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GREENSBORO — Southeast Guilford High School's longtime wrestling coach declined to discuss allegations Monday from two students and their parents that he has ignored repeated outbreaks of staph infection among some wrestlers — an issue that came to a head last week when MRSA was diagnosed in one wrestler.

Jim Cox said the accusations are motivated by disgruntled parents, but declined to elaborate. He said Guilford County Schools officials asked him not to discuss the accusations.

Southeast principal Ralph Kitley and the Guilford County Schools athletic director, Herb Goins, did not return phone calls Monday. School system officials issued a statement Monday evening saying, in part, that any wrestler with visible bumps is referred to the school's athletics trainer.

Several parents of Southeast wrestlers defended Cox, saying he is always looking out for his wrestlers' best interests. Dick Mearns has three sons who have wrestled for Cox. "I would trust my kids with him anywhere anytime," Mearns said. "There are some coaches in the county who might be a little marginal the way they do things, but Jim has always done the right thing."

Another parent, Terrell Ott, said: "(The Coxs) don't cuss, they don't yell and they would never hide anything from parents or the principal. It's just not the way they do business."

Tyler Rush and Matt Neese, members of the Falcons wrestling team, said Monday that Cox pressured them to continue working out with the wrestling team even after staph infection had been diagnosed.

"I got the feeling that if I didn't keep wrestling, (Cox) would be mad and he might take me off the team, said Rush, a junior. "It didn't seem right, (but) I did it anyway."

Rush, whose staph was diagnosed last month, is being treated for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a sometimes debilitating illness that is becoming increasingly common in the general population, according to national health experts.

Rush's staph was diagnosed Jan. 4, according to medical documents supplied by the family. Rush's mother, Sheila Rush, said she informed assistant coach Jed Cox, Jim Cox's son, of her son's illness that day. "They never responded,' Sheila Rush said. "It was always, 'OK, you still have to work out with the team.' "

Under Guilford County Schools policy and N.C. High School Athletic Association rules, Rush should have refrained from competing and practicing with the wrestling team until receiving clearance from a doctor.

Marilyn Tucker, associate executive director of the NCHSAA, said she might ask Southeast officials to provide doctor's clearance for any Southeast wrestler who has advanced to this week's state regional championship regardless of whether they're showing signs of an infection.

Mike Neese said he noticed a large boil on his son's left thigh in a tournament Dec. 8 in Eden. Neese said he talked with Jim and Jed Cox between matches that day. Neese said both coaches suggested the boil likely stemmed from an ingrown hair and told the wrestler to cover the boil with his shorts.

The next day, Matt Neese, a sophomore, said he was barely able to walk. His father took him to an urgent care center, where he was treated for an unknown staph infection, according to medical records. Matt Neese said he handed a doctor's note to Jim Cox on Dec. 10 informing him of his illness, but that Jed Cox ordered him back to school later that day to work out with the team. Matt Neese said he practiced with the team for four days before a doctor signed a form allowing him to officially rejoin the team.

In its statement, Guilford County schools officials said Southeast and other schools take great pains to disinfect wrestling mats, wash uniforms and promote good hygiene among students.

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com