Center Grove High School football coach Eric Moore is the subject of a outside investigation initiated by the school district into reports that he verbally abused players.
The probe comes after an investigation by the Indiana Department of Child Services earlier this year into an allegation that Moore had assaulted an athlete. The state department of child services investigators deemed the assault report unsubstantiated, the school district said.
Center Grove Schools Superintendent Richard Arkanoff said in a statement Wednesday that the school district has hired an independent outside investigator to look into additional claims that Moore “was abusing his authority as a coach by being verbally abusive toward his players.”
The statement does not say how many people have made the allegation or the details of the accusations, such as the specific verbal abuse or the time frame involved.
Moore could not be reached for comment on Wednesday evening.
The school district’s attorney has advised Arkanoff to not answer questions about the matter until the investigation is complete, school spokeswoman Stacy Conrad said.
In February, Moore, one of the winningest coaches in Indiana high school football, was put on paid administrative leave from the school district while the Indiana Department of Child Services investigated a report that Moore had assaulted an athlete, Arkanoff said in the statement. The school received the initial report of the assault, and reported it to the state department of child services, which launched an investigation, the statement said.
The details of state child welfare investigations are kept private unless a coinciding police investigation results in a criminal charge being filed. It is unclear whether Center Grove police or another police agency was also asked to investigate.
The state department of child services told the school district around Feb. 27 that its investigation had found that the assault accusation was unsubstantiated, and the case was closed, the school’s statement said. An unsubstantiated finding means that the state department did not find sufficient evidence under state law or policy to conclude that a child had been maltreated or was at risk of maltreatment, and that no credible evidence exists that child abuse or neglect has occurred.
Moore was reinstated, Arkanoff said in the statement. He has been head football coach for the Center Grove Trojans for 19 seasons, and is also the head track coach at the school of 2,500 students. He is also a physical education teacher at the high school and set up the fee-based Center Grove Power Club to help students in grades 1 through 8 with basic exercise movements.
It is unclear when the separate allegations of being verbally abusive towards athletes were reported, or when the school district hired the outside investigator to look into the reports.
The current investigation “is still ongoing and is anticipated to be wrapped up within the next few weeks,” Arkanoff said in the statement.
Moore has recorded 179 victories in his 19 seasons coaching the Trojans and led the team to state championships in 2008 and 2015. He also coaches the boys track team, which won a state title in 2011.
