Former Staples Football Player Shocked by Accusations against Coach

While a 2011 Staples grad who played for Assistant Freshman Coach Michael Pickering said he was shocked to hear about who he remembered to be inspiring and supportive, he is sure the team will rise above one coaches bad decision.

DJ Sixsmith, who now attends Fordham University on a path to a broadcast career, said Pickering was his favorite coach when he played football his freshman and sophomore year at Staples High School.

"He was a type of guy you could rely on for encouragement and advise," Sixsmith said. "I wasn’t the biggest guy on the team, but it didn't matter, really, how big or strong I was. It was how much heart I had, and coach Pickering was someone who really inspired me by saying that."

Sixsmith explained there was nothing of inappropriate nature occuring while Pickering was his coach. "Me and the rest of the guys on the team just had a friendly relationship with Coach Pick, nothing away from the school. He was a professional guy and a good coach," Sixsmith said. "The story becomes even bigger now that this whole Penn State dilemma has been going on," Sixsmith said.

"So people will now associate the two together, but 'No,' they are two very different situations," Sixsmith said. Although Sixsmith called it a sad day for Staples football, he is sure Staples will move past this mishap because of how it was properly handled by Staples' administration.

He believes the administration will not let it become an issue in the future. Board of Education Chair Don O'Day agreed, and was pleased with how the administration and the Westport Police Department reacted.

"The speed at which the administration and the police department had begun their discussion underscores the school’s commitment for the safety and the loyalty of our students," O'Day said.

As soon as the information was discovered, the administration worked well into the evening Tuesday and was prepared to deal with the authorities Wednesday morning, according to O'Day.

Prior to this incident, Pickering, a Norwalk resident, had been a Wreckers football coach for nine seasons in addition to being a freshman lacrosse coach, according to the Wreckers' website. Pickering, who also worked for the Westport Public Schools Maintenance Department, graduated from Brien McMahon High School in 1989.

"It is a shame a great coach made a mistake, and unfortunately it had to become so big like this," Sixsmith said. "I hope the best for him in the future." As far as the future for Staples football, Pickering's mistake may be a topic of conversation, but that's it. "The team is going to be able to rise above it," Sixsmith said. "I think Coach P. [Head Coach Marce Petroccio] and the rest of the staff have been there long enough and they will be able to deal with this controversy and not let it affect what is happening on the field."

The mishap occurred just before the Thanksgiving Day rivalry game between Staples (8-0) and Greenwich (8-1), which will decide the FCIAC championship.  The forty-year-old former assistant freshman coach, accused of providing members of the freshman team with passwords to a pornographic website, was charged with three counts of risk of injury to a minor after he turned himself in yesterday at Westport Police Department. He was issued a court-set $50,000 bond.