CELINA, Texas (WFAA) – A Texas middle school football coach has resigned after being accused of recording boys in the locker room and possessing child pornography.
26-year-old Caleb Elliott now faces felony charges of possessing child pornography and making invasive visual records while coaching teams at Moore Middle School. His father, Bill Elliott, is the school district’s athletic director.
At a special school board meeting Wednesday night, Bill Elliott addressed the community.
“I understand your anger. I understand your frustration. I get it. It’s horrible,” Elliott said.
The crowd at the meeting was visibly shocked.
It’s a mar on our family, on our name, on this program, on this town. And I’m very sorry for that,” he added.
Bill Elliott, who is also the head coach of Celina High School’s football team, emphasized that he supports his son facing justice.
“He will face the consequences that will come to him. He will. That’s the way it will be,” Elliott said.
Parents in the audience spoke passionately, with two sets identifying themselves publicly as the whistleblowers who exposed Caleb Elliott. They told WFAA that Elliott made invasive recordings of their sons in the team locker room using a cell phone.
“The courage it took for our boys to come forward and speak the truth about what happened in the locker room—I want to begin by expressing deep gratitude to these young men for their bravery,” a parent said.
It is not yet clear how many victims there may be or if there were prior incidents that went unchecked.
State Representative Jeff Leach (R-Texas), who represents part of Collin County, said the state is monitoring the situation closely.
“If there’s anything that’s been hidden—if anyone was hired who shouldn’t have been hired—we’re going to find out all of that,” Leach said.
Bill Elliott, who led Celina’s football team to a perfect season and a state title last year, is highly respected in the community. Speaking at the meeting, he expressed deep sorrow.
“My heart has broken all over. I’m sorry,” he said.
School board members told attendees they would hire a third-party investigator to determine whether the alleged issues involving Caleb Elliott were isolated or systemic.
Before the meeting, Caleb Elliott resigned from his teaching position and surrendered his teaching license.