Raytown South suspends boys basketball coach Brad Oestreich for next season

In the initial moments after Raytown South lost its Missouri Class 4 sectional boys basketball game last March, coach Brad Oestreich walked through a dimly lit tunnel, opened the door to the locker room and spent the next 10 minutes reminding his team of its accomplishments.

Only a few days earlier, Raytown South had won the first district title in Oestreich’s nine-year tenure.

As it turns out, it might be his last, too.

Raytown South has suspended Oestreich for the 2015-16 basketball season and transferred his teaching employment to Raytown Central Middle School — a punishment that stems from the actions of one of his former assistants.

Roderick Pearson Jr., who served as the school’s junior-varsity coach last season, says Oestreich was levied the suspension after Pearson cussed at a player during a group text message conversation. Pearson has since resigned from the school.

Two more coaches from Oestreich’s staff — varsity assistant Steven Walls and freshman head coach Twydell Love — also received one-year suspensions.

“I explained to everyone in the administration, even the superintendent, that it was my fault,” Pearson said. “I don’t want to be responsible for everyone else’s punishments. They had nothing to do with it.”

Raytown South selected Aaron Ihm to be its head coach for the 2015-16 season. Ihm coached the girls team last season.

The school has not guaranteed Oestreich that he will be re-hired as the head boys basketball coach after the suspension is lifted in one year, he says, and he has filed a grievance with the school district after an appeal to the superintendent didn’t receive a response.

“In my eyes, this is a termination, not a suspension,” Oestreich said. “In a nutshell, I’ve been punished for someone else’s actions.”

Raytown Quality Schools communications director Cathy Allie said she could not comment on a personnel matter.

The incident occurred shortly after the season concluded, Pearson said. He used a group text message chain, which included all coaches and players, to organize an offseason shootaround.

After a player commented that he planned to transfer from the school, Pearson said he and the player engaged in an argument that lasted several minutes, and he cussed at the player.

Pearson, Oestreich and senior Tyrone Gibbs, who was also part of the group text but not the player who engaged in the argument, said Oestreich did not participate in the conversation.

“I regret what I said. It’s something that was out of my character. I was going through a lot of personal stuff, and I let my emotions get the best of me,” Pearson said.

Oestreich said he was teaching class when the conversation took place and alerted school administrators after he learned of it. He says he was told his suspension was the result of a failure to report the incident in a timely manner.

“The only thing more that I could have done is taken out my phone while I was teaching,” Oestreich said. “But the rule is not to have your phone on during class, and my phone was off.”

Oestreich has compiled a 151-87 record over his eight seasons at Raytown South, a tenure that includes four conference championships. Raytown South finished 17-11 last season.

This story was originally published June 12, 2015 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Raytown South suspends boys basketball coach Brad Oestreich for next season."