By MATTHEW RINK
[email protected]
David Riggs did not seek his head assistant coaching job with the Perry wrestling program, though he will serve as a volunteer for the team, according to head coach Brent McBurney.
“He built the program,” said McBurney, who was hired last month following a shakeup in the coaching staff that included the resignation of Brian Dolph and disciplinary action against Riggs. “He has a lot of connections to the outside wrestling community that are going to be very valuable. Having him in the room, his presence, is valuable.”
Perry’s claim to state and national prominence on the wrestling mat has been attributed to Riggs, who was head coach for 15 years until 2003.
Riggs has been the center of attention of a Perry School District probe into how Perry Wrestling Booster Club funds were handled.
“I want him to be (on the coaching staff),” McBurney said. “He also wants to be. He’s going to be one of the assistants at the high-school level.”
The district ordered Riggs to serve a three-day suspension without pay after an investigation revealed that Riggs, who is also a building trades teacher at Perry High, wrote checks for about $58,000 to three coaches for work in a wrestling clinic.
The district considered the clinics to be a private business that should not operate on school grounds or through the coffers of the booster club.
Dolph resigned in September following a separate district probe into alleged misconduct during a tournament in Las Vegas.
Riggs maintains his innocence and has sought to have a three-page reprimand expunged. Last week, he filed a defamation suit against Superintendent John Richard, claiming that Richard damaged his reputation when he punished Riggs for writing three checks that never existed. The district admitted that it mistakenly reprimanded Riggs for writing three checks to his stepson and former head coach Clint Musser after Musser was forced to resign. The checks were written instead to Flint McCollins, a youth wrestling coach.
Assistant coaches are required to apply for the vacancies every year. Volunteers, however, do not have to apply.
McBurney sent his picks for assistants to Athletics Director Frank Gamble last week, and Richard approved it.
“That hasn’t gone officially to the Board (of Education) yet,” Richard said about McBurney’s coaching picks. “In terms of Brent McBurney as our head coach, I’m taking into account what he wants to do.”
Riggs applied to be head coach after Dolph resigned, but a selection committee chose McBurney instead. Riggs requested that Richard and Assistant Superintendent Jim Hodinka excuse themselves from the selection committee because they posed conflicts of interest and could be part of a lawsuit, but both refused.
Gary Corroto, an attorney for Riggs, said he has not advised the coach on other vacancies.
“I would leave that up to him,” said Corroto, noting that Riggs has worked with wrestlers on weight training.
Riggs could not be reached for comment
Wrestling Gear
