A Milwaukee Public Schools basketball coach has been suspended and removed from school duties while the district investigates allegations that he slapped a student athlete during a recent practice.
John Allen, a teacher and basketball coach at Milwaukee School of Languages, is no longer working at the school as the investigation continues. An assistant coach has stepped in to lead the team.
The allegations have prompted former students to speak out with conflicting accounts of their experiences with Allen.
Darius Teague, a former student who played for Allen, defended the coach as a mentor and father figure.
"Coach Allen was always, you know, a father figure to me," Teague said. "He wanted us to do good. He didn't want us to fail as African American men."
Teague described Allen as strict but said he believed it came from wanting students to succeed.
"If you played around, you're on the bench. If you played around too much, you're off the team. That's just what it was," Teague said. "I don't feel like he would ever reach his hand back and do that."
Watch: Former students give conflicting accounts of Milwaukee coach after slapping allegations
However, another former student who requested anonymity shared a different experience. He alleged that in eighth grade, after walking out of practice, Allen followed him into the hallway, and an incident escalated.
"He intimidates people. He intimidates people. People are scared of him," the anonymous former student said.
The former student said he reported the alleged encounter to school principals, but no action was taken.
"The thing that makes it worse, I reported this to the principals, and they didn't do nothing," he said.
He described lasting effects from the alleged incident.
"Like he really made me like depressed, like wanna kill myself depressed. Like I didn't even go to high school because I was so depressed," he said.
The former student said the recent news brought back past trauma and motivated him to come forward after years of silence.
"I really, I really did this because I hope other people step forward too, man," he said.
In a letter to families, the district confirmed that the coach was removed from practice and is no longer working at the school while the district reviews the incident.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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