CLEARFIELD, Utah — A teacher and coach at Clearfield High School has been fired after leaving a threatening voicemail on a student's phone.
The Davis School District "terminated the employment" of physical education teacher Don Eck, who also serves as the school's head football coach, after he left a message for a player who had previously quit the team.
Eck was originally placed on administrative leave on Oct. 25 after the voicemail surfaced. Following an investigation into Eck's behavior, the district made the decision to fire him.
“The district does not condone such behavior from any of its employees,” officials said in a statement.
The voicemail was shared on, and then deleted from, a Facebook page created by a parents organization that supports the team.
Eck's voicemail to the player came after a loss to West Jordan and allegedly contained the following messages:
“Hey, give me a call when you can. I want to meet with your parents, man, ’cause I keep hearing your mom’s putting all sorts of s___ on social media talking s___ about the coaches here and I’m gonna put a stop to that, bro.”
“What they let you do, quitting on your teammates, is the most selfish thing I’ve seen in all my years of athletics, and I’ve been around a lot of players.”
“But by them letting you f______ quit on your teammates and go into this game shorthanded like we did is the most despicable thing I’ve ever seen in all my years of coaching, and I want to let both your parents know that and I want to tell them face to face, so call me back so I can set up a meeting with your parents. Thanks, bye.”
FOX 13 obtained a recording of the message, which can be heard below:
Chris Tremea, who serves as a parent liaison for the Clearfield football team spoke with Eck about the voicemail.
"You could tell that he was devastated in his actions, he truly was aware he had made a mistake," said Tremea. "It was hard for that position in that game and Don was very frustrated and I guess that's what kind of lead up to the phone call."
The Standard-Examiner claims parents were angered over the lack of information from school officials who failed to let them know that Eck's status left no one in charge of the team.
But Tremea believes Eck shouldn't be judged solely by the incident that ultimately cost him his job.
"Everybody makes mistakes, I understand that Don might not be able to be the coach, he might not be able to be a teacher, but he’s a good man who made a mistake."
