SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A Granite School District official says Cottonwood High School head football coach Josh Lyman has been placed on administrative leave over allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a female student.
Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley confirmed that 32-year-old Josh Lyman was placed on administrative leave over allegations that he had the relationship with a minor female student. Horsley also said that a criminal investigation is underway.
Lyman as been coach of the Cottonwood Colts since July of 2010, after the death of the previous coach "Teko" Johnson, who died while on a family vacation in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Besides his coaching duties, Lyman also teaches physical education at the school.
Michael Enoch has a daughter who is supposed to start at Cottonwood in the fall, now he’s not so sure he wants her to go there. “I’m wondering if she should go to Olympis instead of Cottonwood,” said Enoch. “Not to say it couldn’t happen at Olympis, but when you hear of such tragedies, because that’s what it is, it gives you a second thought.”
He says if the allegations are true, students and parents won’t know who to trust. “Very uncomfortable because you send your kids to school, you trust the school systems and if that’s the case, it’s a poor situation,” said Enoch.
Students say they didn’t know much about the allegations until after school let out Thursday, even though Lyman was removed from the campus Wednesday afternoon.
Jose Parra, a senior at CHS said, “I was shocked, you know. It’s surprising that any teacher could be accused of something like this.”
In his first season at Cottonwood, Lyman led the Colts to the 5A quarterfinals with an 11-1 record. Cottonwood finished 5-5 last season, losing in the first round of the playoffs to Northridge.
Lyman also played collegiate football at the University of Utah from 2000-2002, catching 97 passes for 1,417 yards and 9 touchdowns. Lyman transferred to Utah from Dixie (State) Junior College.
Lyman played high school football at Skyline.
