Celina’s famed former football coach Bill Elliott, who retired in the wake of a scandal surrounding his son’s sexual exploitation of students, now faces a sex scandal of his own.
Bill Elliott has been accused of raping a female Celina Independent School District student more than 30 years ago. The former student’s accusation resulted in the Texas Education Agency permanently revoking Elliott’s teaching certificate.
The woman reported the alleged sexual assault to the TEA and the Celina Police Department in the fall of 2025, while investigations into Bill Elliott’s son, Caleb, were ongoing.
The TEA’s Educator Investigations Division reviewed the allegations, and the new Inspector General for Educator Misconduct pursued disciplinary action against the elder Elliott, who chose not to defend himself against the allegations.
On March 19, the state placed a permanent revocation on Bill Elliott’s teaching certificate, meaning his certification was rendered permanently invalid without the opportunity to reapply.
Bill Elliott was also added to the Do Not Hire Registry, alongside his son, Caleb, who was allowed to voluntarily surrender his teaching certificate last year. Both Elliotts are defendants in multiple civil lawsuits filed against Celina ISD by families of nearly 40 boys targeted by Caleb.
Why Now?
“I buried it for 30 some-odd years,” Bill Elliott’s accuser told Texas Scorecard.
She said news of Caleb Elliott’s arrests on sex crime charges and accusations of a coverup by administrators brought back the memories.
Caleb Elliott, who Celina ISD hired in 2023 as a teacher and coach at Moore Middle School at his father’s urging, was arrested multiple times starting in October 2025 on state and federal charges related to his secret locker room recordings of undressed boys.
The former student said Bill Elliott’s assertion at an October 2025 school board meeting that he should be allowed to keep coaching kids, as only Caleb was responsible for his crimes, prompted her to confront what happened to her.
Bill Elliott joined the Celina coaching staff in 1993 and befriended his accuser, who was a high school junior that year.
During her senior year, in 1994-95, she said Bill Elliott invited her to have dinner at his home along with his wife. But when she arrived, there was no dinner and no one else was in the house.
She recounted how she attempted to leave but Bill Elliott physically blocked her exit and then sexually assaulted her. When he was done, she said he handed over her clothes and walked her out.
“It all happened so fast,” she said.
Afterwards, she said Bill Elliott started harassing her at school and calling her house.
She kept the trauma to herself until friends mentioned going to Elliott’s home and she warned them not to go back.
Once word got out, she said Bill Elliott and a female coach she didn’t know cornered her at school, accused her of lying, and said she was jeopardizing Elliott’s career and livelihood.
She then told another adult that Bill Elliott had been sexually harassing her at school. That adult advised her he had shared the information with the district and police but was told Elliott used a “burner phone” that couldn’t be tied to him, so it was her word against his.
“My senior year was a blur,” she said. “I just wanted to graduate and slip away.”
But 31 years later, hearing members of the Bobcat community defending Bill Elliott triggered her to report his actions to authorities, even though he can no longer be criminally prosecuted.
In Texas law, rape is called sexual assault. For adult victims, the statute of limitations on sexual assault is 10 years. The age of consent in Texas is 17. (There is no statute of limitations on sexual assault of a child.)
In a statement released Thursday, the Celina Police Department said it was “contacted on November 12, 2025, by a TEA investigator regarding an allegation of criminal misconduct reported to have occurred in 1995.”
The reporting party confirmed the allegation was provided to the TEA but stated that the allegation was not reported in 1995. After reviewing the available information and considering the applicable statute of limitations, it was determined that a criminal investigation could not be pursued.
Celina ISD spokeswoman Nancy Alvarez told Texas Scorecard the district “was notified on Friday, March 20, 2026, that Bill Elliott voluntarily surrendered his educator certificate in lieu of a TEA investigation related to an allegation of misconduct from his time as a teacher on or about 1995.”
This allegation was reported to TEA and not the District. Celina ISD was not made aware of the allegation by TEA until after the District accepted Mr. Elliott’s resignation.
It is the District’s understanding from TEA that Mr. Elliott’s action is not an admission of guilt; rather, it reflects the fact that he has retired from public education and has no interest in incurring the additional legal expense of dealing with any potential litigation in this matter.
The district announced on January 14 that Bill Elliott was retiring following 33 years on the job. That announcement came a day after trustees stated they would be releasing a report revealing findings of a third-party investigation into whether district administrators including Bill Elliott had hushed up sexual misconduct by Caleb Elliott.
Bill Elliott’s accuser said she is thankful to TEA investigators for listening to her and is satisfied with the outcome.
She said the TEA informed her that Bill Elliott didn’t want the complaint to go to trial, and the inspector general asked for her approval before agreeing to settle the disciplinary action by permanently revoking Elliott’s teaching certificate and placing him on the Do Not Hire Registry.
“All I wanted was his certification taken, so he can’t go to another school and do it to another child,” the former student said.
“I got the outcome I wanted. I won.”
