By Brian Argabright
What should have been a time for celebration for the Del Rio Queens basketball team Tuesday night turned ugly after Del Rio head girls basketball coach Chris Jost was allegedly assaulted moments after the game ended.
According to an eyewitness, a man and a woman confronted Jost after the game between Del Rio and Luling. A verbal confrontation ensued and the woman’s husband shoved Jost.
A woman who was working at the contest invited her friend, Chris Saldaña, a 1994 graduate of Del Rio High School, to the game in Luling. Saldaña said he now resides near Luling and wanted a chance to see his alma mater play. He said he was seated behind the Queens’ bench when the confrontation occurred.
“As the girls are leaving the court and headed back to the locker room, I see the coach turn around and hear him yell at someone something to the effect of, ‘I’m not going to discuss this with you right here. This is not the place, and if you bring it up again I won’t play her ever again,” Saldaña said. “At that point, the man yells at the coach, ‘Don’t talk to my wife like that,’ and pushes the coach.”
Saldaña said Luling ISD personnel intervened and asked the couple to leave, who did so with one of the Queens players in tow.
While the game was live streamed on Facebook by another Queens parent, the assault itself was not caught on camera. However, at the 1:14:44 mark of the video, a parent can be heard yelling at Jost, “C’mon, coach. You have other players on the bench, coach!”
Nearly four minutes later, after the game was completed, Jost can be seen turning to speak to someone and loud voices are clearly heard but the words are unintelligible. The camera turns away, and four seconds later fans in attendance can be heard reacting to something off camera and the clock’s buzzer is sounded again, drawing school personnel to the area.
When contacted by 830 Times following the game, Jost texted, “Hey Brian! I can’t comment at this time.”
San Felipe Del Rio CISD Athletic Director Ric Smith also did not have a comment Tuesday night.
School district administrators were contacted Wednesday morning for a comment. Thursday afternoon, San Felipe Del Rio CISD Superintendent Dr. Carlos Rios released the following statement, “This is a very unfortunate incident. The incident is currently under investigation.”
Saldaña said he reported the incident to the Luling ISD superintendent Wednesday morning. He said he hoped the incident wouldn’t reflect poorly on Del Rio athletics, but added that the parties involved should have handled things differently.
“There were two wrongs here. First, the coach should have never yelled at the parent like he did. You don’t yell at a parent in front of an entire gymnasium, and then he threatened to never play that student again. That’s not right. The second wrong is the assault. It wasn’t a punch, but he shoved him hard enough that it could be heard,” Saldaña said.
Jost has been the Queens head basketball coach since May 2017.
The Queens defeated Luling, 56-38.
