Lake Park parents come to coach’s defense

The internal probe that has rocked Lake Park High School for the past week is focused on a volunteer coach’s involvement in the Roselle school’s football program, officials said Wednesday in a carefully worded news release.

Officials did not name the volunteer coach or specify what they are investigating.

The probe already led the district to indefinitely suspend head coach Chris Roll last Friday and to place Principal Dominic Manola and Athletic Director Pete Schauer on administrative leave Tuesday.

It also has sparked a backlash from Lake Park graduates and parents of some players on the Lancers football team who attended a special school board meeting Wednesday to defend Coach Roll.

”Chris Roll is the reason why Lake Park has the legacy that it does,” said Ray Alford, one of Roll’s former players. “Please don’t forget it.”

Tim Denman, an Itasca resident who has a son on the football team, said before the meeting that Roll should be immediately reinstated.

”He has put his heart, his soul, his life into Lake Park High School and Lake Park football,” Denman said. “If we lose Chris Roll, our community will be affected.”

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