MISSOULA – A high school football coach in Montana is under investigation by the school district after district officials said he made comments on social media suggesting that demonstrators protesting in Salt Lake City should be lynched.
In response to someone else’s post on Facebook in support of law enforcement, Jeff Snavely said, “they should all be strung up and hang in the public like the old days.”
Snavely, the head coach at Darby High School, told the Missoulian and 406mtsports.com on Thursday that his post was “misconstrued” and that he was talking about people rioting.
“It was not intended to be a racial comment. I am not a racist,” he said. “The only thing I want to say is that I apologize to the Darby community and Darby school. The post was not about Black Lives Matter. It wasn’t.”
Snavely’s remarks came after protests in Salt Lake City over the death of George Floyd, a black man pinned down by a white Minneapolis police officer who pressed a knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes. His May 25 death prompted global protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
The comments were originally posted May 31, and have since been deleted.
Darby Schools Superintendent Danny Johnston confirmed the statements in that post were connected to the investigation.
“We are definitely looking into it, and we take things like this pretty seriously. We do not advocate that. He is not the voice of our school, and we take it very seriously,” Johnston said.
Snavely is a seasonal employee with the Darby School District and has coached the football team since 2014.