It Takes A Lickin'...

What kind of society are we living in when a coach can't lick his player's open wounds? Where's the tolerance? Where's the understanding?

HALSEY, Ore. Mar 8, 2005 — A state panel this week is expected to investigate a high school football coach who acknowledged licking one of his player's cuts.

The Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, which licenses and disciplines teachers and administrators, decided to look at the case after a parent complained that Central Linn High School coach Scott Reed's "repeated inappropriate behavior" threatened student safety and health.

The commission meets Thursday in Salem; it is expected to discuss Reed's case in executive session.

Reed, 34, who also teaches science at the school, was disciplined last year for licking the bleeding knee of an athlete. He acknowledged the incident during a police investigation after another parent complained that the coach had licked blood from other players.

The school district placed Reed on probation and required him to take a "bloodborne pathogens" course. The Linn County sheriff's office did not arrest him.

"Sometimes there are actions that are socially unacceptable or bizarre that aren't necessarily criminal," Sheriff Dave Burright said. "If he had done it against a student's wishes, at the very least we might have had harassment. But this contact wasn't forced or necessarily unwanted."

According to the police report, a parent reported in August that the coach had "licked an open wound on the knee" of one student athlete and had similarly licked others.

The student whose knee was licked told police the incident happened after Reed had given team members a pep talk about a coach licking and healing the wounds of injured players so they could get back in the game.

Other team members urged Reed to do the same for a bleeding scab on a player's knee. Reed asked permission, then knelt down and licked it. An athlete who witnessed the incident said Reed seemed to be "joking around" and the licked athlete was not offended.

Reed told the authorities that he licked that player's knee and had possibly done the same for other athletes, but could not recall.