‘Devastated and heartbroken:’ Running community shocked by allegations against ex-Santa Rosa High coach

During his 27-year run as head coach of track and cross-county at Santa Rosa High School, Doug Courtemarche often urged his athletes to check their troubles at the gate.

“You walk through that ‘Panther Territory’ sign and leave everything behind,” he told The Press Democrat in 2022, explaining his approach. “This is your safe place.”

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Courtemarche, 78, now faces shocking allegations which, if proven, will upend and overshadow the legacy he leaves behind after three decades of coaching in the region.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office on Jan. 16, Courtemarche faces one felony count of possessing obscene images of minors. According to the arrest affidavit, a device in his possession contained over 1,000 files of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM.

The allegations, against a figure long revered – and for whom the Panthers’ running track was named in 2022 – left Courtemarche’s peers and former runners blindsided and, in some cases, badly shaken.

The revelations have also raised questions about what Santa Rosa City Schools officials knew, when they knew it, and why officials opted not to issue any public alert about the felony charge pending against the legendary ex-coach.

Santa Rosa City Schools leaders say they were first notified of a law enforcement investigation into Courtemarche in July, but that authorities did not share what the investigation was about at that time.

“We were very clear with California Highway Patrol in asking if there is any possible chance that (the investigation) involved any of our students and it was an emphatic ‘no,’” Vicki Zands, the district’s personnel chief, said on Tuesday morning.

District officials decided at that time not to rehire Courtemarche, who had been an at-will employee in his continuing role with the Santa Rosa High running teams in recent years, meaning he was offered reemployment on an annual basis, Zands said. He was also removed from the district’s substitute teacher list in July.

No official district investigation was opened in July when notice came of the criminal investigation, Zands said. And no notice was given to the school community or wider public.

School was not in session and Courtemarche was no longer in his role as a volunteer coach, said Zands and the district’s spokesperson, Patrick Gannon.

“(Police said): none of your students were at risk,” Zands said. “Did I type his name into my emails? Yes. But there wasn’t anything there.”

It wasn’t until mid-January, when Courtemarche was arrested and charged, that the school district became aware of the nature of the allegations against the veteran coach, Zands and Gannon said.

It was only after a reporter’s call to the district Monday, Feb. 9, that the district acknowledged Courtemarche’s arrest and their awareness, for seven months, of the criminal investigation into him.

Zands and Gannon contended the district’s responsibility ended at his removal from coaching and substitute roles. After that, they said, the district believed he posed no potential danger to students.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Courtermarche told a reporter that, at his attorney’s advice, he would not comment on his case.

“There’s a lot of things I’d like to say, but it’s better I just keep silent right now.”

He has yet to enter a plea, with a next court date set for March 3.

Sonoma County Assistant District Attorney Brian Staebell confirmed Tuesday that the charge against Courtemarche includes an enhancement alleging that the defendant “both possessed over 1,000 images, and that at least 10 involved children under 12 years old.”

Enhancements affect potential sentencing. In Courtemarche’s case, the enhancement could, if proved, increase the maximum sentence to five years, instead of three years.

It’s difficult to overstate the esteem in which Courtemarche had been held in the local running community. In 2022, a half-dozen of his peers in the running world offered testimonials of support for naming the Santa Rosa High track for him.

“You can’t go wrong,” said one, by “placing by his name on the track where he has made a positive impact on hundreds of young lives.”

That honor, bestowed by the school board four years ago, was quickly and quietly revoked last month. The sign carrying Courtemarche’s name was removed sometime in mid-January, after officials were notified of the charges against him.

On Monday, Gannon, the district spokesperson, said that move was in accordance with board policy, 7130, which allows the district to remove the name of any person who violates any law. It is unclear who ordered the sign to be taken down.

Carrie Joseph, who took over for Courtemarche as Santa Rosa head coach in 2020 after working with him as an assistant for 23 years, described herself as “devastated and heartbroken” by the allegations against him.

“I have coached with Doug since 1997 and saw him as a trusted mentor, father figure, and close friend,” she wrote in an email on Tuesday.

“I am even more heartbroken for the Panther Track and Cross Country Family, past and present. I have had more time to grieve and process this, but they have only had one day. For some, yesterday may have been one of the hardest days of their lives.”

School district leaders say they are focused on how to support students moving forward.

“The shock and tragedy of this, the lack of awareness (of specifics) everything that’s happened, is something our high school community is going to have to process and work through, and we need to be there to support that conversation,” said Santa Rosa City Schools Board President Nick Caston.

He explained, generally, how the board receives information about staff members who undergo criminal investigations – mainly in private, closed-session meetings. And when those meetings happen after a staff member is no longer employed by the district, “there’s not much for us to do,” he said on Tuesday.

“We have to defer to law enforcement and then the District Attorney’s Office first,” Caston said, referring to the public silence from district leaders in the weeks since they were notified of the charges filed against Courtemarche.

“If we were to generically get out ahead of that type of notifying, and caused added trauma or harm to a victim just because they were in our community, that still wouldn’t be acceptable,” he added. “We need those other agencies to take the lead.”

The district did not make Interim Superintendent Lisa August Hulme available to speak with reporters Tuesday, nor was a written statement provided on her behalf.

The county’s tight-knit running community was left dumbfounded and in disbelief.

Larry Meredith, former longtime head track and cross country coach at Montgomery High School, said that the impression he got from people who knew Courtemarche at Santa Rosa was that his athletes “adored” him.

“I never heard a bad word about him as far as him interacting with his kids,” Meredith said on Tuesday. “I knew Doug quite a bit before he started coaching (at Santa Rosa) and nothing would indicate that he would be into this sort of thing. Total surprise.”

“I’m as surprised as anybody really,” he added. “I’m shocked, and it would be an even bigger shock if he was doing anything with the athletes. I just never saw anything that would indicate that.”

Luis Rosales, former longtime cross-country coach at Piner High school, called the allegations “disappointing” and “unfortunate.”

“Concerns about something like that never crossed my mind and I think the vast majority of coaches will probably say the same thing,” he said.

Darin Carter, who was coached by Courtemarche and then coached alongside him in the mid-2000s, didn’t recall any concerns about his behavior around youth.

“You never know what’s going on in someone’s mind,” he said. “But as far as his actions, they were always appropriate.”

John Anderson, the current head track coach for Rancho Cotate High School, who has known Courtemarche for over 45 years, found out about the charges from The Press Democrat’s Monday article, and was “blown away,” he said.

“He was the best man at my wedding, and we started the Big Cat Invitational together,” added Anderson, referring to the annual Santa Rosa High meet in March, featuring hundreds of North Bay athletes and marking the unofficial start of the track and field season.

“This is something that I would have never considered. He was beloved, to put it mildly,” Anderson said.

Amid the tumult surrounding Courtemarche, the Santa Rosa High running program’s top priority, said Joseph, his successor, “is to provide support and guidance for not only our team, but those in our extended Panther family who are hurting, sad, and confused.”

Joseph also expressed gratitude for the “outpouring” of support she’s received “from parents, alumni, friends, and coaching peers.”

Those expressions of solidarity, she said, have “reinforced both how strong this community is and how much people care about our team.

“This is how and why our team will be able to move forward.”

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Adriana Gutierrez at adriana.gutierrez@pressdemocrat.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Kienan O’Doherty at kienan.odoherty@pressdemocrat.com

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. OnX/Twitter @JustGusPD.