Court docs detail the fight that cost Mike Haywood his new job

Shortly after posting bond and leaving St. Joseph County (Ind.) Jail on Saturday morning, short-lived Pittsburgh head coach Mike Haywood insisted to a local paper that the New Year's Eve domestic assault arrest that ultimately got him fired a day later "isn't fair," and that "the truth will eventually come out." That was Haywood's only public statement over the weekend, but he held to it Monday, pleading not guilty to felony domestic battery in the presence of a minor in his first court appearance since being arrested at his South Bend home on Friday afternoon.

Haywood didn't speak at the hearing, but court documents included his statements to police, as well as those of the 38-year-old woman he's accused of assaulting, Beth Marriott, with whom Haywood, 46, has a one-year-old son. Per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Marriott told police on Friday that she was angry with Haywood because she suspected him of seeing another woman in Texas, and hadn't returned home on Thursday night as expected. Marriott barricaded the door to the house with a pole that night because, she said, Haywood had given keys to several people.

Haywood told police that he spent Thursday night in a South Bend hotel (a Marriott, ironically) because the barricade prevented him from entering the house. On Friday, he forced his way inside and took a picture of the pole with his cell phone. Then, the scene got ugly:

Ms. Marriott said she and Mr. Haywood argued and that she decided to go to her brother's house with the child and put him in a car in the garage. Mr. Haywood, she said, attempted to take the boy out of the car and pulled her away by wrapping his arm around her neck and throwing her backward, causing her to fall on a wheelbarrow. She said she felt a pop in her neck but no pain, and her arm was "burning and tingling" but she did not know how she hurt it. [St. Joseph County police officer Diana] Landry wrote that she saw dark red marks on Ms. Marriott's neck and jaw, a raised mark on her back and redness on her right arm, consistent with her story.

Mr. Haywood said he did not want Ms. Marriott to take the child and that he hadn't given her permission to use his car. He said he opened the back door to remove the child and Ms. Marriott tried to stop him by grabbing his shirt. He pushed her away with his arm and she fell, he said. He helped her to her feet, then called his attorney. He said Ms. Marriott's face, neck and chest turn red when she is upset.

Ms. Marriott showed the police officer a temporary custody order that named her as the child's primary caregiver and required both parents to agree on visitation during the New Year's holiday.

Haywood was subsequently arrested and later charged with a Class D felony, which carries a possible sentence of between six months and three years if he's convicted. The St, Joseph County prosecuting attorney told the Post-Gazette he expects the case to reach trial: "The standard we impose upon ourselves is we don't charge not only unless we feel we have probable cause, but unless we believe we can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury," he said. Haywood and his attorney declined comment.

I'm a fake doctor, not a lawyer, so I'll decline comment, too, except for this non-legal prediction: Whatever his fate in court, Haywood's next career stop is going to be at a school you've never heard of unless you attended it. So much for the rise of the bachelor coach.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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