EBS STAFF
BIG SKY – In 2015, Cyle Kokot, former Ophir Middle School and Lone Peak High School girls’ basketball coach, was sentenced to 15 years in Montana State Prison followed by 10 years probation for a felony count sexual assault.
Gallatin
County District Court Judge John Brown found Kokot had used his position of
power to coerce and manipulate an underage player for sex, enacting a
psychological toll on the girl and her family.
On
March 7 of this year, an unnamed plaintiff filed a lawsuit in district court
against the Big Sky School District, along with LPHS, Ophir Middle School and
Kokot, according to court documents obtained by EBS. The suit alleges Kokot
also sexually assaulted her and that the school district was aware he was
engaging inappropriately with multiple players.
Such
“inappropriate closeness,” as listed by the suit, include mandatory one-on-one practice
sessions (with threats of demotion or benching players, thus jeopardizing
collegiate aspirations and scholarships, as a means of enforcement) and
communications via cell phone and email without parental knowledge.
The
plaintiff was unable to seek help, as the suit alleges that Kokot threatened
physical violence and suicide in order to maintain compliance.
The
suit also alleges the Big Sky School District was complacent not only in their
hiring and vetting processes, but also in properly training school staff,
“regarding how to maintain appropriate boundaries with students, how to
recognize grooming behaviors and sexual abuse, or mandatory abuse reporting
requirements,” according to the documents.
“I
interviewed the people that did the training, and I felt they did a good job,” Dave
Dalthorp, the district’s attorney, told EBS in a March 19 phone interview.
According
to the suit, the plaintiff is seeking damages along with a letter of apology to
the plaintiff and any other unknown victims, stating school district
responsibility for the abuse, to be published annually in a local newspaper and
year round on the BSSD website for a period of five years.
