High School Football Coach Charged After Months-Long OSBI Investigation

An Oklahoma high school football coach was charged with outraging public decency Tuesday after months of investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, according to court records.

Ringling High School football coach Phillip Koons has been accused of abuse and civil rights violations.

Ringling Football Coach Faces Several Abuse Allegations

In late February, State Superintendent Ryan Walters said that a Ringling High School football coach had been placed on paid administrative leave after harassment allegations. The NAACP Oklahoma State Conference called for a formal civil rights investigation into Phillip Koons' treatment of his players.

The civil rights organization said the administration at Ringling Schools has shown a "continuous pattern of *egregious indifference" to alleged harassment based on sex and race.

RELATED: Ringling Residents Take Action Against Head Coach, State Dept. Of Education Respond

The Ringling Police Department turned all information over to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in June, but it didn’t stop there. An attorney representing multiple John Doe’s put together a federal complaint against Philip Koons.

“A coach should be looked up to as a role model and with all of these allegations and the community bringing him in here you can’t look up to him as a role model,” said Justin Stephens, a Ringling parent.  

They said the head football coach and high school principal were verbally abusing players and using racial slurs. 

These claims were addressed during the last school board meeting before the board voted to keep him on staff.  

“You have all of these parents that are coming to you and telling you these things, how are you not concerned about your students and what is going on,” said parent Heather Stephens.   

News 9 obtained victim statements, four John Does said, “Koons made everyone do up downs naked in the turf locker room” some players sustaining “burns on their private parts.” 

Another statement claims when angry, “Koons jumps up and down holding his private parts” cursing at players.  

“I mean it was quiet, the boys were very quiet about it going on, but we did hear of things going on in the locker room and things like that,” said Jennifer Stoker, another parent.  

Several of them recalled incidents where they said the coach “used racial slurs about players and refs.” They said the coach named plays derogatory terms and made “monkey noises.”

One John Doe said the coach uses homophobic slurs if he feels they aren't playing well enough and “makes us feel ashamed or scared to tell.” 

“I was concerned for the boys, and I know they need to be ‘tough men’ but it’s too much,” said Stoker.