Coach Pleads Not Guilty to Reckless Homicide

Jan. 27, 2009 — -- The family of the 15-year-old football player who died after collapsing during practice in August sued the coaching staff to bring awareness to hydration and heat-related illnesses so that "maybe this won't happen again," the boy's stepmother told "Good Morning America" today.

Max Gilpin collapsed from heat stroke during the Aug. 20 practice in the sweltering Kentucky heat and died three days later.

David Stinson, who was the head football coach when the incident occurred, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of reckless homicide amid an outpouring of community support.

On Saturday, dozens of Kentucky high school students and teachers gathered at Stinson's house to show their support.

"It's a sad day. My heart is broken," Stinson told the crowd as his wife, Monica, stood by his side. "Part of my life has been taken away. I no longer teach and I no longer coach at the school I love."

Stinson has been reassigned pending the outcome of the case, a school spokeswoman told The Associated Press.

The next day, hundreds of students and faculty from Pleasure Ridge High School gathered on the school's football field for a vigil in Stinson's honor -- one that Gilpin's stepmother, Lois Gilpin, attended.

According to her, the situation is "complicated."

"I'm really torn. It's just been so complicated. You know, when you're grieving and all the facts are just kind of rolling around and we really don't know that much yet," she said. "We want Max to make a difference. And I know this isn't going to bring him back and he's going to be missed. But we're hoping with this coverage that we can get it out to the public."

Gilpin's father, Jeff Gilpin, took a simpler standpoint.

"If they found enough criminal evidence to prosecute him, I want him to be prosecuted. I'm disappointed. Someone I trusted let my son die," he said.

Max Gilpin is one of 33 high school, college or professional athletes to die of heat-related injuries since 1995, but Stinson is the first coach to face criminal charges.

"A reasonable person should have seen that this could have happened and failed to perceive it and went on and caused it," Dave Stengel, an attorney for the Louisville Commonwealth, told "GMA."