Wagonseller quits post amid sex allegations

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, May 4, 2000 | 10:45 a.m.

Longtime Bishop Gorman boys basketball coach Jeff Wagonseller has left the school, resigning amid six-year-old allegations of sexual misconduct with a former Gorman student.

"Jeff has resigned," Gorman athletic director Norman Craft said. "Coming off a state championship and losing your coach is tough. We will have to do the best we can for our program and move on."

Craft said the school will set up a committee to hire the new coach this week, and that he intends to have the process completed by the end of May.

"We hope to start getting applications soon and get it done by the end of the month," Craft said. "Jeff's assistants have indicated they will apply."

Former Bishop Gorman student Georgina Mall recently filed a civil lawsuit alleging that when she was 16, she and Wagonseller had a sexual relationship. Mall is seeking unspecified damages.

Wagonseller leaves the school after nine years as the head coach. Before that, he served as an assistant coach at Gorman under now-Northern Arizona University head coach Mike Adras.

Wagonseller won more than 230 games as the Gaels' head coach, capturing state titles in 1997 and 2000. This past season, his club went 27-5, finishing second in the Reebok Holiday Prep Tournament and earning regional and national rankings in several publications.

Wagonseller could not be reached for comment.

* CARPENTER OUT AT VALLEY: After a one-year return to the prep coaching rankings, Gene Carpenter has called it quits at Valley, stepping down as head basketball coach but remaining at the school as a teacher.

"Gene is what he calls retired," Valley athletic administrator Gary Wheeler said. "He's an excellent coach and a first-class person. He could have stayed as long as he liked."

Carpenter, who coached at Green Valley from 1991-97, came to Valley after a two-year coaching hiatus. He led the Vikings to an 18-9 overall record and an appearance in this year's 4A state tournament.

Carpenter's replacement has already been named. Daryl Branham, a Carpenter assistant at both Green Valley and Valley, takes the helm for a program just two years removed from its 1998 state title season.

"We hired Gene with the idea that Daryl would eventually become our head basketball coach," Wheeler said. "Daryl is an enthusiastic guy who the kids like, and he's willing to put in the time."

The Vikings return one of the area's top prospects in Sam Jackson, a member of the Sun's all-state second team.

* SKYHAWKS TAP JOSEPH: Former Bucknell University standout Mike Joseph has been named new head basketball coach at Silverado, taking over for Pat Condron, who left to become an assistant at Centennial.

Joseph, who becomes the fourth Skyhawks coach in the past seven years, has been a teacher at the school for the past two years. A former all-state player during his prep days in Pennsylvania, he went on to play in a pair of NCAA Tournaments with the Bison and still ranks 12th in NCAA single-season free-throw percentage.

"We've been so impressed with him as a teacher and a person," Silverado athletic administrator Dave Erlach said. "And we liked the kind of people Mike had been exposed to in basketball. We thought he was ready to step in and do a good job."

Joseph inherits a team that went 17-10 in 2000 and finished tied for the Southeast Division title.