Okay guys, so I just going through my younger sister's friend's yearbook and I saw pictures of one of my high school teachers and I need some help with my feelings about it. 

Background: This man was my math teacher and was the coach of one of the clubs I was in. I was in a group of 25 students that was chosen from 8th grade to take part in a special program throughout high school that was supposed to prepare us for college entrance exams (like PSAT, ACT, and SAT). Because I'm from a rural small town, I was in the same classes with these kids from freshmen year to senior year. All of my English classes and math classes throughout high school were taught by the same two people. The teacher I am referring to was my math teacher for all 4 years of high school.

 On top of being in this man's classes for 4 years, I was also in a club all through hs that was coached by him. In this club, we practiced daily, as well as practiced after school on certain days, we traveled frequently throughout our season, and sometimes stayed out of town for competitions. Long story short, I spent a lot of time with this man throughout high school. He knew where I lived, he knew my family, and there were some years that I had him 3/8 hours of the day.

So, my first 2 years of high school I don't remember anything inappropriate ever happening or being said. I was a year younger than everyone in my class and I was just really naive and immature. I knew that he treated me like a favorite student and that he was easy to manipulate but that was it. My junior year is when I (and a lot of my classmates) noticed that something was up.

Before I continue, I just want to say that nothing physical ever happened between him and I (not that this matters, he should've never made me feel uncomfortable). He is a middle aged man and I have never found him to be attractive in the slightest. I actually have always thought that he is really pretentious, arrogant, awkward, and not a great teacher (even though he thought of himself as the best teacher in the district). 

So I will put everything that I feel was suspicious behavior in bullet point form:

1. There was a teacher at the middle school who married one of his students after she graduated high school. I understand there are conflicting opinions about this situation but there were students like myself who would use this teacher as the butt of jokes. On multiple occasions, my teacher would argue with students (including myself) that this situation is okay because she was an adult. I personally find it to be disgusting that a man would sleep with a woman he knew as a child and so did some of my classmates. Looking back now, he should not have even commented about this middle school teacher's situation in the presence of students. 
2. He made friends with students and texted them outside of class. Many, many times he texted me outside of school about non-school matters. They were usually some kind of joke or comment about something we had discussed. I knew that my parents would flip if they knew a teacher was texting me (even if its not inappropriate per se) so I would delete the text messages as a way to protect him. My parents are the type to go up to the school if they feel like they have to and I did not want even the possibility of this happening.
3. Several times he made comments that him and I have very similar interests. My parents are a little older than him so I knew all of the pop culture things from their generation. So, it is not that we had the same interests, I was just aware of all of the music and movies from that time. He didn't make this distinction, just commented that we were very similar people.
4. After junior year, he started treating me more like a friend than a student. I was very good at the club I was in and I'm fairly sure he rigged my grades so our club GPA would stay the highest. I was not good at math in hs (turns out I am really good at math, he's just a shitty teacher), and I do not remember performing in his classes at a B+ or A- level, I was definitely a B- or C+ student in his class.
5. During our many trips to other schools, he talked with us and interacted with us like he was another member. I remember having several conversations about topics that I'd be pissed about if I was a parent. Nothing sexual, just adult topics I guess. A normal teacher would shut down any of the conversations we were all having I think. (He's honestly just really immature for his age. He never had a girlfriend/wife and everyone in town thought that he was either gay or a virgin.)
6. In my junior and senior years, there were jokes thrown around about him having a crush on me. I never thought these jokes were funny and it really pissed me off and made me uncomfortable. I never wanted my name thrown around with his even if it was a joke. I really didn't want anyone to even think that this was a possibility. One time during practice, one of the freshmen blurted out that it was obvious that the teacher had a crush on me (in front of the entire team, me, and my teacher), and my teacher was SILENT. Just got flushed and visibly mad. It was really uncomfortable and it pissed me off that he didn't punish the freshman. He just blew it off and we continued on.
7. I can't remember anything else from high school but after I graduated, he still tried to stay in contact with me. He asked me 2 years in a row to come back for club events which I declined both times. He texted me a couple times about politics and commenting about things my mom put up on Facebook. I really tried to avoid him but I ended up seeing him in person at an event I didn't know he'd be at. This was a couple of years ago, I had gained about 30 pounds since high school, we spoke for a couple minutes, and then I've heard nothing from him since. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad, but it makes me think he was no longer attracted to me anymore so he backed off.

Now I'm in college, lost the freshman 30 (I went a tad crazy after high school: depression, binging, and adderall, caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol dependencies), and I'm thriving. I've had conflicting feelings about my experience with this teacher. I go back and forth between "girl, you're crazy, he was just your teacher and just an awkward person (guilt)" and "girl, STAY FAR AWAY FROM HIM AT ALL COSTS (hatred)." 

If any of you have any opinions, I'd like to hear them. I have a really hard time with understanding people's intentions and this situation is hard to comprehend emotionally. I always want to believe in the good of people but I've grown to understand that doing that is not the most realistic outlook to have. I don't want to believe that this was grooming behavior, but then I look at it from an adult's or parent's perspective and if my kid had interactions with a teacher that was nothing but professional, I'd raise hell. Looking at those pictures today triggered me and I am terrified of seeing him in person and having an awkward interaction (or him asking me out, HELL NO). Being in college has also helped me see that being a great teacher has nothing to do with friendship or likemindedness, it is about making a genuine effort to help your students learn and succeed. With all of that being said, am I crazy or were my experiences genuinely inappropriate?