Do not count on Butte School District No. 1 reinstating Shawn Wetzel as a volunteer assistant boys’ basketball coach, a position he held the past several years.

Do not count on that even after Cassie Congdon, the woman who allegedly punched, kicked and spit on Wetzel as he refereed during the Santa Slammer youth basketball tournament Dec. 6 in Anaconda, resigned as girls’ soccer coach at Flathead High School in Kalispell.

Do not count on that if or when charges are filed against Congdon in the Smelter City.

Do not count on that if you pack the next school board meeting, which is 5 p.m. Tuesday at East Middle School, to speak up for Wetzel.

Do not count on that even though Moon Shoot Athletics is selling “Free Wetz” T-shirts and hoodies. Do not count on it even if every person in attendance at the next Bulldog basketball game wears that shirt or hoodie, though that would be beautiful.

The district appears to be dead set against bringing Wetzel back, and they are not saying a word about it publicly. Superintendent Judy Jonart and assistant superintendent Keith Miller have ignored my emails asking about the situation.

In general, school administrators love to hide behind the “can’t talk about personnel matters” doctrine. The coach who was dismissed is left hanging in the wind while his “privacy” works as a shield to protect the administrators who gave him the boot, justified or not.

But my ignored emails to Jonart and Miller were not asking them to comment on personnel matters. I was asking why I did not see any mention of any votes on removing Wetzel on the school board agendas. I asked if they could point me to where I might be able to find it if I missed it.

They did not even email back to say they cannot comment.

Multiple people told me that Congdon or her husband reached out to the school district to complain about Wetzel after the incident, though I have seen nothing official about that. I did see an email that Congdon’s husband, C.J., sent to Bill Hill, the tournament director of the Santa Slammer.

In that email, C.J. Congdon wrote, “The stands were full of young children, and the referee was yelling obscenities into the crowd.” The purpose of the email, he wrote, was to get the name of the referee so he could file a complaint.

Wetzel said that he tried to calm down the crowd of yelling parents. When he was getting nowhere in that attempt, he eventually got frustrated and told them to “shut the (expletive) up or get out.” He said he did not call anyone any names, as C.J. Congdon alleged. Multiple witnesses have backed up Wetzel’s side of the story.

No matter what Wetzel said, there was no reason for him to be kicked, punched and spit on. Nobody deserves that, and the “he called me a name” defense will not fly in any court of law.

So good luck with that.

Is this incident and the complaint that followed the reason Wetzel was told the next week that he would not be able to coach with the Bulldogs this season? Again, we do not know because the school district is not saying anything.

If there is another reason why Wetzel was removed as an assistant coach, the school district could have made an easy statement to clear things up without talking about any specific personnel matter.

They could have said, “No alleged incidents at a youth basketball tournament in Anaconda have impacted any hiring decisions by School District No. 1.”

Pretty simple. Then they could have gone back to hiding behind the former coach’s privacy.

When school administrators ignore questions from the media, they are ignoring the public that pays their salaries. Even more, they are making it seem like Wetzel is being punished for being part of an altercation in which he was clearly the victim of a physical attack.

Observers of the security footage at Anaconda’s Memorial Gym told me that the video, which has been sent to Anaconda police, shows Wetzel being attacked. They said it was “bad.”

Of course, if the altercation was not the reason he was removed, we would have many more questions. Did the district violate its own policy by allowing Wetzel to coach in the weeks leading up to the incident, if he was not approved ahead of time?

We would wonder why Wetzel, a coach the players seem to adore, was not allowed to coach this year when he was allowed to coach in previous years. He has not been charged with any felonies since his last background check.

Is it because they do not like some of his political posts on Facebook? Or does his chill attitude just seem to rub some people the wrong way? Or is it something else?

Why are we holding our volunteer assistant basketball coaches to higher standards than we hold our teachers, principals, administrators and school board members? Are principals and teachers removed from their jobs because someone high up in the district personally dislikes them?

Those are questions, and many more, that are brought up by the silence of the district administration. That silence has made a bad situation worse and more confusing.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the incident involving Wetzel, and it went viral. Wetzel has been on multiple television stations, and I was asked to join the Nate Brown Show on FOX Sports Radio in Rapid City, South Dakota to talk about it.

The column has had more than 132,000 views on Facebook. It included so many shares and comments that it is almost impossible to keep up with.

Not one comment that I saw, however, was negative toward Wetzel. He is enjoying a nearly 100 percent approval rating on this issue. It seems like everyone is supportive of the official who was allegedly attacked, and they do not like the alleged attacker.

In the wake of the column, everyone seems to be in support of all youth sports officials. I have not seen that kind of unity in America since Sept. 12, 2001. People who wear a red tie were in complete agreement with those who wear a blue one.

Wetzel’s popularity around the Treasure State certainly helped with that. That is why I call him the “Mayor of Montana.”

While Wetzel will likely not be rejoining a Bulldog team that just might be the best Butte High team since John Thatcher’s glory days from 2004 through 2007, there is definitely a silver lining to this story.

Wetzel talked about the incident publicly. He did it even though it hurt him emotionally. He did it even though he was embarrassed. Doing that was brave, and it will benefit youth officials around the country.

The story went so far and wide that the next time a mom or dad gets heated at a youth basketball game, they just might think about the Wetzel situation.

Maybe they will put themselves in Wetzel’s shoes. Moreover, many more will think about how that former soccer coach tarnished her own reputation with the alleged attack and complaints about the guy she allegedly attacked.

Charges or not, nobody wants to be in her shoes right now.

That, I believe, is something we can all count on.

— Bill Foley, who will not be wearing any shirts or hoodies with Wetzel’s mug on them, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.