Ferris High School football coach and teacher Jim Sharkey of Spokane, Washington has been suspended with pay after multiple students reported that Sharkey exposed himself last summer by putting his penis in a hot dog bun and showed it to his players. After an initial investigation, Sharkey was able to coach the team this past season and then after more students came forward with similar accounts, Sharkey was suspended pending another investigation.
The Spokesman-Review was able to obtain records from the school that details what allegedly happened.
A couple of weeks after the camp, a Ferris player came forward and said that while Sharkey was grilling, he turned with his exposed penis inside a hot dog bun. Sharkey said, “You think that is a big dog – take a look at this,” according to school records that listed multiple different versions of the same quote.
While the coach got a written reprimand and was allowed to coach this past fall, school officials placed him on administrative leave Feb. 1 after more players claimed to have seen the hot dog incident and other students brought up separate incidents of questionable behavior by the 11-year teacher and coach.
There have been other allegations which are just as or more serious than indecent exposure to minors. A girl reported that Sharkey called her a “puck slut” or “puck bunny” because she hung out with the hockey team.
Then, a football player mentioned that even though Sharkey, or any adult wasn’t present, that football players would allegedly pin a player down on their birthday while others put their fingers up that person’s ass and called it “juicing.” Sharkey denies everything except the “puck bunny” comment which said was “taken out of context” and “not meant to be inappropriate.” I so want to know Sharkey’s reasoning that calling a teenage girl “puck bunny” was in an appropriate manner but we didn’t get that. I get that we live in a “locker room mentality” world now and “locker room talk” is more accepted but give me a break.
My concern in all of this is that there is no mention of law enforcement being involved throughout any of this. All I see is the school being the only people investigating these allegations. We’re talking about a coach who allegedly exposed himself to minors and people allegedly committing sexual assault. This is much more than whether or not a coach should be fired, this should be whether or not a coach should be charged with a crime and be put on trial.
[Deadspin/Spokesman-Review/KREM]
