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SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Ex-football coach says school district fired him without due process

Wrongful term 09

TYLER – A former high school football coach with the Troup Independent School District alleges that he was fired without being afforded due process.

Court papers filed Nov. 8 in the Tyler Division of the Eastern District of Texas state that Dennis Alexander lost his job as head coach of the Troup High School Tigers football team after TISD fielded accusations of the plaintiff striking a player at practice on Oct. 19, 2015.

The school district employed Alexander under a term contract dated Feb. 19, 2015 on a 12-month basis for the 2015-2017 school years.

When approached by TISD Superintendent Stuart Bird about the assault in question, the suit says, Alexander said he did not slap anybody. Bird, who reportedly received a complaint from the parent of a football player, verbally suspended the plaintiff and continued to conduct interviews, per the original petition.

TISD’s board of trustees voted to terminate Alexander’s contract for good cause on Dec. 18, 2015. He subsequently appealed the decision to no avail.

The suit insists that Alexander fulfilled any requirement to exhaust his administrative remedies before pursuing legal action.

According to the complainant, the ordeal inflicted irreparable harm and loss to his professional stature. He purportedly lost out on an opportunity to coach football in Daingerfield.

A jury trial is requested.

Attorney Ron Adkison of the Adkison Law Firm in Henderson is representing Alexander.

Tyler Division of the Eastern District of Texas Case No. 6:16-CV-1276 

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