High School Coach Litigation Roundup

Several basketball coaches challenging discrimination in high school athletics have made news recently.

Lamar Bryant, fired from his position as head coach of the Marshall High School boys basketball team in Chicago recently settled his wrongful termination/retaliation suit against the Chicago Public Schools. As we noted last fall, Bryant's federal lawsuit alleged that his female athletic director discriminated against him and the boys' basketball team. Bryant will receive $500,000.

In Franklin County, Indiana, girls basketball coach Amber Parker is gearing up to sue the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Association over the Friday night schedule issue we blogged about recently. She is looking for a lawyer to help her bring the case.

And Linda Wachter, formerly the girls' basketball coach at Exeter Union High School in California, is continuing to press her claim that the school district fired her in retaliation for her complaints that the athletic department was discriminating against her team by, among other things, denying them access to priority practice times and access to facilities. (We blogged about this case when it was filed in September.) The court recently dismissed her other sex discrimination claims, but determined that the facts she alleged, if proven, would constitute retaliation. The court is now in the processing of scheduling a trial or alternative resolution.