Lake Zurich AD, Football Coach, Assistant Resign After Hazing Scandal

A hazing incident amongst football players in the locker room at Lake Zurich High School last fall has now lead to the resignation of the school’s athletic director, head football coach and coaching assistant.

There have been few details released regarding the scandal and head football coach David Proffitt continues to deny any wrongdoing and any knowledge of inappropriate behavior, the Daily Herald reports. On Thursday evening, Lake Zurich Unit District 95 board members accepted Proffitt’s resignation as well as the resignation of athletic director Rolando Vazquez and assistant coach Chad Beaver.

Authorities got involved after an unnamed district employee looked into the boy’s locker room on Oct. 27 to find the football players engaged in an act later referred to by school officials as "egregious,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

The incident took place following a weekly football team dinner and was part of a weekly bonding tradition, police told the Daily Herald, which involved taking a vote on which football player should be dressed in costume and teased.

Authorities did launch a sex abuse investigation following the incident but no charges were ever brought, “in part due to a lack of cooperation from witnesses,” the Daily Herald reports. The Daily Herald learned of the sex abuse investigation after receiving reports, which were heavily redacted, from police following an open-records request. Civil attorney Antonio Romanucci, who represents the student-athlete who was the victim in the incident, is continuing to look into the case, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Proffitt started at Lake Zurich High School in 2006 and, besides being the head coach of the football team, was also a physical education teacher. Prior to coming to Lake Zurich, he was at Marian Central Catholic from 1991 to 2006.

Vazquez, besides being the athletic director at Lake Zurich High, was also a part of the llinois Athletic Directors Association and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, according to his profile on District 95 website. Beaver served as student dean at the high school.

More viathe Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald

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