Police investigating fired KY high school basketball coach accused of grooming
Note: The Herald-Leader does not typically identify victims of abuse or alleged abuse. However, this story includes the name of an individual who has come forward in a publicly circulated open letter with allegations against a Kentucky public school employee.
Kentucky State Police are investigating Chris Gaither, a former head boys’ basketball coach at Martha Layne Collins High School fired in January amid accusations of grooming a student.
“There is an open and active investigation. Everything is still pending. We are trying to gather further information to try and get it resolved,” KSP Trooper Andy Stepp told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday night.
Gaither was accused of grooming an underage high school student and was fired in January by Shelby County School officials, the Herald-Leader reported in January.
Kentucky State Police confirmed their investigation to several media outlets Tuesday.
A Shelby County Public Schools district spokesperson in January would not say whether the firing and the accusations were linked.
“As of January 15th, Chris Gaither is no longer employed with Shelby County Public Schools,” district spokesperson Joshua Rhodes told the Herald-Leader in January. “The employee was terminated by (Superintendent Joshua) Matthews, citing multiple Board of Education policies. However, due process continues.”
Asked whether the grooming allegations detailed in a publicly circulated open letter in December led to the firing, Rhodes said “multiple board policies, not a single policy.”
A coach at Collins since the 2011-12 season, Gaither was previously placed on leave with pay Nov. 17-25, 2025, but reinstated briefly before being placed on leave again in December and fired in January.
“Allowing him to go back into the classroom would be a huge disservice to me, the girls who have similar stories involving him and future female students,” former student Hayley Weddle wrote in the letter to the school district that was also shared online. “I understand now that this man is a predator, and he should be held responsible for his actions.”
In the letter, which was posted on Facebook in December 2025, Weddle alleges Gaither messaged her over text and Snapchat, often late at night, while she was a student and team manager from fall 2012 to her graduation in 2014. As Weddle got closer to graduating, the messages became more provocative, including asking questions about her sexual history, she wrote.
Two weeks after graduating in June 2014, Gaither allegedly kissed Weddle while she was babysitting his children at his house, according to the letter. Gaither invited Weddle over the next day, giving Weddle the impression he was going to explain his actions, but instead he allegedly convinced her to have sex, her letter read.