Northside ISD investigating incident with official, Jay players (Video)

[InsideTheStripe]

Who hired that dumbass attorney?

[Nevadaref]

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Texas high school football coach reportedly admits to telling players to blindside ref
Business Insider
Emmett Knowlton 3 hours ago

(YouTube)
Mack Breed, an assistant football coach at John Jay High School in San Antonio, reportedly admitted to giving his players instructions to hit a referee in a game on September 4 — an incident that was caught on video that has since gone viral, ESPN's Outside the Lines reported today.

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From Outside the Lines:

In a signed statement detailing his interactions with the head coach after the game, John Jay High School principal Robert Harris says the team's secondary coach, Mack Breed, admitted he "directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls."

While Breed insists that Robert Watts — the referee — used racial slurs at his players, and this led him to give his players the instructions, Watts and his lawyers have vehemently denied the claim.

In that same statement, Harris explained that Breed admitted to Gary Gutierrez, the team's head coach, that he'd given the players explicit instructions after Gutierrez told him that the two players in question had been kicked off the team. This admission reportedly happened on the team bus back from Marble Falls, and when they returned, Gutierrez relayed the information to Harris in a face-to-face meeting in the high school's parking lot.

From the statement:

"[Gutierrez] stated that Coach Breed initially asked him what was going to happen to the players during their ride home from the game. After Coach Gutierrez informed him that the players would be removed from the team, he informed Coach Gutierrez that he directed the players to strike the referee."

The next day, Breed and Harris met in Harris' office, and Breed confirmed what Gutierrez told him. From Harris' written statement:

"Coach Breed told me that he directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls. He wanted to take full responsibility for his actions. Mr. Breed at one point during our conversation stated that he should have handled the referee himself."

Last week, Michael Moreno and Victor Rojas, the two players suspended from school and possibly facing criminal charges, appeared on "Good Morning America" and said that their coach told them to hit the ref.

Here's the play:





Both Moreno and Rojas will appear in a private hearing on Wednesday that will determine whether they will be found guilty of violating the Student Code of Conduct. As ESPN notes, the two have already been assigned to alternate schools and are prohibited from watching John Jay games as spectators.

Breed will appear in a separate private hearing on Thursday with the University Interscholastic League, and the governing body of Texas high school athletics could sanction Breed and John Jay's football program.

We have reached out to Breed, Watts, and the school district for comment.

Players ordered to hit ref can return to school next semester, lawyer says

John Barr, ESPN.com

Two Texas high school football players who hit a referee in a Sept. 4 game at the direction of the team's assistant coach will be eligible to return to their school for the spring semester, the players' lawyer told ESPN on Wednesday. The decision comes after individual hearings were held by the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio.

The two John Jay High School players, 15-year-old Victor Rojas and 17-year-old Michael Moreno, have been assigned to an alternative school and have been prohibited from even watching John Jay games as spectators. The punishment for the two teens, according to their attorney, Jesse Hernandez, is 75 days in the alternative school. With credit for time they have already spent there, the boys will be eligible to return to John Jay when the semester starts on Jan. 15.

"Obviously the boys wanted to return to John Jay High School immediately, but we think this punishment is within the bounds of fairness, and the boys have accepted responsibility for their actions," Hernandez said.

Northside ISD released a statement saying that two disciplinary hearings were held, one for each player, to address "violations of the Student Code of Conduct."

"Because both are minors and protected by the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), NISD cannot release any information about any consequences assigned at the hearings or confirm their names," the statement read.

Northside Independent School District officials, seen here Sept. 9, determined Wednesday that John Jay players Victor Rojas and Michael Moreno can return to the school next semester, but a hearing Thursday could lead to sanctions for the football program. AP Photo/Eric Gay
Moreno, a senior, is done with football at John Jay because he'll be in the alternative school for the balance of this semester. But Hernandez said nothing in Wednesday's ruling by a Northside Independent School District hearing officer prevents Rojas, a sophomore, from playing football next year.

That could change Thursday, when the University Interscholastic League meets in Round Rock, Texas. The UIL, the governing body of Texas high school athletics, could sanction Rojas; the assistant coach, Mack Breed; and John Jay's football program. Rojas could be suspended from football, and John Jay's season could be canceled.

The hearings come on the heels of an Outside the Lines report that Breed told John Jay principal Robert Harris that he ordered his players to hit the referee out of anger that the official used racist language, according to evidence obtained by OTL.

In a signed statement detailing his interactions with head coach Gary Gutierrez after the game, Harris said Breed, the team's secondary coach, admitted he "directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls."

On Sept. 4, Rojas and Moreno blindsided official Robert Watts late in the fourth quarter of a game in Marble Falls, Texas, on a deliberate tackle from behind. The incident was captured on video and has nearly 11 million views on YouTube.

According to a sideline source and the accounts provided to Outside the Lines of four John Jay players, Watts used the N-word twice during the game, once before and once after the infamous hits, and also used language offensive to Hispanics.

Watts has declined to comment, but his attorney, Alan Goldberger, said Watts denies he used racist remarks of any kind.

Harris' statement detailed a meeting the day after the game, in which Breed admitted calling for the hit.

"I later met with Coach Breed at John Jay High School ... in my office in the presence of Coach Gutierrez," Harris wrote. "Coach Breed told me that he directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls. He wanted to take full responsibility for his actions. Mr. Breed at one point during our conversation stated that he should have handled the referee himself."

Breed has declined to comment publicly about what he told his players. He is expected to attend the UIL's meeting on Thursday.

Had the students been found guilty of violating the Student Code of Conduct, the range of consequences could have ranged "from assignment to alternative school to expulsion," a school district spokesperson said.

[SCalScoreKeeper]

Absolutely disgraceful ruling by the school district-let's hope the UIL will act with a little more conviction in their actions towards these kids and that school.Would you work there now with this ruling?

[jTheUmp]

I'm ok with the kids being allowed back in the classroom. But neither of them should be allowed to play or attend sporting events for the rest of their high school careers.

The AC should be permanently banned from coaching at ANY level, and I'd be ok with a post-season ban for the school and a possible suspension of the HC.

[OKREF]

Originally Posted by jTheUmp

I'm ok with the kids being allowed back in the classroom. But neither of them should be allowed to play or attend sporting events for the rest of their high school careers.

The AC should be permanently banned from coaching at ANY level, and I'd be ok with a post-season ban for the school and a possible suspension of the HC.

Well one is a senior, so he is done. The other is a sophomore, so he basically gets suspended for a half of a season.

[ajmc]

Regarding the nonsense about "racial slurs", which is directly from "the dog ate my homeword" strategy; what possible difference could/should that make?

Have the standards somehow been lowered that should anyone make a "comment" that another party may be offended by, it somehow justifies a premeditated, dangerous and obvious ASSAULT as an acceptable response?

Where will that logic lead to?