccuracies and “speaks to placating this same group of parents and trying to bring this issue to an end.” He also said there was never a district investigation into him.

AHS, Pachner moving on

In the immediate aftermath of Pachner’s resignation, Scheckenbach, an assistant who didn’t sign Pachner’s letter, was seen as an in-house option to take over the program.

But he tweeted his resignation 10 days later, saying “the circumstances did not allow a path forward I could accept.”

“Parents — the ends don’t always justify the means,” Scheckenbach wrote. “A poor example for our kids and a sad situation for ALL involved.”

The culmination of letters and tweets led to a public fallout in and around the program, with families of lower-level players left confused and many of Pachner’s fellow Centennial League peers wondering how the coach ended up at the center of controversy.

Mullen head coach Roosevelt Leslie, who was Pachner’s assistant at D’Evelyn and Valor Christian, believes “the way the parents framed the racial stuff, that’s crossing the line.”

“It’s personal at that point with the thin allegations of racial bias, and that’s not who Troy is,” Leslie said. “That defames his character and who he is as a person. … This is a situation where a handful of parents are trying to tarnish a coach’s legacy.”

With Pachner and his staff gone, AHS hired Kevin Boley in mid-November to stitch the program back together.

Boley and his hastily assembled staff are now trying to get the team back on track, even after one of the Warriors’ top players announced his transfer to a prep school in Arizona. Boley spent 12 years at Legend but resigned from his position as coach and athletic director in 2019 after being cleared of criminal wrongdoing in a police investigation. He led Denver Christian to a 21-5 mark last year.

Arapahoe opened the season Wednesday at Sitting Eagle Gymnasium with a 76-68 win over Legend. Pachner, meanwhile, hasn’t ruled out a return to coaching. He has a 424-228 career record over 27 varsity seasons, including a Class 3A title at D’Evelyn in 2004 and a Class 4A title at Valor Christian in 2017. Pachner’s tenure at Valor Christian, where he was 77-29 over four years, also ended unceremoniously when the school didn’t renew his contract after the 2019 season.

Pachner said all of the recent tumult is being taken into consideration when thinking about his coaching future.

“I think we’ve lost balance with high school sports,” Pachner said. “I see it all around (the south metro area) — there are five, six, seven programs under siege from parents. It’s maybe not as organized as the factors that led to this situation, but (parent discontent) is there, and it’s traumatic to the players at those programs.”

Meanwhile, the Warriors are trying to move forward.

“We’ve got some really great kids, they’re working really hard to please (the new staff) and they want to be good,” Boley said. “They’ve embraced me and they’ve bought into what we’re trying to do. The more success we have, the better that (team culture) will be.”

Parent letter calling for Coach Pachner’s removal (Oct. 25)

Player letter calling for Coach Pachner to step down (Oct. 31)

Troy Pachner’s resignation letter from AHS basketball (Nov. 2)

Littleton Public Schools letter to AHS basketball community (Nov. 8)

Source: Read Full Article