A Braswell High School senior has asked Denton ISD to fire the school’s football coach and athletic director for creating a toxic and abusive environment for the school’s football team.
Dustin Sharp, 17, posted a online petition calling for the dismissal of Braswell football coach and athletic director Kent Laster. Sharp alleges that Laster humiliated football players for mistakes and created a toxic environment in athletic practice and games.
The Denton Record-Chronicle obtained copies of three Level 1 grievances filed against Laster with the district before June 21. Level 1 is the lowest level of the grievance structure determined by the Texas Education Agency. Each of the three grievances alleges that Laster used abusive tactics in correcting and interacting with football players and that incidents began in May 2023.
Laster didn’t reply to a message from the Denton Record-Chronicle asking for an interview or a comment.
“The district was notified this week that a grievance has been filed at the campus regarding a staff member,” said Nick Petito, Denton ISD’s new chief communications officer. “As this is a personnel matter, and in order to protect the privacy of our employees, the district is unable to share additional information at this time.”
The Texas Education Agency directs parents and students to begin the formal grievance process at their campus, in writing.
The complaints
“Coming in as a freshman, I loved playing football in middle school and I was going to high school, and so I thought, I’ll go for four years,” said Sharp, who quit the Bengal varsity team last year. “The first year it was a dream for me. But once I got on varsity, it became honestly a nightmare for me.”
Sharp moved into Denton ISD from Frisco as a third grader. He was athletic as a youngster who spent time in the i9 Sports flag football program. He loved football. He knew the game was demanding, from practices in the scorching Texas heat at Carrico Stadium to testing his performance in games. Texas football isn’t for the faint of heart. Players are trained to accept and act on criticisms, and build themselves physically for the full-contact sport.
“Dustin is one of the strongest kids I know,” said Nikki Sharp, Dustin’s mother. “Dustin is not soft by any means. We have rules in our house. There are expectations in our house. ... This is not his first rodeo in football. He’s been playing football since he was in fifth grade.”
“This is one of the hardest districts in the state to play football,” Dustin Sharp said. “And so you have to be tough, not only physically but also mentally.”
Laster joined Braswell as the football coach and athletic director in 2023. He joined the district after leading the University High School Trojans, in Waco ISD, to their first playoff victory since 2009. Laster replaced former Braswell head coach and athletic coordinator Cody Moore.
He never felt belittled or demeaned by coach Moore, Dustin Sharp said.
“But you know, I didn’t get shouted at so personal as coach Laster has. ... As soon as you make a mistake, that’s all you see. It’s not like I couldn’t handle him or anything. It’s just too much,” he said.
Nikki Sharp said her son started varsity understanding that coaches can be tough. They yell, and when athletes don’t meet expectations, they can expect to pay up by knocking out drills. He was also on the team’s leadership council.
Dustin Sharp said his relationship with Laster turned when he got booted from a game for a personal foul. He said video vindicated him, but Laster blamed him for losing the game.
“Coach Laster continued to blame me for the team’s subsequent loss and failed to offer any apology or acknowledgement of his error,” Sharp wrote in his grievance. “Instead, his language toward me was demeaning and unacceptable for a coach to direct at young athletes. The constant blame and lack of accountability fostered a toxic environment, making it difficult for players to feel safe or supported.”
Two additional grievances against Laster, filed by Colton Michaud and Jacob Villarreal, accuse Laster of being disrespectful of athletes. Michaud’s grievance cites Laster’s decision to bring a drill instructor to the first day of conditioning camp to “scream at us.” Michaud, who graduated from Braswell in 2024, characterized Laster’s coaching as belittling, and said the coach singled out athletes he saw as weaker.
Villarreal’s grievance alleges that Laster was mentally abusive to his players and caused him emotional distress. He said Laster’s strategies caused a decline in team morale and lowered players’ motivation. Villarreal is a junior at Braswell.
“Players would try to quit due to Laster’s coaching ways, but he would not allow them to leave and play only for him,” Villarreal said in his grievance. “He would always get into it with his coaching staff, not allowing coaches to coach.”
Dustin Sharp said he grew to dread football. He told his parents he was in practice, but started skipping it, sitting in his car or staying in a school restroom.
“Honestly, it makes me look like a coward,” Sharp said. “I don’t care. I admit to it. I don’t care. I’m prioritizing my mental health, you know, rather than trying to be a part of his team. So I’m going to stand by that. I was in tears at the thought of being in his presence.”
Sharp and his mother said some players shared that they experienced suicidal ideas as a result of Laster’s coaching.
Communication between Sharp and district officials began early in May. Dustin and his mother intended to address the school board in a regular June session but were discouraged from naming staff members. Texas school boards cannot answer questions made during open forums that are part of each regular board meeting, and they can’t deliberate on any subject or item that isn’t on the meeting agenda.
A change in coaching expectations
Football coach and scholar Khari Roulhac said coaching isn’t what it used to be.
The Boston-based president of GetPsychedSports.org has dedicated much of his career to transforming youth sports. The nonprofit developed a curriculum for youth sports that is anchored by social-emotional learning.
Basically, Roulhac promotes youth sports that emphasize teamwork, conflict resolution and healthy emotional regulation. The nonprofit invites school districts to adopt its written curriculum, which allows student athletes a voice in training and competition and teaches them to advocate for themselves.
Coaching is subject to the same trends and changes that every other institution faces. GetPsychedSports uses seven principles to improve team culture, but the highlights are that athletes perform better in a positive, supportive environment, growth and improvement come from within, and athletes and teams grow when their program is culturally responsive and inclusive.
“Typically, high school football coaching is that you’ll get the authoritative coach with the demanding and contributing to an environment where there’s name-calling,” Roulhac said. “Even in football, there can be an environment that is promoting eating disorders and belittling, and threatening and humiliating. I would say that that’s commonplace. And that’s what I would consider old school, authoritarian coaching.”
Roulhac said a lot of championships have been won under authoritarian coaching. But his research shows there are other strategies.
“It’s the era that we’re in,” he said. “It’s a different child. And the expectations of that child, the expectations of the family. Families are expecting to have a voice, have a vehicle of some kind to be able to express themselves.”
Roulhac said coaches can build cohesion and trust by using constructive language and building a constructive team culture. It’s not that coaches avoid criticizing athletes. Feedback is essential, he said. But an athlete who feels supported will perform better — on and off the field — than an athlete who feels fearful or humiliated.
A social studies class wouldn’t berate students who failed a group project in front of the class. Roulhac said coaches can use harsher tactics because of tradition, but also because they aren’t bound to a curriculum.
“There’s a curriculum in the classroom, and all our social studies teachers have got to check this box and this box in the curriculum in order to be a satisfactory teacher or an above-satisfactory teacher,” Roulhac said. “In my experience as an athletic director, the basketball coach is doing one thing and the tennis coach is doing something different, you know, depending on the region. And so it’s important to have something in place, like a curriculum, where there’s some consistency.
“We’re all coaches. We’ve got to create a positive environment, for example, and be evaluated on it. It seems very simple to me.”
Students and grads urge decisive action
All the grievances suggest replacing Laster.
By Wednesday, the petition had 410 signatures, and 62% of the signatures come from users in North Texas.
Nikki Sharp said since the petition was posted, they’ve heard from other families. Some told the Sharps they have one more year at Braswell and plan to “stick it out.” But Dustin Sharp said Braswell football needs change, and urgently.
“This isn’t going to get kicked under the rug,” he said.