Six former and current Davis High School soccer players are suing the Davis School District, alleging officials failed to protect them after they accused their former coach of “sexual” grooming — claims the coach told The Salt Lake Tribune he “categorically” denies.
Soulivanh Phongsavath is identified in the lawsuit but is not named as a defendant. The players haven’t accused him of physically assaulting them and they did not report their allegations to police, their attorney said. But they and their parents repeatedly raised concerns about his alleged behavior to school officials, according to the federal lawsuit filed in Utah this week.
“Ultimately, this suit is about Davis School District, not the coach,” an attorney for the plaintiffs said. “Plaintiffs are trying to encourage Davis School District to make institutional changes necessary to protect all students, not just those on the soccer team.”
“Grooming,” as the players allege, involves a trusted adult exploiting their relationship or authority with the intent to manipulate or abuse a victim. Over time, a victim can become desensitized to increasingly severe violations of their personal boundaries, making it difficult to realize what’s happening, the lawsuit explains.
The players say Phongsavath groomed them before and during the 2023-24 school year, the lawsuit states. They allege he regularly initiated “sexually-charged” conversations and prodded them to share intimate details about their dating lives, such as who they kissed and “what they did when making out.”
They also allege he made comments about their bodies during practice, such as wondering whether their breasts might look more noticeable if their soccer uniforms were tank tops and asking them to “bend over” so he could see if they had “sweaty a--,” which he referred to as “swass.”
When the district “finally agreed to listen” and investigate the players’ complaints, it failed to “properly investigate” and failed to “protect their identities,” a violation of Title IX, the lawsuit states.
Instead, the lawsuit alleges, officials seemed to chalk up their allegations to a desire for more on-field playing time. Officials also breached the players’ confidentiality, the lawsuit alleges, opening them up to bullying and harassment from other students and some adult staff.
Davis School District officials said in a statement that they do not comment on pending litigation but take “allegations of misconduct seriously.”
Phongsavath said he denies “any and all” allegations made against him in the lawsuit. While students would sometimes talk about their personal lives, he said, he never initiated or encouraged inappropriate conversations, nor would he allow any interaction to cross appropriate boundaries.
“There is no intimate details that I want about any of their dating lives or anything, period,” he said. “I know there’s lines you don’t cross.”
In a statement Thursday, Phongsavath’s attorney said the players’ allegations have already been examined through “multiple independent processes,” none of which found evidence of misconduct.
“Mr. Phongsavath respects the process and is grateful that the facts ultimately spoke for themselves,” the attorney said. “He is confident they will do so again.”
The players are not named in the complaint because their attorney is seeking permission for them to be identified as Jane Does one through six, arguing that “proceeding under pseudonyms is necessary” to protect them from “further harassment, discrimination, and violence.” The Tribune interviewed two of the players, who asked not to be named for the same reason.
“I felt very silenced and unheard,” one plaintiff told The Tribune, speaking about the school and the district’s response. “I felt like everyone hated me. It was just a very diminishing feeling through all this.”
‘Letter of warning’
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bleachers are seen at Davis High School in Kaysville on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.
Phongsavath also used to coach the boys’ soccer team at Davis High School.
“On information and belief, the boys’ soccer students there were not required to engage in similarly sexually charged conversations and activities during mandatory soccer practice and class time,” the lawsuit states.
The coach resigned from both teams on Oct. 31, 2023, after the plaintiffs and their parents continued to raise concerns. Phongsavath said he had already been planning to retire from coaching the following year, but the allegations and what he considered the “drama” that followed accelerated that timeline.
He continued teaching at the school, however, and the lawsuit points to allegations that the plaintiffs were bullied and harassed after the coach resigned as evidence that school officials breached their confidentiality.
Phongsavath said he was unaware of any bullying at the time.
A little over a month later, in December 2023, the coach was reported to the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission (UPPAC), according to a spokesperson with the Utah State Board of Education. UPPAC is responsible for investigating allegations of educator misconduct.
Phongsavath confirmed the report addressed the allegations outlined in the lawsuit, but he did not discuss the details of the complaint. More than a year later, in March 2025, he was issued a “letter of warning,” he said.
That means UPPAC determined he violated Utah educator standards in a “relatively minor way,” according to a UPAAC guide on misconduct allegations.
Examples of “relatively minor” violations include engaging in a “minimal boundary violation with a student” and engaging in “unprofessional communications or conduct with a student,” the guide states.
According to the guide, most UPAAC cases start after a school administrator or district official initiates a “notification of alleged educator misconduct.” But anyone can submit a notification, and “UPPAC occasionally receives notifications from parents, coworkers, or other interested parties,” the guide states.
Before the complaint against the coach was privately reported to UPAAC, district officials downplayed or dismissed players’ concerns, the lawsuit alleges.
In one Oct. 10, 2023, meeting, in which players’ parents raised concerns with the district’s assistant superintendent about an apparent lack of confidentiality, the assistant superintendent allegedly advised the parents that their daughters “should quit the soccer team rather than wait for the District to act.”
“She further advised them to drop the complaints if the students wished to continue participating in soccer activities and classes,” the lawsuit states, adding that she also “mocked and belittled the parents, making clear her disdain for their concerns.”
In a subsequent parent meeting, the district’s superintendent, Dan Linford, allegedly told the parents that the coach’s reported behaviors “were not concerning to him or the District.”
The lawsuit alleges the superintendent failed to disclose that he had a child who played on the coach’s club soccer team.
‘Hard for me to trust’
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Davis High School in Kaysville on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.
Ultimately, the plaintiffs argue they were betrayed by their coach and school district officials, which caused “obvious emotional trauma,” the lawsuit states.
They also allege the district’s failure to protect their identities exposed them to “the physical trauma of being assaulted and battered” by others for “snitching” or “telling on” the coach.
That includes one instance of a plaintiff being “knocked into,” which she reported to Kaysville police on April 29, 2024, according to a photo of the police report that an attorney shared with The Tribune.
The overall experience damaged “plaintiffs’ educational and sports-related aspirations,” the lawsuit states. Together, they seek compensatory damages, including for past and future counseling or therapy expenses and emotional distress.
They also hope to hold the district accountable and prevent future students from experiencing what they did, their attorney said.
Davis School District did not immediately file a formal response to the complaint.
In an interview with The Tribune, one of the six plaintiffs said she has since graduated and now plays soccer in college. But her experience at Davis High School deeply affected her.
“I find that it is so hard for me to trust the coaches and the adults I’m supposed to trust,” she said. “I don’t want to speak out or say anything that’s on my mind, because I’m scared something’s going to happen — scared there’s going to be consequences.”
Another plaintiff told The Tribune speaking out was hard, but she would do it again. “Your voice matters,” she said. “How you feel matters.”