Over a dozen student athletes and parents recently took to the Carson City School Board meeting to report directly to trustees their concerns over the new head Cross Country and Track coach Russell “Russ” Munyan, and to ask for his immediate removal.
This is the first in a two-part series. Check back next week for the second installment.
Allegations were levied against Munyan, CHS athletic staff and district administrators alike. Among the allegations were verbal abuse, improper training techniques, inappropriate touching and conduct towards young female athletes, and retaliation against both students and staff alike for taking their reports.
During the school board meeting, students across divisions, ages and genders provided detailed examples of their concerns, but it was not the first time athletes had brought these complaints to the district.
These reports align with stories of other parents throughout the district who, earlier this year, asked us to investigate their concerns relating to bullying incidents being ignored:
Parents reported they had been escalating their concerns to the district through written letters and face-to-face meetings as early as mid-April, but they knew students and even other coaches on the team had been voicing their concerns to the athletic director as well as school administrators even earlier.
This was acknowledged by Vice Principal Rodney Wade at the cross country informational night for parents and athletes just an hour prior to the school board meeting.
According to parents and students in attendance, Wade read from a typed statement which included the following:
“Over the course of the season, administration received concerns from students, parents, and community members regarding communication, training practices, travel logistics, athlete experience, inappropriate behavior, and overall program operations. We also received and reviewed a student letter submitted during the spring season, and I met with that student representative personally about those concerns.”
The letter Wade referenced had been provided to both himself, Athletic Director Thomas Reymer, and Principal Dan Carstens. Twenty-four athletes signed the letter from both the boys’ and girls’ teams, representing JV and Varsity runners alike.
The complaints from the letter are summarized as follows:
- Inconsistent and Dangerous Training Plans Relying on generic, AI-generated structures, Munyan’s erratic and unpersonalized training plans force all athletes—regardless of experience level or gender—to complete identical workouts, leading to increased injuries, burnout, and/or stagnant performance.
- Dismissal of Athlete Health and Feedback The coach consistently disregards input regarding workout intensity and fatigue, interrupting experienced athletes and even sidelining runners in direct retaliation for disagreeing with his methods.
- Severe Logistical Failures Chronic disorganization and unpreparedness, highlighted by the failure to properly book lodging for the Dublin Distance Fiesta, routinely leave athletes without itineraries, meals, or safe warm-up times.
- Lack of Race-Day Support and Advocacy Rather than providing pre-race strategy or advocating for his distance runners, Munyan focuses his attention on jumping and sprinting events, chats with rival coaches during his own athletes’ races, and has even failed to inform winning runners that they qualified to compete the following day.
- Subjective and Poor Event Placement Defying objective performance metrics, the coach frequently limits the team’s competitive potential by placing runners with stronger personal records into JV races behind slower athletes and leaving capable Varsity spots completely unfilled.
- Cruelty and Unprofessionalism Athletes report facing unnecessarily harsh, negative criticism and cruel comments following their races from a coach who refuses to take personal responsibility for his own operational failures.
- Mass Attrition and Low Morale The hostile environment and persistent lack of support have driven team morale so low that numerous freshmen have switched to sprinting events, while a majority of upperclassmen have quit the distance program entirely.
You can view the full letter at the bottom of the story. However, we have redacted student signatures for privacy.
Female athletes have reported inappropriate behavior all season, students and families say
While all students complained of unprofessional behavior, improper coaching techniques, verbal abuse, and concerns over Coach Munyan not having the necessary training or experience to safely or effectively coach young athletes, several female athletes also reported feeling physically unsafe around the new coach.
Editor’s Note: While students must provide their names as a requirement for public comment at the school board meeting, as they are minors, we will not be printing them here for the sake of privacy. Students and their parents who spoke with Carson Now directly were given the option to remain anonymous, use an alias, or speak on the record so long as they were over the age of 18 or their parents gave consent directly to Carson Now for their name to be used.
One female athlete identified as Female Athlete 1 [FA1] reported that Munyan gives the female athletes extra attention, which is not offered to the male athletes, including watching them during workouts, offering to carry items for them, and offering to give them massages.
“I also feel it’s important to mention a personal experience that made me uncomfortable,” FA1 told trustees. “On the first day of cross country practice, I mentioned I was sore and the head coach asked if I had a massage gun at home and I said I did not. He insisted several times that I use his, and even after I declined, he kept me after practice, went to his car and [retrieved his massage gun], and had me use his, despite my repeated refusals. This situation made me feel uneasy and crossed a personal boundary. I’ve heard from multiple female athletes saying that they feel uncomfortable and/or unsafe, and that is a concern that should not be taken lightly.”
A second female athlete [FA2] told the board that female students often report feeling uncomfortable around the coach, and many have left the sport altogether. “He often inserted himself into the girls’ spaces and conversations at meets in ways that felt inappropriate and uncomfortable. Athletes deserve to feel safe, respected and comfortable around their coaches at all times.”
A third female athlete with [FA3] broke down during public comment and asked the board to not continue dismissing her and her teammates’ concerns.
“I watched every day, for weeks as something they love turned into something they dreaded. I watched them struggle and yell and wonder and cry. I listened to their infuriating stories of injustice and their feelings of being afraid and trapped. I watched it grow harder for them to eat, to sleep, to run, to get up in the morning. I watched them quit with broken hearts and run without any heart left to give.”
A student athlete who spoke with Carson Now on the requirement of anonymity detailed an off-campus incident in which Munyan allegedly attempted to isolate a 14-year-old female student in a van. Some students had been brought to a trailhead after school for practice by Munyan in a district van, while others were riding in personal vehicles or with friends.
Students and parents say transportation policy lacks citation, only enforced with young female athletes
This school year, students were told for the first time that they were not allowed to ride with other students, and instead had to be taken to and from campus in the van unless driving themselves. One parent of a male athlete said that it was his understanding some of the students were required to ride the school bus closest to the practice location, but parents of female athletes stated that for their daughters, they had been required to ride with Munyan in the van both there and back.
All students and parents interviewed confirmed this requirement to ride with Munyan was only enforced with the young female athletes, and that during the same off-campus practice, multiple freshman male athletes rode to and from practice with upperclassman teammates without issue.
The student said that Munyan was insisting the 14-year-old student get into the van with him, even though that student’s parent was nearly to the trailhead to pick her up as shown on their phone’s map. Because other students had driven separately, or had already been picked up, it meant the 14-year-old girl would have been forced to ride completely alone in the van with the coach.
The student, as well as varsity runner Nate Freed, both said they had offered to stay with the student – not drive them, but stay with them at the trailhead – until their parent could arrive. However, they said that Munyan was insistent, and the freshman runner got into the van.
To prevent their teammate from being alone with him, the student said they jumped into the van to accompany her back to the high school. On the way, they said they passed both of their parents, who were then also forced to turn around and follow them back to the high school.
Other male athletes also spoke out about the inappropriate behavior witnessed.
Freed, who just graduated from CHS last week, said Munyan was highly selective when it came to which rules he wanted to enforce. Multiple parents, students and allegedly even other coaching staff members have requested a citation for the rule requiring underclassman students to ride to and from after school, off-campus practices with coach Munyan.
Parents have requested this information from Munyan, Reymer and Wade, according to those who spoke with Carson Now. Parents said they have previously spoken with other track and field coaches, who said they had also inquired about the rules. However, CHS coaches did not respond to a request for an interview or comment.
As of publication, no one has yet been provided with those policy citations.
In a review of district policy and regulations, Carson Now could only substantiate one regulation that may apply, which does not apply to anything other than school field trips:
Students who leave the school via District owned or rented vehicles and arrive at a field trip destination will be required to return to the school in a District owned or rented vehicle. This requirement applies only to field trips. (REGULATION No. 0213)
Freed said he regularly drove two or three other male students to and from practice in his own car, and Munyan “didn’t care at all.” It was only with the young female students that he enforced the rule, which Freed said was just one of many demonstrated examples of “favoritism” toward female athletes.
Freed stated that Munyan frequently left the boys’ team without guidance, offering what he considered unconstructive or even abusive criticism, while spending significantly more time assisting the girls, even when they had a female coach assigned to them.
According to Freed, Munyan often provided a special bag of recovery “gizmos and gadgets” exclusively for the female runners and left his assigned working stations during track meets to watch their events.
Freed said teammates viewed the selective enforcement of the transportation rule not as a safety measure, but as a concerning attempt to isolate the 14-year-old student.
Another male athlete who spoke with Carson Now said Munyan would often cross inappropriate boundaries at both meets and practices alike. He said that Munyan often “just had a tube of massaging gel, and he would offer it to the girls to have them massage themselves, each other, or he would offer to massage them. It was gross.”
He said this was not offered to the boys, and both he and other students confirmed that no other coach or assistant coach past or present has offered to massage students, with the exception of the athletic trainer who is medically trained to provide assistance to a student if they are injured.
Coach reportedly filmed female student without consent or knowledge, leading to student and parent action
Student athlete Darren Plain told Carson Now that during track season, he personally witnessed Munyan and a freshman distance runner pracitcing “block starts” at the end of a practice day. “Block starts” are a term for the starting position used by sprinters in which they are bent over, their feet are placed on blocks to adjust their starting angle, which forces their hips into the air.
He said while the student was on the block starts this, Munyan recorded her from behind on his personal cell phone.
According to Darren and other parents, that athlete was a distance runner, not a sprinter, but she had been placed in an event that would require the block start, and needed assistance in learning how to use them properly. They reported she asked other coaches for assistance first, who were unable to help at the time, so she asked Munyan for assistance.
However, Darren said the freshman female athlete “had no idea” she was being filmed, and later approached her and asked if Munyan had shown her the video. He said she responded by asking, “What video?” before becoming very uncomfortable when he explained what he’d seen.
According to Renee Plain, Darren’s mother, word must have circulated about the incident, because other parents reported it to the district before Renee realized her son had been a witness to the event.
After the school board meeting while parents were talking, one mentioned the incident. Darren then relayed he’d been a witness to the event. Soon after, Athletic Director Thomas Reymer requested a meeting with Darren to discuss the incident.
“Before I talked to him, I messaged [the athlete] and asked her about it, because we wanted to make sure we weren’t spreading anything mistruthful,” he said. “And we wanted to make sure she had eventually been shown the video. She said she was eventually shown it.”
Renee said Reymer told her that the only thing in her letter that was “new information” was that the video incident had a named witness, and that he needed to discuss it with them directly.
However, according to several parents, their understanding was that at least one of the other coaches had brought this incident, among others, to athletic and/or CHS administrators, though it was their belief those who may have brought it forward they did so without providing the female athlete’s name since she had asked not to.
Renee and other parents said they’d been told that because the student had not reported the incident herself, and did not feel comfortable coming forward, the district could not investigate it.
Many of the parents, including N.C. (who requested to be named only by their initials due to concerns over retaliation towards their student) did not understand why they would not act on the report and begin an investigation without that student coming forward.
“Which I don’t understand, because they should have just been able to look at his phone and see if that video is in there, or if any other videos or photos are in there that he may have taken of students without their consent,” N.C. said.
In a request for comment, Wade stated that all communications must go through the district office. The district office then stated: “The district and its employees adhere strictly to the law, proper school governance and sound employment practices. Consistent with policy and legal requirements, the district and its employees do not comment on personnel-related matters.”
Several letters and emails sent by parents, including Renee Plain’s, were provided to various athletic, school and district administrators throughout the spring season.
One letter that circulated written by a parent outlined several of the same concerns as students, such as neglect, incompetence, dangerous training methods, a lack of emotional control and more – but it also provided additional statements about inappropriate conduct towards young female athletes.
That letter reads in part:
During practices and meets, the coach obsessively watched a select few (female) athletes and focused his attention entirely on them. Female athletes repeatedly expressed feeling deeply uncomfortable around this coach due to unprofessional interactions. At the State meet this past weekend a family member of mine overheard a conversation with Coach Munyan and a female athlete of a different team talking about how he noticed she had goosebumps and he also mentioned that he noticed she hadn’t shaved. It is my understanding conversations of this (or similar) nature are not uncommon. As a parent, I find these conversations between an adult male coach and female child, to be completely inappropriate.
Multiple students and parents told both the board and Carson Now that when concerns were brought to administrators, they were told student and parent hostility had caused the issues, and that their behavior caused Munyan to be “nervous,” which was resulting in the behaviors they were describing.
Parents said even when other CHS coaches allegedly brought forward information and concerns to administrators, their concerns were dismissed. They reportedly later told parents and students that the coaches were also part of the hostile environment since Munyan had been hired as head coach instead of them.
Parent John Borrowman noted this during his public comment at the School Board meeting, but argued that using a blanket dismissal of complaints being due to “hostility” doesn’t make sense when investigating many of the claims that have been brought forward.
“I know that my son has also tried to escalate some of his concerns, and it’s interesting. Whenever he engages in the conversation, it always starts with the administration being very defensive,” Borrowman told Trustees. “Specifically the administration started with, ‘Well, you realize this coach came into a very hostile environment’ and so therefore this coach can’t do anything, because it’s unfair. He’s disadvantaged, he’s put into a very hostile situation where the athletes are so aggressive towards him.”
However, Borrowman asked Trustees to “set that aside” and take into consideration what the specific complaints have been.
“When this coach failed to make a two-night hotel reservation at Dublin, was that because the students were being hostile? When the coach pulled athletes off the field [to go check into the hotel], preventing them from warming up for their race, was that because the students were hostile? When other athletes were first in their event on the JV day and eligible to run on the varsity day, but the coach was not aware that [his athletes had won or were] even eligible to run the next day, was that because the students were hostile? When the coach treats the female athletes with the same training program as the male athletes, is that because the students are hostile? And when we go and present to the administration and they say ‘Well you guys are hostile and we need to give them deference,’ I would say we need to be more sophisticated.”
Students, parents say district only investigated after school board meeting, directly contradicting what administrators reported
Following Vice Principal Wade’s statement during the cross country informational night, parents said he acknowledged the allegations, but said that the administration had “heard the concerns, investigated them, and found no findings.”
“The optics to all of us parents is that they’re trying harder to keep him than to actually investigate it,” said one parent who spoke with the requirement of anonymity. “When we’re being given the same excuses over and over and over again despite having a plethora of complaints, including the inappropriateness, but complaint after complaint, and then the vice principal and the athletic director come and say they’ve investigated and found no findings? It’s just shutting us down. And then for them to turn around the same night and say ‘Oh we’ve never heard of this before, we’re going to do an investigation’? It’s ridiculous.”
Despite having told parents, both during the meeting as well as individually throughout April and May, that an investigation had been done, it was only after the school board meeting that students were pulled in for interviews as part of an investigation into the allegations.
N.C. confirmed this statement was relayed to them by Wade as well.
“[Wade] said that they had already checked into all of the concerns and that they found nothing to support it, no factual information, no firsthand accounts and so they couldn’t do anything,” they said. “That was prior to the meeting, which obviously they had already had the letter, they had the [students’] names, they had my information, didn’t check in anything, never contacted a single athlete. The only time that they have done anything is after the school board meeting.”
In emails forwarded to Carson Now, one of the letters sent to Carson High School administrators was sent May 18 at 1 p.m. On May 19 at 3:15 p.m., Wade responded that he had “thoroughly reviewed all of the concerns” and that “either the concerns were addressed through the appropriate administrative process, or the information and data gathered during the review did not substantiate the concerns as presented.”
On the morning of May 27, that letter and others were forwarded to Superintendent AJ Feuling’s office. The following afternoon, one of the senders followed up after not receiving a response and asked if they could confirm the letter had been received. A district representative confirmed the letter had been forwarded to Feuling, but as of publication, no other contact has been attempted by the superintendent’s office to the sender.
Renee Plain similarly sent a letter to CHS administrators on May 26 outlining concerns. In the letter, she also states that during the mandatory athletic meetings over the years, parents have repeatedly been told that parents must take a step back and encourage their students to advocate for themselves rather than getting involved directly. Her letter states, in part:
The students attempted to handle these issues appropriately and professionally before parents became involved. They organized respectfully, documented concerns thoughtfully, followed the chain of command, and requested meetings with administration. 24 distance athletes signed a detailed letter outlining both shared and individual concerns and experiences.
As parents, we have consistently been encouraged during mandatory athletic meetings to allow student athletes to advocate for themselves directly with coaches and administration before parents step in. Out of respect for that process, I allowed my student the opportunity to address these concerns independently first.
It is only after repeated concerns, unsuccessful attempts at resolution, and the growing impact on athlete well-being and program morale that many parents now feel compelled to formally voice concerns as well, including with the School Board.
As documented in the email thread, Wade responded to her email roughly 40 minutes later, providing an almost word-for-word response as what was provided to the other parents who had reached out with their concerns. Parents and students have stated multiple times that communications sent by Munyan throughout the year appeared to have been made with AI, which he also was using to craft all of his workout routines for students. In the responses provided to parents in response to their letters of concern, it appeared these also were created using AI.
When Renee pushed back on the generic response, asking for clarification regarding the specific steps and support systems being implemented to ensure student safety, Wade did not respond.
Following the school board meeting, despite students and teachers having been told an investigation had already taken place, an investigation into the claims made by students and parents was undertaken. However, according to athletes and families, only the students who spoke at the school board meeting were interviewed. Students and parents who did not speak at the meeting, but had made official complaints to admin, have not been contacted according to those Carson Now spoke with.
Despite the seriousness of the allegations, Muyan was not pulled from either the classroom or from his coaching duties. A mandatory meeting led by Munyan for runners was held earlier this week, despite off-season meetings classified as mandatory is prohibited. He has also reportedly been assigned to teach summer school through the high school.
In contrast, families reported it was their understanding that Munyan had asked at least one of the assistant coaches who had been “shielding” athletes at the beginning of the year to resign. Coaches did not respond to a request for comment.
