Suspension overturned for Russell County baseball coach Tony Rasmus
The suspension of Russell County High School head baseball coach Tony Rasmus has been overturned.
Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Terry Butts, serving as the hearing officer for Rasmus’ appeal to the state Department of Education, ruled in favor of the coach after the Russell County Board of Education suspended him without pay Oct. 18 until June following his conviction of harassment against a player who accused Rasmus of choking him.
“This means that the suspension has been reversed and set aside,” Jim McKoon, the coach’s attorney, told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. “We will be asking for Mr. Rasmus to be allowed to return to work next week.”
Rasmus won another ruling when Russell County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bellamy reduced the fine in the harassment case to from $500 to $50 and the payment to the Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission from $100 to $25. He also struck the court costs.
“The alleged victim in this case suffered no visible injury,” McKoon said, “and if you will recall went right back to playing baseball within a few minutes of the alleged incident.”
Background about Tony Rasmus case
On Oct. 18, a jury found Rasmus not guilty of a Class A misdemeanor of third-degree assault, the verdict a county judge reached in a June trial after a player accused the coach of choking him. The jurors concluded Rasmus is guilty of the lesser offense of harassment, for touching the player during the Feb. 16 confrontation.
At an Oct. 28 hearing stretching into the wee hours of the next day, the Russell County School District board rejected superintendent Brenda Coley’s request to fire Rasmus. Instead, the board voted 4-1 to suspend Rasmus without pay until June 30. He had been suspended with pay since March 2, the same day Rasmus turned himself in at the Russell County Sheriff’s Office and made bond on the assault charge.
Rasmus then appealed his suspension to the Alabama Department of Education.
Reaction to Tony Rasmus’ overturned suspension
In an email to the L-E, Rasmus thanked Judge Butts “for looking at what the evidence was and him not being worried about doing favors for friends. The truth mattered in his courtroom.
“Hopefully I can get back in the saddle, but that’s really up to the Russell County school board at this point. I’m in a holding pattern.”
Rasmus contends he was caught in a situation with people who are “connected and so powerful that they can absolutely railroad you with no proof. You always hear about Phenix City and how corrupt it is, but someone should make a movie over this silly mess.
“A baseball program that has been one of the best at helping kids reach college and pro ball has been destroyed over a lie. It’s disheartening. I’m a Brenda Coley fan and hate that’s she’s allowed herself to be led down this path that only hurt the kids at Russell County.”
The L-E didn’t reach Coley for comment before publication.
Tony Rasmus baseball success
Rasmus coached Russell County to the 2005 Alabama Class 5A state title and a Phenix City all-star team to the 1999 U.S. championship and runner-up finish in the Little League World Series. He played three seasons in the minor leagues during the 1980s. Three of his four sons also played professional baseball.
Rasmus has worked for 23 years in the Alabama public school system, so he needs only two more years to receive a full retirement package from the state. He told the L-E last fall he intends for those two years to remain the head baseball coach and weightlifting teacher at Russell County High School.
“I’m a fighter,” he said.
The RCHS baseball program never had a winning season before Rasmus’ first season as the head coach in 2001, he said. Since then, he led the Warriors to 590 wins, 17 area championships, a No. 1 national ranking by USA Today, Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball, helped 70 players earn college scholarships, including 25 in NCAA Division I, and Major League Baseball teams have drafted 19 of his players, including four in the first round, he said.
Interim Russell County baseball coach
The Russell County School District announced Tuesday it has hired Logan Williamson is be the high school’s interim head baseball coach.
According to the RCSD news release, Williamson is from Pensacola, Florida, and most recently was the head coach of the Covington Lumberjacks in the Valley Baseball League, a collegiate summer baseball league in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia.
Williamson coached for three years at Pensacola State College. He was the pitching coach for Pensacola Catholic High School, which won the 2012 Florida Class 4A state title and was ranked No. 1 nationally by MaxPreps. He also has conducted baseball camps in Pensacola and at Louisiana State University.
After the Chicago White Sox selected him in the 27th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball draft following his sophomore season at Pensacola Junior College, Williamson went 12-20 with a 5.23 ERA and one save in 196.1 innings, 50 games and 35 starts during four seasons in the minor leagues.
Staff writer Tim Chitwood contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 5:53 PM.
