ETV News stock photo by Jeff Barrett
It has been a rollercoaster ride for the past week for Jared Butler and his staff. They were informed by Carbon administration on Monday, June 29, that they would no longer coach boys’ basketball for the Dinos. After the word got out, the community’s outcry led to a second meeting with administration where an apology was made and the coaching positions were re-extended.
Butler and his staff took the weekend to decide what would be the best course of action for the school, program and players. In response to the events this past week, Butler posted a raw, heartfelt video expressing his thoughts and feelings.
He began the video with a statement about how grateful and humble he is to those that have backed him and his staff. “We can’t believe the support we’ve received from both Carbon and Emery County. I can’t thank those enough who have either texted or called, [and] put messages online for our support,” he opened. “Please know that we are truly grateful and words don’t express enough.”
“I want us as a community, as two communities, to just throw this all behind us. We have too much garbage going on in our world right now. Too much negative, and this has brought up a lot of evil, negative and harsh feelings. And all for what?” He continued, “For whatever reason, whatever reason this all happened, I say we put it behind us.”
Butler’s decision to return as the head coach for the Dinos came down to two reasons. In his own words, he and his staff are returning because of “all the support we’ve received, it would be hard to turn our back on that. That’s one reason. But the main reason is for these young men.”
“I coach, Cami, Moge [and] Tyson, we [all] coach for the kids,” he said. “True, we love the competition, we love basketball, but it’s so fun to see them succeed. It’s so fun to see them come off the gym floor with a big smile on their face.”
Butler then spoke to the community. “I hope if you guys read this, if you see this, you can put it behind you,” he said. “These men or this man, you got to look at the good within. [They are] great fathers, great husbands, great people in our society [and] great leaders. I can go ahead and put it behind and let all this off of me because life is too short.”
Lastly, he addressed his players, “Let’s go. The sky’s the limit this year, we’ve got a great team. Region champs, here we come. We can even do a lot of damage in state. [If] we get together the way our group can, it will be a lot of fun.”
“Let’s put all this trouble behind us and go forward,” concluded Butler.
To watch the full video, please click here.