Former coach David Kuck is suing the Canyons Aquatic Club, saying he was fired for reporting alleged wrongdoing by coach Jeremy Anderson, who was later banned by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
The lawsuit, filed today in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, accuses Canyons of a “shameless campaign to silence” Kuck when he tried to report complaints of abuse against Anderson, among other things. The suit includes eight complaints, among them wrongful termination, breach of contract and violation of labor code.
Anderson was on staff with Canyons when Kuck was first hired in July of 2017. Kuck says he noticed abusive behavior by Anderson and immediately reported it to the club’s Board of Directors, but the Board refused to act. When local law enforcement expressed concern about Anderson, the suit says, Canyons allowed Kuck to terminate the coach, but barred Kuck from notifying staff members or parents about the allegations.
By March of 2018, Anderson had been officially added to the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s database of banned individuals. Anderson fled the country to Costa Rica, but officials tracked him down and arrested him there in June. However, Anderson died suddenly in U.S. Marshal custody while being extradited back to the United States.
Later, Kuck says he discovered the club was operating in violation of California law in several areas, but that when he raised the issue to the Board, they terminated him and his wife, while revoking club membership of their three children.
The club did publicly announce its decision not to extend Kuck’s contract in July of this year.
We’ve reached out to Canyons Aquatic Club for comment, but have not yet received a response.
Last comment here. I have posted no lies, my family WAS NOT kicked off Canyons. We left Canyons because of the BOD, and it had nothing to do with Kuck. I have reported Jay Anderson and others from this team to Safe Sport and USA Swimming like EVERYONE should have. Most posters here are making this all about Kuck, but it is really about the victims of Jay and someone being punished for stopping him. The truth about the last 10+ years of incompetence and willful ignorance of the Canyons board will finally come out in court. Did you really believe this would just go away? EVIL TRIUMPHS ONLY WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO NOTHING…
Ohhh please!!! A decade into the club where your family rubbed shoulders with folks in high places, bought all the canyons merchandise, your wife working for a local school district and this is the best you can do? Rant your tail off, sounds like you have a few axes of your own to grind?
Oh, you were talking to Kyle Cowan! Not quite sure where his wife works or how much Spirit wear they purchased has to do with anything? And who do you consider to be in “High places” at a swim club?? All that proves is that they supported their team until they realized it wasn’t a team worth supporting anymore!
10 years of supporting a club that knew they had a paedophile in their midst and got zip done? Say, dont professionals like kyle’s wife under the obligation of the law to report such abuses?
Well, let me set things straight “Swim Dad”, since you are anonymously trying to attack me personally. I have only been employed by a school district for a little over a year now, but in true Canyons fashion it seems you are trying to use fear and intimidation tactics here. To be clear yet again, neither my husband or myself have EVER claimed that we knew Jay Anderson was a pedophile! What we did know was that he was an abusive jackass! We both confronted him personally on more than one occasion about his behavior and Kyle DID report coaches behaviors to the board and the proper swim authorities on more than one occasion, long before Jay was ever fired.… Read more »
Why justify? This seems to be an issue between Canyons and Dave Kuck. Kyle and his wife seem to act like if they are the victims to all this. Just giving Paseo a heads up
You knew that Jay was an “abusive jackass”? I’d like to know 1) when you decided that? 2) who you sent your complaint to? 3) when you sent your complaint? 4) what did your complaint address?
I’m thinking you did and said nothing like every other parent w regards to Jay until someone finally filed a police report and had some substance to their claim. But it’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback and point the finger after the fact.
you always knew that jay was a pedophile! stop lying!!
Ummmmm the posters didn’t make up this topic and I’m sure most people are ready to move on. Kuck made this about Kuck when he filed this lawsuit and sent out a press release. Only the victims should have the final say in how things move forward, whether anyone should be punished, and how everyone best moves on from this.
Do any of you past and current canyon parents remember when there was a town hall meet between the board, kuck and parents at college of the canyons? That time when a parent asked kuck a direct question “Can’t you make the practice a little more fun”, kuck replied something along the lines of “I don’t have the personality to do that”. That for more than a few people stuck like a sore thumb. If you can’t be bothered to wonder and listen to the voices & concerns of your employers (parents) then why on earth did you take on a job as head coach? A business and moral lesson for you kuck. You don’t bite the hands that feed… Read more »
Just wanna say that Kevin said the same at a practice
It is a very sad situation for both club and for the unwanted coach. His name being splatter all over the media whether his intentions were good or bad. ‘For this dirty money earned as this crooked world turns’, trying to cash in on the ‘Anderson’ case. He’s as bad as Anderson. I would hate to be in his shoes in the future and feel sorry for any team that will hire Dave Kuck after this. Remember to outline on the contract you cannot sue and throw any tantrums.
All I’m getting from this entire comment thread is that “this club is a disaster and regardless of who was at fault here, I want absolutely nothing to do with it.”
It’s amazing how often I come to comments sections on this website and think the same thing. Everyone on either side thinks they’re proving their point, but all they’re proving is that “this club has gone sideways, is totally toxic, and needs to disappear.”
This has been such a difficult two years, and we could all go back and forth forever over who said/did/didn’t do what and when…but it’s the swimmers who have suffered the most!
Jay’s victims, who now once again, will have to have all this out for public display, and live in fear of being dragged into the lawsuit. Then there are the swimmers who have continued to work so hard to reach their goals despite limited competition opportunities and the micro-managed, dumbed-down coaching they all endured under Dave’s time as head coach.
Dave’s arrogance kept him from believing he’d ever be held accountable for his actions as a poor leader. The way he arrogantly bashed SoCal swim and… Read more »
You Canyons people are hilarious! Do you honestly think that all of this is just going to go away? And if you don’t see Jay’s victims coming with their own lawsuit next, you are not living in reality!
What do the aggrieved parties hope to gain with a law suit against a non profit kids club? On what grounds would they sue? Jay is deceased. Board members’ own kids were directly abused by Jay, so withholding information about Jay or a cover up by a board seems highly unlikely if that is indeed the claim. Parents that were suspicious of Jay never came forward about Jay’s behavior until the police were finally contacted in 2017. I think that if the board had even a shred of proof on Jay, they would have ridded him long ago. There was no reason for a board to protect him as their own kids were involved.
i swam under dave and i’ve witnessed him throwing a whole mesh bag (that contained every single equipment inside the bag) at a swimmers head and didn’t apologize. he was FORCED to apologize because the parent of that swimmer had to EMAIL THE BOARD and MAKE him apologize. he should not have the right to sue Canyons, instead Canyons should be suing him for being a terrible coach that didn’t help benefit ANY swimmers whatsoever.
He is a great coach and hopefully the law suit won’t consume too much of his time away from coaching, stay classy Dave!
Did the teams performance on any level improve under Kucks leadership? If Kuck wanted to stay had he not been fired or his contract wasn’t renewed, how bad could it have been? I have a hard time supporting the decision to persuea lawsuit under these circumstances where the abuse victims could be affected. I don’t believe Anderson plead guilty or had any sort of trial. I do not believe Anderson would have been vindicated if a trial did happen. What i am saying is that won’t Kuck have to prove Anderson was guilty to justify his claims of wrongful termination and Board cover ups? I would assume this would mean testimony from the victims. That seems unfair and a bit… Read more »
Another anonymous person commenting with inside info…noted.
Well it’s a lot more of an educated response than yours “trying to defend something that shouldn’t be defended”.
I feel that Kuck and his miniature following trolls have some type of vengeance against Canyons. 1. who likes to be fired from a job. Geesh, I should have filed a lawsuit against my old company, many I could have started a new swim team with the lawsuit money. I’m just glad he is gone, the atmosphere is so much better, the club is running much better. The communication from the coaches is much better (they actually got their voices back since dictator Kuck has left). What’s the saying – throw out the bad apple and the rest of the bad apples will follow. See ya!
Wonder if Canyons can file a lawsuit against Kuck and the troll that keeps bashing this team’s name all over facebook?
I could not have said it any better. 🙂
when your life revolves around social media and attacks canyons aquatic club for a living………
Are you questioning the validity of the info? Please tell me what is not true.
Not questioning the validity, why do you have to be anonymous to post it?
If you’re not questioning the validity then the source is irrelevant. Facts are facts.
Yes, this is why he got kicked off the team. Not to mention his horrible character towards all the swimmers. The only reason why these irrelvent parents are advocating for dave is because they are friends with his wife. They have no idea who dave is at all. So, again, that’s why all these parent respones are so extremly irrelevant. The only responses that should matter, are the ones from us swimmers because he coached us. He made practice miserable and no one got faster from him, only from Kevin. So if your a parent and your trying to defend Dave, you should drop it because he is already gone and your respones to help dave are just as irrelvent… Read more »
Kicked off? You guys are soo funny. No one was kicked off. You really have no idea what you are talking about. The truth will set you free.
Kyle cowan, you’re either willfully ignorant or an outright liar. You know full well there were children/families that were kicked out of the team by kuck. I say ignorant because half of the people that were kicked off went to the neighboring swim club, you know, the same one that you moved to after your buddy kuck was kicked out. Karma.
If I was Dave I’d ask Cowman to stop standing up for him. Time to let go of the red balloon. He’s just making things worse for Dave.
I have posted no lies…I was referring to my family being kicked off. We left because of the BOD, it had nothing to do with Kuck. I have reported Jay and others to Safe Sport and USA Swimming like EVERYONE should have. The truth about the last 10+ years will finally come out in court. Did you really believe this would just go away? And as for Karma (giving me what I deserve)…hold on tight, its coming Canyon’s way!
EVIL TRIUMPHS ONLY WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO NOTHING…
What exactly did you report? Hearsay? No one would ever come out against Jay until recently. There are no conspiracy theories here. Many past coaches and parents tried to get rid of Jay based on rumors, but there was no evidence until a parent finally went to the police and reported him with facts. The parents and people who had suspected Jay was up to something never reported him to the board or police prior to the aforementioned parent because Jay manipulated kids and parents without leaving anything substantial to report. End of story. Let it go Kyle and allow these poor kids and families to move on.
Kyle is just a little bitter man, from all of the posts that I have read about this case, Kyle seems to be the first one to comment in all posts. hmm. Makes me wonder that he is one of those parents posted in these threads. I would really hate to have his family swim in my team.
PREACH
So glad Dave is doing this because canyons has gone without punishment for too long