Leake, Miss. Academy’s Doyle Wolverton, the nation’s second-winningest girls basketball coach, allegedly bit one of his players during a game at Columbia Academy last week, an incident report filed with the Leake County Sheriff’s Department, according to information obtained by the Jackson, Miss. Clarion Ledger.
Wolverton reportedly resigned Monday, though the Leake Academy coach said he couldn’t “confirm nor deny” that claim.
According to the complaint, which was filed by Toby Thaggard of Carthage and obtained by the newspaper, Wolverton allegedly grabbed Thaggard’s daughter, listed as the “victim” in the report, “by the shirt and then bit her on the right side of the face,” as if he was getting on to her for making a bad play.
“We’re not commenting on that today,” Leake Academy headmaster Jerry Crowe told the Clarion Ledger Monday afternoon. “We’ll comment more on that (Tuesday).”
The report then states Thaggard took the victim, whose name was redacted in the complaint, to the emergency room, where deputies observed a “bruised bite mark on the lower right side of her face. Thaggard stated in the complaint he didn’t want to pursue charges when the report was filed on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
Wolverton currently ranks second nationally in wins by a high school girls basketball coach, trailing Leta Andrews, a 74-year old grandmother who is still coaching in Granbury, Tex. and has 1,375 career wins. He entered the season with 1,245 victories (against 181 losses) in his tenure at Leake Academy, which began in 1975. Last season, he led the Rebelettes to the Academy AA championship game.
