Recently reinstated, Sean Carty resigns as Mead football coach

After losing his job as Mead High School football coach in late March and having it restored on appeal in late May, Sean Carty announced to parents on Monday that he has resigned as coach of the Panthers.

Mead athletic director John Barrington confirmed late Monday that Carty had stepped down. The search begins immediately to replace the 14-year head coach, who won four Greater Spokane League championships.

“We’ll move as quickly as we can to get the job posted,” Barrington said. “I know timing is an issue. But we have enough time to post the job and get interviews done before the end of June.”

After uncertainty surrounded the job, Carty had moved the summer practice schedule back a month to July.

Still, Barrington said the school district will take its time to make sure it gets a quality replacement.

“We are not going to make a quick decision,” he said.

Barrington said he was tipped Monday that Carty was going to announce his resignation at an informational meeting with parents.

Parents hired an attorney late last year and brought forward a list of complaints about Carty’s handling of several interactions with players, prompting the district to hire a second attorney to investigate the claims.

Based on the findings of that review, retiring principal Mark St. Clair decided to fire Carty in late March.

However, his job was restored on appeal after the Mead Extracurricular Employees Association ripped the district’s actions and a hearing examiner ruled that enough “ambiguity” existed in Carty’s contract to justify a redo.

The employee association suggested that the district come up with an “improvement plan” for Carty to follow this coming year before his performance would be reviewed again. That plan was completed on Friday.

However, Jared Hoadley, executive director of student services at the Mead School District, refused Friday to say what that list entailed.

“It wouldn’t be appropriate to share any information because it has to do with personnel records,” Hoadley said.

Carty could not be reached late Monday for comment. But Barrington thanked him for his total of 18 years of coaching with the Panthers, including the last 14 as head coach.

“Like any program, there have been ups and downs,” Barrington said. “But Sean and his staff did their best to teach the kids the game of football. He’s done a very good job.”

As of late last week, Carty said he was looking forward to the coming year despite the controversy surrounding the offseason.

“My goal is to do the best we can and just move forward and try to get to that next step and let the healing take place as we go,” he said at that time. “That’s the best I can do.”