canton mckinley football coach
violated the player's constitutional rights, the districts completed internal investigation, interviews with five of the coaches and three players, Hebrew Israelites do consider themselves to be Jewish, was hired as the districts interim head football coach for the upcoming season, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. School board president John "J.R." Rinaldi said Hall will continue to serve as the district's athletic director and will work with the district's administrative team to build his football staff. But the player testified that Wattley told him that if he walked out, he couldnt come back. Black Jews, who maintain a Christological perspective and adopt Jewish rituals. The player, whom the Repository has agreed to not identify,has been devastated by the situation and continues to undergo psychological counseling, the attorney said. The player said he felt badabout eating the ribs after seeing news reports in 2021 that the ribs had been pork. Rose prefers Carr to Baker Mayfield based on pulling out wins in fourth quarters. This was an extraordinary situation we all can learn from, Pattakos said. The Canton City Board of Education voted to fire the coaches on June 3, 2021 after surveillance camera video surfaced of the incident. The most important thing for Mr. Wattley at this point is that the truth comes out so that his name is cleared of these ridiculous charges against him, and we will make sure that happens. We remain proud to fight for these wrongly maligned coaches and clear their good names in court, Pattakos said. Attorney Peter Pattakos, the lead attorney representing six of the former McKinley football coaches in two of the lawsuits related to the pizza-eating incident, on Thursday released a 298-page transcript of the players roughlyseven-hour testimony that was taken as part of a court deposition. District officials have said the surveillance cameras only record when it detects movement as a way to save memory and believe the camera didn't detect movement during the two-minute gap. According to his deposition testimony, the players father first introduced the family to the Hebrew Israelite faith in 2013. Gilbert has said the player was told that if he didn't eat the pizza, that his teammates would be forced to perform additional drills and that the player's status with the team was in question. . McKinley Senior High School Grades 9-12 2323 17th St NW, Canton, OH 44708. Its not like they put their hands on me, but they forced me to eat it, he said. McKinley football player Mani Powell said he wants his coaches back. No Bulldogcoachs tenure has spanned more than five years since Thom McDaniels guided the program from 1982-1997. "What I can tell you is that all of our athletes are safe, we are continuing on with our strengthening and conditioning program and we will investigate this according to our district policies. He always tries to make the people around him better. I love them, they know that. In an email to 3News, Canton City Schools says its administrative team received a report of an incident that took place on Monday, May 24, during McKinley footballs strength and conditioning practice. "We are confident that under Coach Hall's leadership, our football program will be in very capable and experienced hands and our student-athletes will have a rewarding experience," Rinaldi said. He was asked to accept this form of a lesson. He said he has lost respect for the McKinley coaches he once admired. Earlier this month, Canton City Schools Superintendent Jeff Talbert released a video statement to, "set the record straight" about the recent firing of seven McKinley High School football coaches. A federal judge in U.S. District Court dismissed seven former football coaches from a lawsuit filed by a former football player and his family, citing insufficient evidence to support allegations that the player was forced to eat food against his religion. Canton McKinley High School Head Football Coach Marcus Wattley and five assistant coaches are suing Canton City school officials and others for spreading "false, malicious and extremely defamatory statements" that cost them their jobs and their reputations. He emphasized that the player had the ability to leave at any time and had the option of selecting an alternative food that did not contain pork. Other football players who were at the May 24 workout have saidthe coaches never forced the playerto eat the pizza and they gave the player the choice of eating chicken nuggets instead. Every day . 3 Nordonia (17-5), 7 p.m. Saturday . Theyve run plenty of sprints. Gilbert, who did not attend the school board meeting, said the player has been devastated by the situation and continues to undergo psychological counseling. I was hoping David Carr would come to the Browns. He was one of several football players who attended the disciplinary hearing Monday to show their support for Wattley. ", In June of last year, former McKinley head coach Marcus Wattley and six of his assistant coaches were fired by Canton City Schools following an investigation into misconduct. He went on to play at the University of Kentucky and in the Canadian Football League with Calgary, Edmonton and Saskatchewan. The Canton City school board on Thursday voted unanimously to not renew the coaching contracts of Wattley,assistant coaches Cade Brodie and Tyler Thatcher, and assistant baseball coach Romero Harris, who hasrelated weight room duties. Attorney Stephen Griffin, who represents Gilbert in the coaches defamation lawsuit, declined to respond to Pattakos online post. After I got off the phone call, I thought to myself, like I cant like what they did to me was just too far extreme disrespect, so I just left it there.. Im in disbelief that Im basically accused of harming a kid when Ive done nothing but take care of kids in this community, said McLeod, a 1996 McKinley graduate who was an all-Ohio linebacker for McKinley. I said I dont eat pepperoni because I dont want to eat it because the grease is cooked in with the cheese. CANTON, Ohio Eight coaches from the Canton McKinley High School football team have been placed on administrative leave, including head coach Marcus Wattley. Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowler in Seattle, last offseason engineered his way to Denver (and to a new . "Thom used to tell me, 'You can play him on defense, but if he gets hurt, you're fired.'. The player blames his former coaches for describing him as a troubled kid in the media asthe reason his offers to play Division Ifootball fell through. They said the player chose to take off the pepperoni and eat it. I dont know what they would have thought, but what was going through my mind at the time was if I would have told them, they would have still had me come to the trainer, but I couldnt do nothing with my shoulder at the time. Pattakos, who said he,Wattley and McLeod saw the surveillance video for the first time Monday,saidhe isn't giving up on reinstatingWattley and McLeod as McKinley coaches. Thats why it raises concerns when this young man doesnt text his coaches and explains where he is when they are expecting them to be at a voluntary workout, even though it is voluntary. When Pattakos asked him if he believed that any of the coaches intended to harm him by violating his religious beliefs, the player responded: I dont know what they were what was going through their heads, so I dont know.. "Josh came out of the huddle, went up to the line, then stepped back. A district investigation found the charges against the coaches to be true, and Superintendent Jeff Talbert called their actions "inappropriate, demeaning, and divisive." A federal judge said there was insufficient evidence to support allegations that the player was forced to eat food against his religion. … I still have visuals of them yelling at me and stuff to eat it, and I felt like my religion didnt matter to them, and they threw it out the window, and I told them I didnt eat it and they made me feel some type of way.. Im in disbelief that Im basically accused of harming a kid when Ive done nothing but take care of kids in this community, said McLeod, a 1996 McKinley graduate who was an all-Ohio linebacker for McKinley. He recounted an encounter with one of the coaches at the mall recently. He didnt provide a reason why. "As a coach, you can be frustrated watching that. to me "dogging" Wattley because you couldn't stand the fact I said McK football is in a much better place now than two years ago and then had to make your 2nd profile of the day yesterday to pose . One of the state's most successful coaches . Reach Kelli at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com. Feb 9. Attorney Edward Gilbert, who is representing the 17-year-old player at the center of the controversyand his family, on June 14 released the surveillance video that was taken on May 24 when the family says Wattley and his staff forced the player to eat an entire pepperoni pizza against his Hebrew Israelite religious beliefs as punishment for missing a voluntary workout. Canton City Schools' administrative team received a report of an incident that took place during its strength and conditioning practice on Monday. A federal judge filed an order Thursday to . As for the coaches who had other jobs within the district, there will be upcoming meetings to determine their futures in that capacity. McDaniels, 45, is back in a head coaching seat for the first time since getting fired by the Denver Broncos 12 games into the 2010 season. … I was yelling at him, I was telling him I dont eat it because of my religion, the player said. When Pattakos asked the player why he participated in a rib-eating contest with his teammates in 2019, he recalled that he had asked Wattley whether the ribs were beef or pork but Wattley didnt know. The deposition, where the player testified under oath, was conducted as part of the defamation lawsuit that the coaches filed a year ago against the player, the players father, Kenny Walker, their attorney Edward Gilbert and former assistant coach Josh Grimsley. Rose views McDaniels as a coach's son who paid attention and absorbed every lesson. The lawsuit also had been filed against Canton City school leaders but they were dismissed from the case in January. Gilbert said the player told the coach at least 10 times that he did not eat pork because he and his family are Hebrew Israelites, a faith thatstrictly forbids the consumption of pork or pork residue. I learned from a great man how to coach football," Wattley told media members during a Monday interview. Canton McKinley High School head football coach Marcus Wattley placed on administrative leave along with seven assistants Canton City Schools' administrative team received a report of an. He has beenan assistant coach at McKinley, GlenOak and St. Thomas Aquinas. 40-22 (W) McKinley vs. GlenOak. I love them, they know that, Wattley said. Pattakos wrote the evidence collected during the discovery phase of the lawsuit revealed information that wasn't known when the lawsuit was filed in July 2021, including the admission by the player that didnt explicitly tell the coaches about his Hebrew Israelite beliefs and that a surveillance video the district used as the basis of its internal investigation was missing a two-minute span of time. "I ran around the corner seeing nothing but open space. He said coach Brodie told him to take off the pepperoni. Frank McLeod, one of the assistant coaches who was dismissed, on Tuesday said he believes the district's surveillance video clears the coaches. HENDERSON, Nev. Growing up in Canton, Josh McDaniels vividly remembers seeing stenciled helmets painted on the double-yellow lines on his way to McKinley High School. Four young men in this program have been shot in this last calendar year alone, Pattakos said. His defense is all over the place. All rights reserved. 13 Canton McKinley (11-12) at No. The students said the playerhas since apologized to them and to the coaches. Its absolutely, totally ridiculous, Gilbert said. Pattakos said those two minutes of video would have shown the player shaking hands and hugging the coaches after the discipline was over. Fletcher played 256 NFL games, third all-time among linebackers behind Junior Seau (268) and Clay Matthews (278). The former Canton McKinley football coaches who have been waiting for more than a year for a chance to clear their names in court have decided to wait a while longer. "I remember sitting in the stands watching a McKinley-Masillon ninth-grade game," Rose said. Bulldogs logo for the Canton City School District in Ohio. Pattakos blamed an assistant coach, whom he did not name, for inflaming the situation by reporting an exaggerated version to administrators and the players family. When Pattakos asked him whether he planned to cut the coaches out of his life forever, the player said, I mean, I dont plan on rebuilding no relationship we had.. After meeting for more than an hour in executive session, the board of education unanimously voted to terminate Wattley's contract, along with the following other coaches: Wattley and the remaining six coaches were originally on administrative leave following an accusation that they forced a student to eat pepperoni pizza after he showed up late to a non-mandatory practice on May 24. "The football program, which has a long and proud history, is an important part of our school culture and our community," Talbert added in a statement that was read by Board President John M. Rinaldi Thursday. Stephen Griffin, who maintain a Christological perspective and adopt Jewish rituals coaches defamation lawsuit declined! 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canton mckinley football coach