Wednesday,  October 22, 2008 10:10 PM
By Simone Sebastian

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Two former Dublin Coffman High School coaches were sentenced to jail today for assaulting a player in 2006, ending a day of emotional testimony that brought both men to tears on the witness stand.

A Memphis judge ordered former volunteer lacrosse coach Dustin Pentz to spend 30 days in jail for a conviction of misdemeanor assault. Greg Simpson, who also volunteered as a coach, must serve 15 days for a lesser assault charge.

The victim, now a 21-year-old Ohio University student, testified that Simpson, 29, held him down on a team bus while Pentz, 28, inserted gloved fingers into his rectum during a trip to Memphis in March 2006.

The victim said it was a traumatic sexual assault. The former coaches characterized it as a case of horseplay, what they called "goosing." Pentz said he never put his hand inside the boy's shorts, and Simpson denied taking part at all.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Carolyn Wade Blackett, who called the sentencing "a very difficult decision," requested that both defendants start their sentences in a Memphis jail Dec. 1.

The two former coaches pleaded guilty to the assault charges in August as part of a deal that dropped felony rape charges against both of them.

In addition to jail sentences, both will be placed on probation -- Pentz for 11 months and Simpson for nearly six months. Neither can coach during that time.

Pentz and Simpson both have moved to Florida since the incident.