In this 2006 photo, Ben Boyd talks to players during practice at Franklin County High, where he was head football coach. Caroline hired him as its head coach May 11. JARED SOARES/THE ROANOKE TIMES Visit the Photo Place

Caroline coach's past not disclosed

Caroline's football coach selection committee did not know of new coach's misdemeanor convictions on steroids charges

Date published: 5/22/2009

BY TAFT COGHILL JR.

After Ben Boyd was hired as Caroline High School's football coach May 11, Cavaliers Athletic Director Dan Dickey said a 10-person search committee had thoroughly vetted his past.

However, three members of the committee said in recent interviews with The Free Lance-Star that they weren't aware of Boyd's 1991 guilty plea to federal misdemeanor charges of misbranding and illegally dispensing anabolic steroids when they recommended him for the position.

And School Board members Wendell Sims and Fred Peatross said they had no knowledge of Boyd's past when they gave the final approval of his hiring.

Sims said he may ask the School Board to review the hiring. Peatross said he stands behind it.

"I feel real bad I let this guy slip through," search committee member Tom Ball said. "I should've known. I don't think I'm the only one who feels that way."

Caroline Superintendent Gregory Killough worked in Franklin County with Boyd as recently as 2005 but said he discovered the coach's past convictions only after Boyd was recommended by the committee.

Killough also stands behind Boyd, who has been praised by Dickey and others for reforming his life.

"Not a day goes by that I don't try to make up for the mistake I made," the 53-year-old Boyd said last week. He has not returned repeated calls this week seeking additional comment.

Still, the coach's hiring has sparked strong reactions in Caroline County. Some residents, including players' parents, said the school should have hired a coach with a less-troubled past.

Reggie Underwood, a former Caroline High assistant principal and basketball coach, said it's "conscientious ignorance" for administrators to stand behind a recommendation not based on all the facts.

Players' parents plan to attend the next School Board meeting on June 8 at Caroline Middle School to voice their objections to Boyd's hiring.

"My concern is that there are plenty of young coaches out there who have clean records," Underwood said. "They deserve an opportunity, too."

THE SEARCH PROCESS

The search committee was assembled to find two candidates to submit to Superintendent Killough, Principal Jeff Wick and other administrators for a second round of interviews.

Search committee member Rory Smith said the group was impressed by Boyd's resume, which included a three-year stint at Franklin County High in southwest Virginia. He resigned in January.

The details of Ben Boyd's 1990 arrest were reported in a 2006 Roanoke Times article written after an anonymous tipster pointed out Boyd's past to Franklin County High, where he worked at the time. According to The Roanoke Times, police in Salem (a small city adjacent to Roanoke) arrested Boyd in August 1990 at a hair salon he owned. The police had obtained search warrants on a package and the salon. The newspaper reported police found 300 tablets of Oxandrolone Spa, three boxes labeled Primobolan Depot, one vial labeled Testosterone Cypionate, three vials labeled Nandrolone Deconoate, 210 hypodermic needles, $860 in cash and a handwritten note. Police investigated after a postal clerk noticed Boyd was sending packages with incorrect return addresses, the newspaper reported. Boyd, who wasn't working in public education at the time, was indicted on federal felony charges of illegal possession of steroids. The felony charges were dismissed based on a "strategical decision," Assistant U.S. Attorney Arenda Allen told The Roanoke Times in 1991. Boyd, a competitive bodybuilder and hair stylist at the time, was sentenced to 18 months probation and a $250 fine. He said the steroids were for personal use. Boyd was originally charged with intending to distribute anabolic steroids, but there wasn't sufficient evidence presented in court that he sold them. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of misbranding and illegally dispensing anabolic steroids. --Taft Coghill

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Date published: 5/22/2009

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