THE FACTS
Avery's small group of privately-coached athletes has tallied 170 state champion medals, 31 All-American medals, 2 National podium Cross Country Club team finishes and 2 All-Time National Records and a National Champion, in distance running.
About 95% of his privately-coached athletes were the school record holders at their respective schools in cross country and the distance events in track. At last count, 62 out of his 65 privately-coached athletes went on to become collegiate runners over the last 8 years, with most garnering significant scholarships. Two of Guy’s runners include a National Champion, who is currently the top-high school recruit in the country, along with another top-10 recruit in the country.
At Brentwood, the Brentwood Boys' Cross Country Club, recognized as one of the best programs in the entire country, operated 100% independently from the school team, as required by national sanctioning. Club teams cannot compete as school teams.
There was never any "pay for play" in effect. In fact, the single disgruntled parent who made these accusations, actually had his "pay for play" demand rejected, before falsely claiming "pay for play" against Avery.
Varsity teams were determined in the most objective and simple merit-based way possible: If you raced as a top-7 runner on the team, you were varsity regardless of whether you were a coaching client of Avery’s. Everyone knew this policy and it was followed. This varsity team policy was 100% fair and was stated at the start of the Summer and Fall and reiterated before and after every cross country meet by the school coaches, including Boys' coach, Billy Anderson and Girls' coach, Lara Whitaker.
Avery refused offers by the Athletic Director to be hired and paid as a school coach and he never accepted a penny from Brentwood High School or Williamson County School District.
In the two Fall seasons when Avery was listed as a volunteer, no athlete that was not already privately-coached, ever paid for coaching services, and no athlete was ever asked to pay for coaching services.
Avery volunteered his time to help the school's varsity teams and any runner with varsity level ability, was freely coached. In both cross country and track, dozens of athletes were freely helped every season by Avery, without compensation.
Avery was given permission and encouraged to use the Brentwood track by the Brentwood HS Athletic Director, Ron Seigenthaler. Both the BHS Principal, Kevein Keidel and BHS Athletic Director, Ron Seigenthaler, were fully aware of the occasional track usage for privately-coached athletes. It is a matter of public record that even the WCS Athletic Director, Jeremy Qualls, was aware of Avery's occasional track usage. The large majority of Avery's private training group practices were not on a track and were held off-site and were always held completely separate from school practice times. In contrast, it is common knowledge that Gary Kinder was a paid Brentwood High School track coach, who used Brentwood facilities almost daily for the past decade, while also charging Brentwood and other athletes, for private coaching.
Avery absolutely did not refuse to meet for this investigation. In fact, Avery offered to meet with Human Resource Specialist, Lindsey Quirk, on 24-hour notice to clarify all accusations and yet he was still not interviewed, nor were the large consensus of facts presented by the large majority of parents, included in the WCS report.