Per a news release by the district and local media coverage, head football coach and athletic director Neil Searcy has been suspended for a year as football coach, but not as AD, after an internal school district investigation led by Superintendent DesMontes Stewart confirmed that, on six occasions this spring, in violation of University Interscholastic League rules, Searcy ran spring football practices with players in helmets and pads.
The Fort Worth StarleGram got Searcy to speak, and admit he knew what he was doing, and why:
“I’m taking full responsibility,” Searcy said. “[I was] trying to get some excitement into our program. Our numbers are not where they need to be, and I was trying to develop that. ... All good intentions, but no excuse for bad judgment.”
Due to the practices, the UIL SEC determined Gainesville received a competitive advantage. As a result, Gainesville football was issued a four-practice suspension and will not play its first scrimmage.
It’s a direct and clear violation of UIL rules, and Searcy said he knew that while he conducted the practices. Athletes may engage in sport-specific activities during athletic periods, but not before or after school during the offseason. Class 4A athletes also can’t wear contact equipment unless it’s during the season.
When asked whether he thought he would get caught ahead of the May practices, Searcy said he “didn’t know” and acknowledged the practice rules are important, despite his conscious decision to break them.
“I made the decision to have those practices,” Searcy said. “The man and the person that I am, I really struggled internally with the decision that I made. What I try to teach kids ... I failed that in making the decision that I made. ... I really had some conflict, but it didn’t stop me from doing it. ... I made a mistake, and it’s something that will never happen again.” y
The why is that they went 1-9 last year and were last in district, and were losing a lot of players from a squad that was thin for a 4A team last year.
The Startlegram notes that 4A (and below) cannot have full spring football.
Stewart promised to have an interim head coach named by end of day today.
Good luck with that.
When a head coach comes to a new school, they bring most their own staff, right?
If you’re a current assistant, do you feel disloyal to him by taking the interim if offered, especially since he is suspended ONLY as football coach, not AD?
Second, did any of his assistants protest, or not protest running the kids in pads? Will other assistants backbite the guy who gets the nod? How thoroughly has Stewart already investigated the assistants, on a presumption Searcy would be suspended?
Third, could UIL have ruled on this earlier? The timetable puts the district and Stewart in kind of a bind.
As for the rest of the punishment? All GISD sports are on a mild probation. None of them, including football, will be barred from the postseason. That said, the football team did lose one of its two scrimmage dates, the first one, along with a few days of practice before that.
The story confirms that a school district police officer reported him.
That adds to the turmoil of the coaching turnover, along with a team that went 1-9 last year and was not predicted by Dave Campbell's Texas Football to be very good this year.
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