High School Football Players Reprimanded For Ref Hit; Coach Resigns

[Mitch Henessey]

Spoiler

The video couldn't be clearer: Two players hit a game official in the back during a high school football game. Outside of that, the details are perfectly opaque.

While the players from San Antonio's John Jay High School claim their assistant coach ordered them to level the official, coach Mack Breed took responsibility in a Thursday resignation letter without expressly admitting to the allegation.

To make matters murkier, Breed, the players and the game official are pointing fingers, leaving game official Robert Watts to issue a five-page statement in which he denies calling players the n-word.

There were hopes that Thursday's University Interscholastic League hearing would sort out who said what, but it ended without a ruling because the board lacked information, namely the testimony of Breed and players Victor Rojas and Michael Moreno.

The UIL ruled that Breed, who was on administrative leave before his resignation, would not be allowed to coach again until he spoke to the board. Another hearing was scheduled for October.

In his statement, Watts said the game began on a solid note with only one penalty in the first quarter. At halftime, the only complaint among the officiating squad was that one of the team's secondaries was "getting chippy," he said.

The game's tenor changed in the middle of the third quarter.

After a short run up the middle, the John Jay quarterback and a Marble Falls High School player continued to engage after the play was over, Watts wrote. The quarterback, described only as No. 11, looked at Watts expectantly, awaiting a penalty flag. When it didn't come, Watts said, the quarterback "shoved the ball at me forcefully, hitting me in the solar plexus. This was painful and I grunted in response."

Watts issued a warning to the player "that if he shoved the ball at me like that again he would be out of the game," which the player seemed to brush off, the official said.

Later, when the quarterback was playing defense, he pushed Watts after a play for no reason, giving the official a smirk as he returned to his position, Watts alleged. Five plays later, still playing safety on the defensive side, the quarterback got into a scrum with another player that ended with the quarterback "shoving the opponent's head downward via his hand on the face mask," Watts wrote.

It was the player's second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty -- his first was for "disparaging language toward an official" -- and he was ejected, according to Watts.

Breed has a starkly different account of the encounter.

According to Breed's version of events, after a "black receiver for John Jay" was ejected from the game, the receiver told Breed that Watts had said to him, "Throw the f***ing ball at me again, n****r."

Though the player isn't identified in Watts' statement, Breed identifies the ejected player as Moses Reynolds, who plays wide receiver, quarterback and safety for John Jay. He also wears No. 11.

"I have learned that players and possibly coaches ... have said that during the game I used racial slurs and insults against John Jay High School players. I did not do that," Watts said in a statement.

Through his attorneys, Watts has said he is considering lawsuits and is urging criminal prosecutions of the assistant coach and both players. Still, Breed insists the racial slurs were what provoked his behavior and while he is "moving forward, others have yet to accept responsibility for their roles."

"As a black male, nothing offended Mack Breed more than being called a racial epithet, except someone in a position of authority calling his players racial epithets. The slur was heard by multiple players, some of whom were not involved in the hit," Breed's statement said.

Reynolds was tossed from the game for throwing a punch even though, according to Breed's statement, a white player on the opposing team had allegedly punched Reynolds multiple times and avoided ejection.

Describing the atmosphere on the John Jay sideline as "a powder keg," Breed said that another John Jay coach was penalized for yelling at the officials about the alleged racist comments. Head coach Gary Gutierrez also notified the officials about the slurs, but was told the officials would never use such language.

"Succumbing to the racially charged atmosphere, Coach Breed let his anger get the best of him and he made some regrettable comments. Witnesses can't agree on what the comments were, but they were interpreted by two players to mean 'hit the referee.' The witnesses agree that Breed never explicitly told them to hit the referee, except for Michael Moreno, whose story continues to evolve," the statement said.

Singling out the teen, Breed said, "Moreno paints himself as a saint on television" when he was actually "out of control" during the game. Not only did Moreno allegedly allow another player to be ejected for Moreno's hit on Watts, he flagrantly hit a kneeling quarterback -- a no-no in football -- on the next play, according to the coach.

"His behavior is exactly what one would expect from a rogue player blaming a coach for the player's actions," Breed's statement said.

Breed concluded his statement by saying he "feels that he could have handled the situation better. For that reason, Mack has submitted his resignation and will move forward taking responsibility for his role in the events that occurred. Mack never intended for the kids to hit or hurt the referee, but the result was the same."

Watts and Breed concur on several points regarding incidents in the second half, though Watts provides additional details.

"I was knocked to the ground and hit my head on the ground. I was then hit from behind a second time, which forced my head into the ground again," he wrote.

He acknowledged that he asked a player who had not actually struck him, identified as No. 7, why he had hit him.

"His response was, 'You were in the way.' He then laughed," Watts said, explaining that he ejected the wrong player from the game.

Watts then warned Gutierrez that if any more game officials were touched, the game was over, Watts said. Gutierrez replied that three of his player alleged Watts had called them "f***ing n****rs," which he denied, the official said. During the conversation, Breed stood behind Gutierrez "yelling profanities and gesturing angrily at me and also at the other officials."

Watts said that after the game he asked Gutierrez for the offending players' names and Gutierrez responded that he had forgotten them.

Police escorted the officiating crew to the locker room, and there, Watts inquired about filing complaints against the players who had hit him.

"In the locker room, I noticed a patch of turf burn on my forehead, a cut next to my right eye and a large red bruise abrasion on my left arm, all of which were painful. My left knee was in pain. My neck and back were in immense pain. I was dizzy immediately after the hit and the whole time in the locker room," he wrote.

He became nauseous on the ride home, and the next day, he went for X-rays and CT scans because he was experiencing headaches, nausea, vertigo, tunnel vision and neck, back and knee pain, he said. He was diagnosed with a concussion, he said, and over the next few days he suffered from memory loss, feverishness, hot flashes, an achy knee and ringing in his left ear.

Jay Downs, an attorney for Watts, took the stand Thursday and said the official was still suffering from post-concussion syndrome. Watts didn't attend the hearing, and Downs said doctors have yet to clear him to return to refereeing.

Gutierrez spoke during the hearing, both defending Breed and deriding his "poor judgment call." Breed joined the coaching staff in 2010. He played quarterback at John Jay before attending the University of Missouri, where he played safety.

"I love coach Breed. He was on staff already when I became head coach. He is an upstanding man. He is a man of integrity," Gutierrez said, but "he violated the sanctity of what coaches are."

The hearing came a day after the players attended a disciplinary hearing. Pascual Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Northside Independent School District, said that because Moreno and Rojas are minors, no information about the hearing would be released.

The boys' lawyer said they spoke at the hearing and took responsibility for what they did.

"They understand that they had a choice, they made a choice, it was the wrong choice and they're just looking for fairness," attorney Jesse Hernandez said, calling both of them "good kids."

Hernandez said he presented academic and disciplinary records as evidence. Neither boy spoke to the media.

The players told ABC News in an interview last Friday that they were following orders.

"While on the sideline, (Breed) pulled me and another player over and he told us, and I quote, 'You need to hit him,' " Moreno said. He further quoted the coach as saying, "You need to hit the ref. He needs to pay the price."

Watts was targeted, Moreno said, because of unjustified calls in addition to the "racial slurs being thrown at players."

Rojas said he heard Watts tell one of his Hispanic friends "to speak English, this is America." Rojas and Moreno alleged they also heard Watts call an African-American teammate the n-word.

The teens were suspended from school for three days, Hernandez has said. They have been attending an alternative school since then. Superintendent Brian Woods of the Northside Independent School District said during Thursday's hearing that, as a punitive measure, the teens would not be allowed to rejoin the football team.

No criminal charges have been filed, but Marble Falls police said they are investigating.

Another attorney for Watts, Alan Goldberger, said his client is considering filing defamation and slander lawsuits in the case and wants to see Rojas, Moreno and Breed face criminal charges, he said.

"These students aren't toddlers. These are crimes that no one should shrug their shoulders and walk away from. This isn't a case of boys will be boys," he said. "Every crime that was committed should be prosecuted."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/24/us/high-school-players-hit-texas-football-official-hearing/

To give you a shortened version of the article, Michael Moreno and Victor Rojas are two high school students and football players, and they allegedly received orders to hit referee Robert Watts from Mack Breed, their assistant coach, and another teammate. Allegedly, the tension started with some bad calls from Watts and things escalated with racial slurs, leading to Breed ordering the blindside hit on Watts.

Breed put in his resignation, Moreno and Rojas were suspended for the rest of the season, and they're currently attending an alternative school. Meanwhile, Watts is denying he used any racial slurs, and he's contemplating defamation and slander lawsuits, and according to his attorneys, he believes Moreno, Rojas, and Breed should face criminal charges. As far as Breed goes, in his resignation letter, he's not denying he ordered the hit, but at the same time, he refused to admit he explicitly ordered Rojas and Moreno's attack.

In the aftermath of this whole fiasco, everything has devolved into back and forth he said/she said finger pointing, so there's no real way to know, who's telling the 100% truth here. If Moreno and Rojas are telling the truth, it makes Breed look bad, because he let two kids take the real fall, knowing what would happen afterwards.

Moreno and Rojas are another story. On one hand, you could say they were just kids, who were following orders from one of their coaches. But you have to believe they're at an age, where they should know right from wrong, and when to say no. Maybe they were afraid of looking bad in front of their teammates, or maybe they didn't want to lose their spots on the team for disobeying a direct order, but they had to know this would get out somehow, and they had to know this ordeal would snowball into a big mess, especially in the age of social media, and where damn near everything goes viral in a matter of hours.

As far as Watts goes, if Watts did use racial slurs, they should bring the hammer down on him, but there's no real definitive proof for him using the racial slurs, so there's no way of knowing for sure. Still, with all that said, if Watts did use racial slurs and if some of his calls were questionable, there had to be more logical options to choose from for dealing with him. Intentionally or unintentionally, let's say Moreno and Rojas took things too far, and they really pulverized Watts, possibly paralyzing or killing him, then what?

All thoughts and discussion regarding this article are welcome.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

If the referee used racial slurs, then he should be fired. Racism shouldn't be taken lightly.

The two football players who attacked the referee should be suspended for the rest of this football season. Their actions were not justified, but at least they had a reason to attack the ref - the coach did instruct them to do so and the ref allegedly used racial slurs. (Again, this does not excuse their actions)

The coach who told the players to attack the referee should also be suspended for the rest of this season. This shows he is irresponsible and lacks leadership.

Also, there's no definitive proof the referee used racial slurs. I wouldn't fire him solely based off the claims of just two players.

It will be interesting to see where this goes from here. All involved should be punished in some way, as explained above.

 

[therockiswwf]

The players should be banned for life. You don't blindside a ref. That was an assault. That was not part of the game.

I played soccer in from was I young until my senior year of high school. I was a very physical player. I used my body a lot. But I always had two rules.
1. Never hit another player out of anger.
2. Never hit with the intent to injure (this rule I followed so well that the only person I ever injured when I played was myself).
Side note: I never really "hit" anyone, I just used hit for a lack of a better word. I was just a physical player.

I had those rules because if I ever broke them, I wouldn't be playing soccer anymore. I would be assaulting someone. I expect everyone else to be the same. I don't care if your coach orders you to do it or not, you don't attack someone. Also, I'm not sure I believe that the coach ordered it, I think he might have been covering up for the kids. But if he did order them to do it, he should be banned for life as well as the kids.

I would never feel safe playing against those two players. In fact, I'd probably refuse to play against them. I would also refuse to let my team play them. What's to stop them from doing that to anyone else? Why put myself or my players at risk?

I do not believe that the ref used slurs. I played for years and I have seen first hand how angry people get at refs. I never understood why anyone would argue with a ref. I never did it once. All you'll do is piss them off. Anyways, I've seen people do and say illogically stupid things to refs. Always by the more immature ones who think they are badasses.

If the ref used a slur, he should be fired. But you don't fight racism with violence. That solves nothing.

 

[OYDK]

The players should be banned for life. You don't blindside a ref. That was an assault. That was not part of the game.

I have much the same opinion. A referee is not an opposing player, he's not even participating in the game. He's there to make calls and to keep order on the field. Blindsiding or tackling the ref out of nowhere out of anger is just the same as rushing a loudmouth fan and pulverizing them, it's uncalled for assault. Just because the ref is on the field doesn't make him free game. He's padless, and basically defenseless when it comes down to it.

It's a dangerous situation when you're the ref and the coach is the one who's out to hurt you. In a high-school football scenario, where the kids are hormonal teenage jocks who couldn't give less of a shit about most things, it's the coaches responsibility to make sure the team is in line and that people are safe. The coach telling two teenagers to attack a referee is a very threatening scenario and could have ended much worse. If the referee made racial remarks, than it still could have been handled differently; report the guy or walk off the field, but to order a hit on him just gives him that much more leverage.

At the end of the day, it's an assault. Whether you're on the football field or in the parking lot, two people tackling an unsuspecting bystander is grounds for an assault charge. The players should be kicked off the team for the year at least, the coach should be fired, and the ref, depending on what really happened, should either be fired as well or duly compensated.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Watts (the referee) then warned Gutierrez (head coach) that if any more game officials were touched, the game was over, Watts said. Gutierrez replied that three of his player alleged Watts had called them "f***ing n****rs," which he denied, the official said.

Yes, and as Reverend Al Sharpton learned to his advantage years ago, when accused of any allegation, just start yelling 'racism' and the facts of the case will be buried and all investigators will be talking about is whether the referee used racial slurs.

We don't know the personalities involved in this incident, but in this day and age, doesn't it seem insane that a game official would direct racial slurs at a player during a game? I just can't see it, although I suppose it's possible.

Without the allegations of racism, this incident should be pretty clear cut, no? Coach Breed should face criminal charges if his own players say he ordered the hit.......and whether or not the two players 'should have known better' than to carry it out, the law enforcement authorities should recognize the strict hold a coach has over his players..... and mitigate their punishment ......but there should be consequences for the players; say, suspension for the rest of the season. At any rate, I can't see criminal punishment for the players if they were acting under the orders from an adult coach.

Still, if the entire case comes to center on the racial allegations and not the physical attack on the referee, I'm sure Al Sharpton will be sitting somewhere, smiling.

 

[therockiswwf]

Without the allegations of racism, this incident should be pretty clear cut, no? Coach Breed should face criminal charges if his own players say he ordered the hit.......and whether or not the two players 'should have known better' than to carry it out, the law enforcement authorities should recognize the strict hold a coach has over his players..... and mitigate their punishment ......but there should be consequences for the players; say, suspension for the rest of the season. At any rate, I can't see criminal punishment for the players if they were acting under the orders from an adult coach.

They should have known better if the coach did order it. They are in high school. They are past the age when they can claim ignorance.

When I played, I was not a puppet. My coach could not just tell me to do anything and I would blindly do it. If my coach ever ordered me to attack anyone, I would quit on the spot. I'm pretty sure most people would do the same (or at least would say no).

Most people would not follow those kinds of orders. They could have injured the ref. Hey sorry for breaking your back but it's not my fault cause someone told me to do it. They should be banned for life. As for criminal charges, they assaulted someone. They were not forced to do it. They should be charged (as well as the coach if he told them to do it). I'm not saying put them away for forever but they need to be punished.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

If the ref used racial slurs, he should most definitely be fired. However, how to prove he did is gonna be a tough job unless someone recorded the confrontation and Watts' words can be clearly heard and understood. Breed, Rojas and Moreno have no credibility and the ref is ALWAYS seems to be accused of making bad calls by the team getting reprimanded and/or is losing the game.

As for the boys themselves, the whole "I was just doing as I was told" has been used by everyone from negligent workers to Nazis in order to defend their actions. They're in high school and if the coach did tell them to hit the ref, they could've said no and the coach had no right to put them in such a position in the first place.

 

[A11oftheLights]

We don't know the personalities involved in this incident, but in this day and age, doesn't it seem insane that a game official would direct racial slurs at a player during a game? I just can't see it, although I suppose it's possible.

I thought the same thing until a couple of weeks ago when my mate told me how an umpire told another player the ball to blacky. Its 2015 and everyone pretty much understands that you need to keep racist thoughts to yourself but to think that people dont have them would be stupid. And if people still think them there is every bit of a chance that someone is switched off and makes a dumbass comment

 

[Poop Master Flex]

If the ref used a racial slur then no question he should be fired, there is absolutely no excuse for that and there should be no tolerance given to the ref for that. It's going to be really hard to prove if the ref in fact used a racial slur but in any event an investigation should be done to get to the bottom of this one way or the other, until then it's probably best to make sure he doesn't ref anymore games as you don't want to risk it but don't drop the hammer until he's proven guilty.

There's no question the coach should be fired for putting the hit out on the ref. I don't care what the reason was, there are better ways to handle this situation and putting a hit out on someone, make a complaint after the game against the ref if you must but to possible injure or kill the guy because you don't like how he's reffing, that's completely unacceptable and the coach should be fired for that. The football players should be suspended as well, they aren't little kids and they could've killed someone because they followed orders they should've been smart enough not to. What happens to the ref all depends on what he was pulling but in regards to the coach and players they have no business playing/coaching after pulling that crap.