Michael Ryals' criminal history and unanswered questions about how he got to coach emerge after youth tournament incident.Show Caption
It was a jarring but simple story on the surface.A youth baseball coach allegedly told his son to hurl a ball into the opposing team's dugout. The coach, 38-year-old Michael Ryals of Welling, Oklahoma, was banned for life. His 12-year-old son was suspended for five years.But the story does not end there.Ryals, head coach of the travel ball team from Oklahoma, has an extensive criminal record. It includes a 2011 arrest on a charge of lewd and indecent behavior with a child who at the time was 14, according to records.The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor of "outraging public decency" and Ryals was given to a one-year suspended sentence and five weekends of incarceration, court records show."I'm not a child molester," Ryals told USA TODAY Sports during a phone interview. "I never did that."Ryals was banned by United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA), the organization that sanctioned the tournament during which the on-field incident with his son took place Memorial Day weekend in Kansas City. The USSSA requires criminal background checks of all coaches, according to its website.Ryals told USA TODAY Sports he never got a background check."I knew that I couldn't pass," he said.John Latella, CEO of the USSSA, told USA TODAY Sports a "thorough investigation" was conducted before announcing the disciplinary action taken against Ryals and Ryals' son. But Latella did not answer questions about USSSA background checks and Ryals' criminal record.'Misleading information'On the USSSA website, the non-profit organization based in Florida touts having sanctioned more than 35,000 events with 4.5 million participants in 47 states. It also suggests it has ties to SafeSport – more formally, the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which Congress has tasked with protecting young athletes from sexual, physical and emotional abuse in part by monitoring coaches."USSSA is passionate about raising awareness of the SafeSport initiative and providing our athletes unparalleled development and competitive opportunity in a safe environment," the USSSA website states.But the U.S. Center for SafeSport said in a statement provided to USA TODAY Sports that it is "neither affiliated with nor authorized to oversee USSSA, and it has no direct knowledge of USSSA’s safeguarding policies, misconduct prevention measures, or internal procedures for receiving and handling reports of misconduct."Although the USSSA website has an online form to report abuse, Latella provided USA TODAY Sports with no information about how such complaints are handled.The U.S. Center for SafeSport stated, "While we welcome and encourage all sport organizations outside of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement to use the Center’s resources…we are concerned about potential confusion created by USSSA’s references to 'SafeSport,' and have requested that USSSA cease all use of that term from its website."'A lot of growing up to do'In 2011, prosecutors in Cherokee County Oklahoma, alleged Ryals, then 24, made lewd proposals to a 14-year-old about touching her in a graphic way, according a copy of the affidavit for probable cause obtained by USA TODAY Sports.According to the affidavit, the girl told a family member, a forensic interviewer and an employee of Help-In-Crisis, a facility that supports victims sexual assault, Ryals had pulled her hair and told her she shouldn’t tell anyone about the incident.Ryals denied the allegations and pled guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of "outraging public decency," which Oklahoma statutes define as, "Every person who willfully and wrongfully commits any act which grossly injures the person or property of another, or which grossly disturbs the public peace or health, or which openly outrages public decency, including but not limited to urination in a public place, and is injurious to public morals…"Ryals also indicated his primary concern with the criminal background check required by USSSA was a conviction for domestic assault and battery in front of a minor child in 2006."I had a lot of growing up to do," said Ryals, who has not been arrested since 2019 and has not had a non-traffic arrest since 2018, records show.Fast forward to May, when Ryals found himself serving as head coach of an 11-and-under team that traveled to Kansas City on Memorial Day weekend. (Ryals' 12-year-old son qualified to play in the 11-and-under division because of a school grade exemption. He's in the fifth grade.)A person associated with the team who spoke on the condition they not be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation said parents were unaware of Ryals' criminal background. Ryals has been subject to six protective orders and between 2007 and 2019 was sentenced for grand larceny, embezzlement and the use of bogus checks, according to court records.Records reflect Ryals has not been arrested since 2019.The person associated with the team who spoke to USA TODAY Sports said Ryals was an effective motivator as a youth baseball coach, and Ryals said he has been coaching his son's teams in USSSA tournaments for several years."I did my best by these boys ... to take them as far as I could and just be a good person and love them," Ryals said, referring to this year's team. "I mean, they ain't a kid on that team that'll tell you that Coach Michael wasn't their best friend."Lingering questionsSince the on-field incident, other questions have surfaced. Such as the spelling of Ryals' name.His legal first name is Michael, but he spells it Mychal and denied using the alternate spelling to hide his past."Had a Facebook (account) get hacked and I couldn't spell it normally because (Facebook) already had it," Ryals said. ”Seen somebody's name like that (spelled Mychal) and I just went with it because it got me a Facebook account made back."On the USSSA's website, Ricky Potts is listed as the Oklahoma team's manager and no other coaches are listed. When reached by phone, Potts said he "managed" the team's online profile, entered the team into tournaments and helped as a first-base coach. He said he was not the head coach and did not respond to questions about Ryals' role with the team.Then there’s the matter of whether Ryals instructed his son to hurl the ball into the dugout of a team from Nebraska coached by Brandon Magni. Ryals indirectly denied it in comments to USA TODAY Sports.But Ryals said he reached out to Magni and apologized.Magni confirmed it in a post on his Facebook page. He wrote he was pleased the incident came to the attention of USSSA, but "thoroughly disappointed that they have not contacted me to apologize or tell me personally they have policies and procedures in place if events like this happen again."
