Sports
Okarche girls basketball coach Haley Mitchel, assistants resign after complaints – Oklahoman.com
Less than halfway into the Oklahoma high school girls basketball season, Okarche’s head coach has resigned after receiving complaints that included the threat of a potential lawsuit.
Haley Mitchel stepped down from her role as the Warriors’ head coach Monday, The Oklahoman confirmed. The Kingfisher Times & Free Press first reported Mitchel’s resignation. Assistant coaches Kaylene Ullom and Skye Tilley also resigned.
Former Okarche coach Larry Black is leading the program in the interim. Superintendent and athletic director Josh Sumrall said Mitchel, who was in her fourth season as Okarche’s coach, remains on faculty as curriculum director and assistant principal. Ullom and Tilley are also still employed at the school, and Mitchel and her former coaching staff have “full support” from administration, Sumrall said.
The Times & Free Press reported that Mitchel read her resignation letter at Okarche’s school board meeting Monday night, referencing threats that “have been made to destroy the reputation and lives of my family, coaching staff and myself.”
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Sumrall, who was present at the meeting, said Mitchel “received a complaint” from a parent during the past weekend. Then an anonymous letter included allegations of Mitchel and her family being excessively tough on girls basketball players and mentioned “mental abuse,” Sumrall said.
The anonymous letter alluded to the recent Kingfisher hazing lawsuit, which resulted in a $5 million settlement after former football coach Jeff Myers was charged with child neglect.
“(They) referenced that they would pursue, possibly, action that that lawsuit kind of mirrored,” Sumrall said. “So her decision to step down was that she did not want to take a chance in a parent doing, basically, what happened at Kingfisher, so she chose to step down and not go through that.”
Sumrall said he had never heard the allegations toward Mitchel prior to last weekend, and he continues to stand by Mitchel. He said he understands her choice to resign because she didn’t want to put her family through stress.
The Oklahoman’s attempts to reach Mitchel were unsuccessful.
“Basically what I’ve told our staff is, the world we live in now as educators …. educators in this world are under attack,” Sumrall said. “Educators not only here, I’m talking everywhere. Parents are questioning decisions by educators and coaches, and the respect level is nowhere near it was 20 years ago.
“I know certainly there are cases out there where coaches have done things in the wrong … but also the majority of coaches do what they think is right and try to push their players and student-athletes to the best of their ability, and that’s called coaching.”
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Mitchel, the daughter of successful longtime Okarche girls basketball coach Cherie Myers, had led the team since 2020. She played college basketball at Oklahoma Christian and served as an assistant for her mother before Myers’ retirement in 2017.
Mitchel’s Okarche program has finished with a winning record for the past three seasons and reached the Class A state semifinals in the past two.
The Warriors are 4-4 entering Friday night’s matchup at Watonga.
“We certainly understand her decision, and we want to do what’s best for our student-athletes,” Sumrall said. “And that’s where my focus is now, is trying to get by day-to-day, (to do) what’s best for the girls left on the team.”