Under Ohio state law, coaches are among the many school officials mandated to report crimes involving their students. And according to witness testimony and text messages introduced as evidence in the Steubenville rape trial, head football coach Reno Saccoccia knew about the rape of a 16-year-old girl by two of his players, but didn’t say a word about it to school administrators or local law enforcement.

So why does he still have a job?

Deadspin editor Barry Petchesky has a theory, and it’s that, much like Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, “local legend” Saccoccia believed that his status as a local football celebrity put him above the law:

Reno Saccoccia is a local legend, in the way that 30-year coaches of football powerhouses in economically depressed Ohio Valley towns tend to be legends. He’s in the Ohio Coaches Hall of Fame. He’s won three state titles. When Saccoccia won his 300th game last year, a sellout crowd of more than 10,000 people packed Harding Stadium—christened “Reno Field” in 2007—and chanted “Reno, Reno, Reno” as he left the field. He breakfasts regularly with the sheriff. His sister-in-law works in the county’s juvenile court, where he is licensed as a mediator. He “molds young boys into men.”

But text messages seized from Mays’ cellphone indicate that Saccoccia had seen the video in which another student “joked” that “Trent and Ma’lik raped someone” as soon as it was released.

The day after the incident, Mays texted a friend: “I got Reno. He took care of it and shit ain’t gonna happen, even if they did take it to court. Like he was joking about it so I’m not worried,” according to an agent with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, who testified in the rape case.