Voices of support for the coaches
BY JON SEIDEL AND BECKY SCHLIKERMAN Staff Reporters December 20, 2012 1:12AM
Ryan Suevel, 20, a 2011 Maine West graduate, said he took coach Michael Divincenzo's adventure education class: “Never once did I see him show any behavior that would condone the accusations that have been made.” | Scott Stewart~Sun-Times
Updated: January 21, 2013 4:07PM
Ryan Suevel, 20, a 2011 Maine West grad who grew up in Des Plaines, said he took Michael Divincenzo’s adventure education class, in which the coach taught integrity and respect for others.
“Never once did I see him show any behavior that would condone the accusations that have been made,” Suevel said.
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Rita Maza Lopez, 17, a Maine West senior and soccer player who lives in Des Plaines, said Divincenzo “wasn’t only a coach” but someone who would sit down with her when she wasn’t having a great day.
“I don’t think that firing these men is going to help any of us,” she said.
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Tait Jensen, 18, a 2012 Maine West graduate and member of the varsity soccer team for three years, said Divincenzo and Rodriguez didn’t sanction a culture of hazing or assault.
“It was a culture of love and trust and friendship that’s going to last forever,” he said. “That’s the kind of culture that they sanctioned.”
Jon Seidel and Becky Schlikerman
