Questions arise about accused Compton coach's credential

LOS ANGELES - A nationally renowned Compton high school basketball coach, on paid leave while he is investigated for alleged sexual contact with one of his players, may not be able to return to his teaching job even if he is cleared because he does not have a teaching credential, district officials said.

Russell Otis, the four-time state championship coach of Dominguez High's boys team and a health teacher at the school, has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.

Through his lawyer, the coach has said he expects to be cleared and return to coaching and the classroom. But Otis has no active state or local teaching credential, according to records obtained by the Los Angeles Times for a story Thursday.

Records at the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing show that Otis has never had a full teaching credential. For most of his 13-year career at Dominguez High, where he has coached the successful and high-profile basketball team, he has used state emergency permits. More recently he had a temporary Los Angeles County credential. That credential expired Nov. 1.

Otis, 38, was arrested Nov. 2 on suspicion of sexual battery, oral copulation and sodomy with a 17-year-old senior. The district put him on paid leave that day.

Schools spokesman Fausto Capobianco said the district is trying to determine exactly how the coach's credential lapsed. The district is also looking into whether, given his lack of credential, Otis is still entitled to paychecks while on leave, Capobianco said.

The questions appear to stem from a course Otis took earlier this year at Cal State Dominguez Hills to earn a full state teaching credential.

The district extended Otis' county credential after receiving notification from the university that he had passed the course, officials said. But the district later learned that the coach's grade in the course was not high enough to keep the credential in effect.

The coach's lawyer, Leonard B. Levine, maintains that the grade was good enough. He said Otis will go to district headquarters this week to clear up the matter.

Otis would still be eligible to coach the team if he is cleared in the criminal investigation, because that job doesn't require having a teaching credential, officials said.