Hinsdale South was supposed to play a basketball game against Providence on Tuesday. Instead, a group of players attended a school board meeting to speak out on behalf of their embattled coach, Michael Belcaster.
The Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education called a special meeting Tuesday night to approve administrative leave for a basketball coach, thought to be Belcaster.
Seventeen people spoke on Michael Belcaster’s behalf: players, parents, assistant coaches, the team manager and others.
“Taking away our coach in the middle of the season only hurts us as a team,” Hinsdale South senior basketball player Olasupa Akande said to the school board.
Belcaster’s wife and dad thanked everyone after the audience comment period and then the school board went into closed session to discuss and vote.
After an hour of deliberation the school board returned and announced it had decided not to place Belcaster on paid administrative leave. The assembled group of players and parents cheered wildly.
Belcaster wasn’t at the team’s basketball practice Monday. Providence basketball coach Tim Trendel was informed at about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning that the game was canceled. He wasn’t given a reason. Hinsdale South is having an e-learning day on Tuesday due to the weather.
“Things have been great since all the attention died down,” Michael Ockrim, the father of basketball player Nicholas Ockrim, said. “Belcaster is a great man and he’s a great coach.”
Erin Savage, the mother of basketball player Brendan Savage, sued the school district and several employees after her son was cut from the team following tryouts.
The lawsuit was filed Nov. 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. It alleged that Belcaster cut Savage after tryouts in retaliation for the family filing a complaint with the school district alleging verbal abuse and bullying against the previous coach, Michael Moretti.
Belcaster was the sophomore coach under Moretti last season.
“I’ve never filed a lawsuit before,” Erin Savage told the Sun-Times in November. “Our six kids have been involved in approximately 31 varsity sports at the high school. I’ve never complained about a coach. But we’ve also never encountered [someone] who thinks he can do whatever he wants. That was [Moretti].”
Several days after the lawsuit, the school board held a special meeting and put Savage on the varsity basketball team. The school district has never released a statement on the matter. A school district spokesperson said the district doesn’t comment on legal matters.
The lawsuit is still pending. According to sources, the district is hoping to settle with the Savages.
Brendan Savage recently worked his way back into the team’s starting lineup. The Hornets are 10-13 this season.
“Nothing else has transpired since the [Savage controversy],” Ockrim said. “We don’t know what [Belcaster’s possible dismissal] is based on.”
Belcaster declined to comment on the situation.