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The WIAA was closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday and could not be reached to confirm that Hanson's report about the incident had been received or to discuss a timeline for a decision or any possible discipline.
The incident occurred midway through the fourth quarter of the game after Bellingham received a technical foul for action on the court. Wright stepped out of the Red Raiders' bench area and onto the court to discuss the call before Hanson had reported the foul call to the scorer's table.
In an e-mail to The Bellingham Herald, Hanson said that he asked Wright to return to the coaching box and that he would explain the call to Wright after he had reported the information. Hanson wrote that Wright then demonstrated "his sportsmanship by giving me an indignant attitude, and then stating, 'I don't have to get back in the coaching box if I don't want to.'" Hanson said Wright then made physical contact with him.
"Head varsity (boys') basketball coach Mark Wright reaches out and slaps the whistle out of my mouth and grabs my wrist!" Hanson wrote in the e-mail. "(To) which, I step back and give him a T, plus eject him for making illegal, aggressive physical contact with a referee."
Wright admitted in a phone interview Monday, Jan. 17, that he left the bench area, but said, "I didn't slap the whistle out of his mouth."
"After the (first) technical, I quietly stepped out on the floor and asked him what he was going to call," Wright said. "He immediately told me to get off the court. I asked again who it was on. I may have lightly touched his wrist when I was asking him who the foul was going to be on, and he said 'That's physical contact' and ejected me."
Wright said he planned to serve an automatic one-game suspension he receives for the ejection during Bellingham's next game against Burlington-Edison on Monday, Jan. 17, and assistant coach Jason Owens would lead the Red Raiders in his absence.
