Adkins v. Stow City School Dist. Bd. of Edn.

The central question presented in this appeal is whether certain published remarks attributed to a high school basketball coach were constitutionally protected and therefore inappropriate grounds for not renewing his coaching contract. In concluding that they were not, we reverse the judgment of the trial court.

Facts

Plaintiff-appellee, Harold Adkins (Adkins), has been a high-school teacher in the business department of Stow City schools for twenty years. In 1979 he became the boys' varsity basketball coach and received a supplemental one-year coaching contract. Over the next nine years this…