With adrenaline still coursing through his veins, Darren Ault addressed his team in the wake of a near-upset of one of the most prominent girls basketball programs in New Jersey.
“This is it,” he told his players inside the locker room at Holmdel High School after a nine-point loss to Red Bank Catholic that night. “We’re in this now. We’re right there.”
It even came with a prediction: “After our win over Ewing this week, we will be in the state Top 20,” Ault told his players.
That was Jan. 11. Ault didn’t get the chance to see his team again.
Speaking publicly for the first time, Ault, a veteran coach in the Shore Conference, detailed his stunning midseason dismissal as the Holmdel girls basketball coach this past winter.
“I was shocked,” he told NJ Advance Media. “I was stunned.”
The morning after that loss to Red Bank Catholic, Ault received a call from second-year Holmdel principal Matt Kukoda—a former basketball coach himself and someone that Ault said he had a good, working relationship with—to inform him that he was being suspended indefinitely for what the school was labeling as “inappropriate touching.”
“I thought he was joking,” Ault said. “I thought he was busting my chops because we had a good relationship. He said, ‘No, I wouldn’t joke about something like this.’
For Ault, a coach with nearly three decades of experience in various forms of coaching, from high school to AAU, was taken aback by the claim.
“I knew it wasn’t accurate,” he said.
Ault was suspended as coach after that Red Bank Catholic game, although he held out hope that he would return to the bench at some point during the season. But that never materialized.
On Jan. 24, Ault interviewed with the Holmdel Police Department for 45 minutes, where “it became clear to them early on that nothing was there,” he said.
No complaint file was filed by the police department, according to patrolman John Maguire.
As the season trudged on, and Holmdel continued to improve as one of the top teams in the Shore Conference, Ault continued to plead his case with Kukoda, who had taken over as coach, asking what he could do to get back on the bench.
“We talked for three or four days until Matt finally said he couldn’t argue with me about it,” Ault said. “I said, ‘Matt, I don’t want you to argue with me. I want you to argue for me.’”
That, Ault said, was the last of their correspondence.
Kukoda declined to comment when reached by NJ Advance Media.
Ault, who compiled a 43-34 record in four seasons at Holmdel and had previous coaching stints at nearby Mater Dei and St. John Vianney, said he received unwavering support from nearly all of the parents of players on the team, an account that was verified at the Jan. 26 Board of Education meeting, where two letters of support — one from players’ families and the other from the players themselves— were read. The parents’ letter, on behalf of 16 families, read:
“We are all dismayed by recent events and wish to publicly convey our support for coach Darren Ault, coach of the girls varsity basketball team who has not been on our sidelines lately. Throughout this, the varsity team members have been unwavering in their support for coach. Many of us have been with coach Ault for four years now and know first hand of his dedication to our girls. He has put in a tremendous amount of time and effort into training our girls, preparing them for games and sharing a few life lessons along the way. He has been respectful and professional at all times and has supported each and every player, motivating the girls with encouragement. He has created a culture of positivity, by where the girls really support one another. The team chemistry has been a pleasure to witness. In summary, we unequivocally support coach Ault and would like to see his name and reputation restored, not only as a coach but as a man of outstanding character within our community.”
The players’ letter, signed by 18 players, echoed that sentiment, stating:
“We would like to express our support for coach Ault as well as the rest of the coaching staff. Our safety and comfort with coach Ault was never questioned as he always treated us with respect. His love and passion for the game shined through in everything he did for us. He treated us like family and was a person that our team looked up to. We hope that our undeniable support will help move this process to closure and will restore the reputation of a good man, coach and mentor.”
It took 29 days from his suspension for the Holmdel Board of Education to meet with Ault in person to levy the accusations against him, he said. The incident is alleged to have occurred five weeks before his suspension, at a scrimmage, Ault said.
According to district policy, employees need to be notified within 10 days of their suspensions to address them and dictate a corrective action plan, Ault said.
On Feb. 9, the district met with Ault and his attorney to present the evidence: three videos or still image shots of Ault during a scrimmage next to an unidentified player, with his hand near her back, giving instructions during a free throw.
Ault couldn’t believe what was just presented as evidence of a career-threatening violation had passed muster with the district.
“It was a complete gut punch,” Ault said. “I went through the gamut of emotions. As a coach-and I’ve been doing this for 30 years-you always encourage your players, just to say, hey I’m here with you. Sometimes it’s a pat on the back or a pat on the shoulder or a pat on the head.”
Holmdel superintendent Dr. Scott Cascone declined to elaborate on the specifics of the suspension, stating, “We don’t typically comment on personnel matters,” but said that the school did not terminate Ault from his coaching position and isn’t prohibiting him from reapplying to the job.
Elizabeth Urbanski, the president of the school board, directed a message seeking comment to Cascone.
For parents of players who have spent years under Ault’s tutelage at Holmdel, the violation was a non-starter—they never believed it was true.
“I’m not friends with Darren Ault, but I know him,” said the parent of a current varsity player at Holmdel, who requested anonymity to speak openly about the matter. “You can always question a coach with [player] rotations and stuff like that but I would never once question how he treats the kids. My daughter is a senior. Darren Ault never treated her with anything but respect. This is very unfair what happened to him, his reputation and integrity were attacked on an accusation that was unfounded.”
The complaint, according to Ault, came from the parent of a junior varsity player that wasn’t satisfied with the playing time their daughter was seeing. During an early-season holiday tournament, Ault and his staff elected to bring up a handful of JV players to help fill out the bench, since Holmdel was shorthanded during the winter COVID-19 surge.
Ault made it clear, he said, that it was a temporary stint for those players but it could become permanent if they improved. After a few days, and with the return of other varsity players, those players were moved back to JV so they could play more frequently.
That was the breaking point, Ault believes, and what led to the parent’s complaint and his ultimate dismissal.
Those accusations, baseless as they were, still cut Ault, who has built a reputation as one of the top coaches in the Shore Conference and helped turn Holmdel around during his time there.
“I was offended,” he said. “I identified who it was. This was pure evil, coming out with that and knowing it was false.”
The parents that spoke out in support of Ault never heard back from the board.
“Never,” the parent said .”I sent them a note. They just responded and said, ‘thank you for your note. We will review the matter.’ I never heard anything back from them. To me, it’s the old thing about if my kid isn’t playing, they made sure that Darren was going to lose his job, one way or the other. That’s what this is about.”
Twenty-three days after that BOE meeting, on the eve of Holmdel playing Manasquan in the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals, Ault was informed that his suspension would last for the remainder of the season, but that he could enroll in sensitivity training and reapply for the job if he wished.
But Ault isn’t interested.
“I was just stunned at the lack of support,” he said. “I have frustration with the lack of leadership. You’re taking the opinion of one person when the bulk of people are saying the opposite. I would love to come back and work for the girls at Holmdel, but I won’t work for that administration.”
Holmdel finished with a record of 19-9, reaching the quarterfinals of the Shore Conference Tournament and the semifinals in the Central Jersey, Group 2 state tournament, bowing out to state power Manasquan by single digits in both games.
“I am extremely proud of the girls and their resiliency through a very challenging experience,” he said. “They remained true to our mantra of staying connected to the vine, and worked hard to reach their potential. “They are a very special group and this was the year we were building for.”
But the entire situation, all the way to the sticky end, should serve as a reminder, the parent said, that this can happen to anyone.
“You’re always trying to figure out the best team for your kid to play on,” the parent of a Holmdel senior said. “It could be AAU, could be high school, who are the players, who are the coaches? Pay attention to who the parents of the kids are, because some of them are so self-absorbed and they’re completely missing the point.
“For the coaches in the Shore, they don’t make a lot of money doing this. But they teach our kids a great game with a valuable lesson that goes way beyond the classroom and they don’t get enough credit for what they do. What I’m saying to them is hey, protect yourself. Because what happened to Darren can easily happen to them.”
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Brian Deakyne may be reached at bdeakyne@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianDeakyne.
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