Kingfisher coach charged with child neglect claimed locker room fights weren't 'a bad thing'

Kingfisher head football coach Jeff Myers acknowledged in August he knew players wrestled in the locker room but said he did not view it as harmful.

He also said he did not know his players ever boxed.

Myers, 56, was charged Tuesday with child neglect because of the boxing and wrestling matches that took place in the locker room for years.

"Well, when they can walk about 50 feet out of our locker room and go to the wrestling room and do the same thing, I didn't see it as anything ... harmful," he said in testimony for a hazing lawsuit.

That testimony is now key evidence against him in his criminal case.

He is accused in the felony case of condoning, permitting or deliberately ignoring matches in the football locker room between Aug. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2021.

The maximum punishment for child neglect is life in prison. The minimum is a year in the county jail.

OSBI investigates 'The Ring' where high school students fought

Agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation found 14 former players and one manager who knew about, watched or participated in "The Ring," according to a court affidavit.

"'The Ring' was described (as) where football players wrestled or boxed to settle differences that they had on the field," an OSBI agent wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Four former players recalled seeing Myers watching wrestling matches, the agent wrote. Five others stated Myers knew about "The Ring." Challenges to "The Ring" were made around Myers and other coaches.

"Myers allowed students to be unsupervised and participate in fights where injuries occurred," the OSBI agent wrote.

In his testimony, Myers confirmed he heard players talking during practice about "The Ring."

"You didn't do anything to stop it, did you?" he was asked, according to a transcript.

"Because it was wrestling," he replied.

He insisted he had only seen one of the wrestling matches since he started coaching in Kingfisher in 2004.

"I believe it was in the spring," he testified. "And it wasn't a challenge, it was just an impromptu deal."

He said he eventually put a stop to the matches "because we were afraid somebody may end up getting ... hurt." He said he did so on the advice of the school superintendent at the time.

"There wasn't any particular incident," he testified. "It was just a conversation between me and I believe ... Jason Sternberger ... and he just asked me about what 'The Ring' was because he had some kids, his boys played for me, and I told him that they were wrestling, and he said, 'Probably don't need to do that,' and I said, 'OK,' so we stopped it."

He was then asked, "And until that point you had never done anything to discourage the kids from participating in 'The Ring,' had you?"

"I did not view wrestling as a bad thing," he replied.

He also testified he has a vague memory that an assistant coach, Micah Nall, once wrestled a student in "The Ring."

"I think he told me," Myers said. "I probably said that that's stupid, don't do that."

Coaches charged after claims of hazing, child abuse

Prosecutors charged Myers in Kingfisher County District Court after reviewing OSBI reports, testimony from the federal case and a 2018 cellphone video of two freshmen boxing in "The Ring" while teammates cheer.

Myers was put on administrative leave Wednesday. He continues to deny wrongdoing.

"This man's name has been dragged through the mud and he's been unfairly tried and prosecuted in the public, in the news and on social media for the past five years," said his attorney, Joe White. "We are glad to finally have an opportunity to defend ourselves in the proper venue — a court of law."

Also charged Tuesday was Nall, who has not coached in Kingfisher since 2020. He faces one felony count of child abuse and one felony count of perjury.

Nall, 48, of Piedmont, is accused in the child abuse count of condoning and participating in the locker room matches. He also is accused of verbally abusing players and of punching one in the face three or four times.

He admitted in his testimony for the hazing lawsuit that he wrestled a player after a challenge. "I placed him on the ground and laid on him," he testified.

"I've replayed this event in my mind about 7,000 times," he testified in July. "Knowing it was wrong."

Nall went to work at the Western Heights school district after leaving Kingfisher. That school district said Wednesday it has taken "appropriate steps."

"The district is collaborating with law enforcement as needed. Ensuring a safe learningenvironment remains our top priority."

The hazing lawsuit is pending in Oklahoma City federal court. A jury trial is set to begin Dec. 5.

A former player, Mason Mecklenburg, sued Kingfisher Public Schools, Myers and other coaches in 2021. He alleges the coaches allowed and even encouraged a culture of hazing, bullying and abuse. He and other former players have said some of the abuse was sexual.

He said in testimony for the lawsuit that "The Ring" took place at least twice a week usually.

"A lot of the times they would make me go until I lost," he said of other players. "So I was pretty bad at it at first, but then I actually got OK at it ... but then they started making me go up against, you know, kids that were a lot bigger, a lot stronger than me and like juniors and stuff like that and I'd get just manhandled obviously."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Kingfisher coach Jeff Myers defended locker room fights before charged