Okarche Girls Basketball Head Coach, Two Assistants Resign Amid Threatening Email

Okarche High School’s girls basketball head coach and her two assistants resigned this week. School Superintendent Josh Sumrall says the resignations of Coach Haley Mitchel, and Assistant Coaches Kaylene Ullom and Skye Tilley stem from complaints and a lawsuit threat.

“I don’t want anyone within our wonderful organization to feel like they have a target on their back,” said Okarche School Board President McIlvain.

However, for Mitchel, she became a target after the school district confirmed she received a parent complaint and then later, an anonymous email that included allegations of verbal and mental abuse on her players. McIlvain confirmed the coaching staff resigned Monday night following the complaint and threat. “It was very troubling to me that it was anonymous,” said McIlvain. “Ruining lives, that’s not okay, it’s un-American, it’s wrong, and evil, I believe, to cowardly throw something like this out there.”

Superintendent Sumrall said the email even threatened a lawsuit like the recent Kingfisher hazing lawsuit involving child neglect charges against former football coach Jeff Myers. During Monday night’s school board meeting, Coach Mitchel referenced the threat as she tearfully read her resignation letter. “Last thing I’d ever want to do is leave the girls I coach and absolutely love in the middle of the season,” Mitchel said during the meeting. “However, when threats have been made to destroy the reputation and lives of my family, coaching staff, and myself, I believe there is no other choice.”

McIlvain said Mitchel is a legacy, following in her mother’s footsteps as head coach. He said she even played for the Warriors. “I’ll just say this, Coach Mitchel, Coach Ullom, Coach Tilley, they’re very valuable parts of Okarche,” McIlvain said.

Many parents in the community tell us they are surprised by the allegations against the coaching staff. “None of us can understand why this is happening,” said Okarche parent Dustie Milanic. “None of the girls have said that anything is wrong, none of the parents said that anything is going wrong, it's just all of a sudden all of our coaches have resigned due to one email.”

The district handed the email over to the Okarche Police Department which is investigating. According to Chief Forrest Smith, no victims or evidence have surfaced, so far, regarding the allegations. “These are serious things that came up in that but if they’re not true, please own up to that,” McIlvain said. “I want the truth and that’s what we’re going to find, we will find the truth one way or the other.

The district says it supports the coaches who all remain employed at the school.