By Ben Goessling, Minneapolis Star Tribune, special to the Tribune

Two years after landing the highest-profile coaching job of his career, former Albert Lea High School boys&8217; basketball coach Matt Addington certainly didn&8217;t expect to be in this position, with a house on the market and a satchelful of unanswered questions.

But whatever he lost when his coaching career turned south &8212; in geography and status &8212; from Lakeville South to Kenyon-Wanamingo, Addington will trade to get back to his hardwood sanctuary.

&8220;It was hard to work in a place where you knew you couldn&8217;t trust everybody,&8221; the former Lakeville South boys&8217; basketball coach said. &8220;If I could have started today, I think it would have been entirely different.&8221;

He stayed silent for five months after a postgame outburst led to his suspension and eventual resignation as a teacher and coach at Lakeville South, but Addington opened up recently about his time with the Cougars and the events that led to his departure.

And while he admits he made a mistake in using profanity and kicking a garbage can during his locker-room display after a loss to Owatonna in January, he questions whether that alone was enough for athletics director Neil Strader to tell him he would not be hired back.

&8220;I&8217;m still waiting for an answer from Neil Strader,&8221; he said. &8220;It wasn&8217;t my choice [to resign]. There are things you take day after day from kids. I would apologize for the things that I said. But to basically fire me for that is off the charts.&8221;

Strader declined to comment for this story.

Addington&8217;s theory is that players and parents never warmed to his coaching style, and the Owatonna incident provided an excuse to remove him.

&8220;This decision was made long ago,&8221; he said. &8220;They were just waiting for something to happen.&8221;

Relationship rocky from start

As Addington described it, his relationship with Cougars players was fractured almost from the start &8212; something he never dealt with in Albert Lea.

Said Ben Woodside, who now plays for Division-I North Dakota State, after Woodside&8217;s senior season in 2004: &8220;Coach Addington is an unbelievable coach who will do anything for his players and fans,&8221; said senior Ben Woodside. &8220;He has inspired many people here in Albert Lea and has gone out of his way for his team. I had so much fun being a player for him. He has helped me out in many ways, and I can&8217;t thank him enough. The Albert Lea program couldn’t ask for a better coach.&8221;

Woodside&8217;s comments echoed the sentiments felt my much of the community and student body, which dressed in hand-made T-shirts, donning the slogan &8220;Addington&8217;s Army.&8221;

After leading the Tigers to two of their most successful seasons, setting a school record for wins (19) in 2004 and taking Albert Lea to state for the first time in 69 years in 2005, Addington announced his departure to a new high school, Lakeville South.

Addington was a 1991 graduate of Rochester John Marshall,where he played basketball and was all-conference in football. A quarterback, he attended Augustana College on a football scholarship and was a four-year member of the team.

He began his coaching career at Augustana College where he spent a season and a half with the women’s basketball team. After a year as a girls&8217; basketball assistant at Hills-Beaver Creek High School, he moved to Kenyon-Wanamingo and was an assistant boys&8217; basketball coach for four years and head football coach for three. He followed that stint with four years at Albert Lea.

But Addington said his reception at Lakeville South was lukewarm, and things only got worse.

The coach said he clashed with players on issues ranging from practice habits to academic rigor and honesty.

Kevin Lundeen, who played for Addington and graduated from Lakeville South in June, confirmed many of the differences, saying Addington &8220;took basketball a little too far and held it to a high standard,&8221; and adding &8220;he tried to be more than a basketball coach. We felt he tried to change our lives in ways other than basketball. Checking grades is fine. He was making sure we were on time to class,&8221; Lundeen said. &8220;If we weren&8217;t, we had to run a little. One time we adopted a family for Christmas. He wanted us not to take stuff for granted. There&8217;s good and bad to that, I guess.&8221;

Larry Thompson, the Cougars&8217; football coach and ninth-grade basketball coach who took over for Addington, said the coach&8217;s emphasis on academics rubbed some parents the wrong way, as well.

&8220;It was coming out later that a few parents thought, &8216;Parenting is my job,&8217;&8221; Thompson said. &8220;There were a few issues, after the fact. They were not taking it at all the way Matt had intended it.&8221;

Things came to a head Jan. 26, with the 62-61 overtime loss to Owatonna.

Addington said he entered a locker room where &8220;kids were laughing about the fact that one of them had snot on his jersey.

&8220;I said I was really proud of them,&8221; Addington said. &8220;I got into the coaches&8217; office, and 10 seconds later, it was like a party started again.&8221;

The coach said he used profanity twice, but insisted it was the first time he&8217;d done that in 12 years of coaching.

&8220;Outside of two words, I would not go back and do one thing differently,&8221; he said.

Days later, Addington composed a touching letter to the editor to dispel some rumors and thank several people in Albert Lea for their years of devotion to him and his program. He also said he and his wife, Leah, didn&8217;t regret their move.

Suspension brings questions

Addington said he immediately told Strader what had happened.

He expected a reprimand, he said, but is still bewildered by what happened next.

Strader called Addington on Jan. 28 to tell him he was suspended while the district investigated the incident.

Addington said Strader offered the interim job to Addington&8217;s father, Gary, an assistant coach with the team. Addington said Strader then told him Thompson would take the job if Addington&8217;s father would not.

In the next week, Addington said, district officials became involved with the investigation. Eventually, Addington said, he was shown the investigation report and told he would not be hired back after a season-long coaching leave of absence.

He took issue with the investigation, saying the district only talked to the team&8217;s 10 seniors and did not interview any assistant coaches.

The investigation&8217;s report, Addington said, showed that players described incidents that never took place.

Information obtained in a data practices request to the district showed that there were six complaints against Addington in his two years at Lakeville South, but there was no final disciplinary action against him.

Lundeen said while Addington &8220;would get mad randomly,&8221; the Owatonna incident was the worst thing the coach did.

Coach tries to move forward

His season over, Addington said he barely left his classroom the rest of the school year.

Five basketball players dropped his photography class the day after the suspension, he said, and he saw just one game in person the rest of the year.

Though he said he was mildly vindicated when he saw Cougars players &8220;make a mockery out of themselves on TV&8221; by complaining about the officiating in a 50-48 state semifinal loss to Buffalo &8212; a game that still is a sore spot for Thompson and Lundeen &8212; the coach was ultimately after something else.

&8220;I would hope they&8217;d look back and say, &8216;I see what he was trying to do,&8217;&8221; he said.

The conclusion to the episode is still unclear. Thompson said he hopes he never goes through a situation like it again, while Lundeen said he doesn&8217;t know if we really learned anything from it. We wish our styles could have come together,&8221; he said. &8220;It just wasn’t going to happen.&8221;

Addington took the Kenyon-Wanamingo job after a long back-and-forth with himself about whether he wanted to coach again.

Ultimately, he decided the game, not the spotlight, was more important.

&8220;People read about my situation and think for $4,500 a year, if we stick our necks out and get savaged, coaches are really stupid,&8221; he said. &8220;But I don&8217;t think I would have gotten back in if I didn&8217;t love it.&8221;

Tribune staff contributed to this report