Coach Takes Leave Amid Sex Charges Mather Steps Away From American Legion Baseball
The head coach for Coeur d’Alene’s American Legion baseball team agreed to take a leave of absence Wednesday after he was accused of molesting school girls.
The Kootenai County prosecutor’s office has charged Paul T. Mather, 49, with sexual abuse of children after five girls told authorities that Mather had been touching their breasts and buttocks.
The girls, ages 13 and 14, are students at Canfield Middle School where Mather teaches social studies. Three of the girls were his teacher’s aides.
Mather has adamantly denied the allegations through his attorney, saying that he is merely an affectionate person.
“The community is pretty shocked right now,” said Robert Rossi, whose son plays in the baseball league.
“The shock waves of this thing go all over,” said Bill Wagner, vice president of the American Legion’s board of directors.
The Coeur d’Alene School District placed Mather on paid suspension in June after the allegations came to light. The American Legion board of directors then asked Mather to step down on Tuesday.
Mather is the head coach for the American Legion’s AA baseball team. He also is head baseball coach at Coeur d’Alene High School and has coached boys basketball at the middle school.
“Our main objective was to maintain the integrity and the good name of American Legion baseball,” Wagner said. “The board felt that Paul separating himself from that would be the best thing for him and for us.”
Mather refused to step down at first. But on Wednesday, he gave Wagner a letter requesting a leave of absence.
He wrote: “I do this because the charge that I now face may cause a distraction to my players and parents who do not understand presumption of innocence and thereby hinder these fine athletes from receiving the instruction and leadership I have always tried to impart through the great game of baseball.”
Assistant coach Tracy Turrell will take over as head coach.
The accusations and Mather’s leave of absence has left the league in tumult.
“The parents are in much more of an uproar than the kids,” said Wagner, who worries that the turmoil will split the team.
Parents presented starkly different views of the controversial coach.
“He’s an in-your-face intimidating type coach,” said Glen Walker, a former prosecutor whose son plays in the league. “I’ve watched him standing inches away screaming at the kids. You could almost see them lifting out of their shoes they were so intimidated.”
But Rossi praised Mather’s coaching abilities.
“I’ve seen him be a great basketball coach and a great baseball coach,” Rossi said. “He’s gone out of his way to take care of the kids.”
Rossi said the accusations have shaken his son. “It’s been very tough on him. He thought the world of Paul and had a lot of faith in him.”
Rossi said his daughter was a teacher’s aide for Mather several years ago and never had any trouble.
However, five girls told sheriff’s investigators that Mather was repeatedly hugging and massaging them while slipping his hands down to their buttocks or up to their breasts.
Mather’s attorney said Tuesday that the teacher never hugged any of his student against their will. However, according to the sheriff’s reports, several of the girls said Mather would corner them and hug them so tight they could not get away.
In 1989, Coeur d’Alene police and sheriff’s deputies investigated Mather for rape after a 16-year-old girl said Mather had sex with her at a motel.
The two had met while attending group therapy for alcohol and drug abuse, according to a police report. The girl and her family eventually decided not to press charges and the case was closed.
, DataTimes