4 Manatee County football coaches suspended for recruiting violations

[gatorman001]

• Manatee High head coach Yusuf Shakir was suspended for eight games, including the 2020 spring game and fall classic, and must forfeit $5,000 of his salary. He was also reprimanted and placed on administrativbe probation through June 30, 2021. The report states, Shakir “presented urging, enticing or pressuring statements/acts (approximately 20) to the Lincoln Academy students during a scheduled athletic tour of the school’s football facilities.”
• Dennis Stallard, the longtime special teams coach at Manatee High, was suspended for six games and must forfeit $5,000 for making approximately four “urging, enticing or pressuring statements/acts,” to the Lincoln students.
• Palmetto High head coach Dave Marino was hit with the same penalties as Shakir. The school was fined $2,500 because no assistant coaches were found in violation.
• Lakewood Ranch head coach Rashad West was suspended for six games, including four regular-season games, with the same monetary penalty as Shakir and Marino. According to the FHSAA report, “West scheduled and conducted an athletic tour to the Lincoln Academy students.” Lakewood Ranch High was placed on probation and fined $2,500.

Thoughts anyone....surprised Braden River wasn't linked to any of this???? I'm looking now for more information on this, with a more detailed findings report.......but I find the whole thing not being presented in a way, that tells what really happen. How is it 3 schools schedule a tour for the same Academy, and all these coaches that have been around for a while are guilty of the same exact thing? How could Daniel Lapoint, Manatee's AD who also sits on a FHSAA appeal committee, allow any of her coaches to conduct these type of tours without making sure rules are followed to the "T"........where's her over-sight as the AD? Why didn't the county athletic director hold her to the same standards Joe Kinnan was held to when things happen'd under Joe's watch as the AD? What exactly were the circumstances that brought this to the county athletic director's attention, that eventually led to the self reporting to the FHSAA?

Get this too, on 1-30-2020 Manatee's Yusuf Shakir, was elected by his peers to the FHSAA rules committee to represent section 3 ........but hey 3 months later, now he's a rules violator?

Go Canes Go

 

[gatorman001]

So my suspicions appear to be on mark, a group of parents from the Academy requested a tour at the 3 schools (Manatee, Palmetto, and Lakewood Ranch), requests were made to Southeast and Braden River but nothing was ever confirmed to make visits to those schools a reality. During the visits someone requested that one of the parents of one of the kids, go live on facebook during the visits. At that point appears someone from either Southeast or Braden River reported the video as evidence of recruiting...................which it never was, nor was that ever the intent of the visits....the parent requested that the kids as a group be allowed to come and tour the campus.........I have a screen shot of the parent that video'd the visits, with her remarks after she learned what either SE or Braden River was resporting as recruiting. if I can figure out how to link her comments I'll post here.

These coaches are being screwed big time by the FHSAA and the Manatee County School Board, and as I told someone when I was being given this information.......... I'm not even a fan of some these guys, but believe bottom line in a level of fairness.........these coaches are getting screwed over all of them.....the most that should have happen is perhaps a 1-3 game suspension for their ignorance.....but no loss of wages...........

Go Canes Go!

 

[Silver King]

That sounds bazaar, I want to hear more; if that guy from Braden River is now branching out from his tit-for-tat with Venice, that will be interesting.

If I were the FHSAA, I wouldn't take complaints from coaches who are proven rule-breakers, they already proved their credibility is suspect.

 

[gatorman001]

Silver, no one has indicated where the complaint ( if there was one), originated from? The facebook live feed remains the source evidence of what caused officials in Manatee County to self report to the FHSAA, once it was brought to their attention. I've not seen any of the videos, just interacted with folks/parents that took part in tours at the 3 schools they were able to successfully arrange. None of the folks/parents I interacted with felt the group tour of the football facilities at the 3 schools was an act of definitive recruiting on the part of the 4 coaches. The harm according to Manatee County officials and subsequently affirmed by the FHSAA once Manatee County officials self reported, was that in the fine print of the rules outlining what constitutes recruiting.............. recruiting rules were breached by all 4 coaches during the group tours at all three schools.

I'm going to assume these guys have appeal rights, and that they will do just that. I have no idea what kind of training these coaches received, I'm again assuming the FHSAA provides some kind of annual or regular training that each coach is required to complete, so that the do's and don'ts are outlined on what constitutes recruiting. Until I learn more that could potentially change my mind about all of this, I tend to lean to the side that there was a level of ignorance on the rules of recruiting by all 4 coaches with this situation. Additionally there was no instance at any of the 3 schools prior to the tours taking place, of any type of over-sight observed or acknowledged by any of the schools Athletic directors......which is particularly disturbing for me.....this chit went down on campus.....a group of 20+ middle school students with their chaperon adults touring each school's football facilities......and no body noticed or asked hey whats going on over there??????

For myself again going back to my time as a Manager, for me to make a decision when issuing corrective action to include the loss of wages.......the infraction had to be egregious as well as follow a pattern where prior progressive corrective actions failed to correct a inappropriate behavior. If these guys are able to obtain a good labor lawyer, I believe the odds are good that the suspensions will be scaled back, and hopefully these guys will also have the penalty of loss of wages removed or at least scaled back significantly too..........My dealing with labor law and issuing employee corrective actions was that corrective actions must be progressive in nature and must not appear to be punitive........these suspensions to me with the nature of the alleged infractions, compounded by an absent of prior history with regards to recruiting violations as well as the loss of wages fines.....appear to be very much punitive by the FHSAA, in as far as issued administrative corrective actions are concerned.


Go Canes Go!

 

[Silver King]

We have the middle school come over to check out classes every year - its a huge event. They go from class to class on a bell schedule, they're with their parents, get to visit each class for a five minutes, and it helps them decide their electives - what's the difference?

 

[Silver King]

Well, this explains more:

"

• All three coaches were contacted by Lincoln Memorial Academy coaches about showing their students what it takes to play at the next level. Lincoln coaches contacted five high schools within Manatee County about the same thing.
• FHSAA findings from Facebook Live videos showed at least 30 Lincoln students, according to the FHSAA report, who visited Manatee, Palmetto and Lakewood Ranch for tours of their football facilities.
• The video for Manatee is approximately 58 minutes long, it’s approximately 57 minutes long for Palmetto and video of the Lakewood Ranch visit is approximately two minutes long, according to the FHSAA report.
• All three schools’ principals and athletic directors were unaware of the visits until Montgomery reported it to them.
• A Lincoln staff member recorded videos of each visit, and “was asked to cut the video,” after students headed into the weight room after meeting West at Lakewood Ranch, according to the FHSAA.
• Shakir, Stallard and Marino were found to have made statements/acts “that urge, entice or pressure a student to attend,” their respective schools."
  
  Read more here: https://www.bradenton.com/sports/article241800461.html#storylink=cpy

 

[gatorman001]

Well, this explains more:

"

• All three coaches were contacted by Lincoln Memorial Academy coaches about showing their students what it takes to play at the next level. Lincoln coaches contacted five high schools within Manatee County about the same thing.
• FHSAA findings from Facebook Live videos showed at least 30 Lincoln students, according to the FHSAA report, who visited Manatee, Palmetto and Lakewood Ranch for tours of their football facilities.
• The video for Manatee is approximately 58 minutes long, it’s approximately 57 minutes long for Palmetto and video of the Lakewood Ranch visit is approximately two minutes long, according to the FHSAA report.
• All three schools’ principals and athletic directors were unaware of the visits until Montgomery reported it to them.
• A Lincoln staff member recorded videos of each visit, and “was asked to cut the video,” after students headed into the weight room after meeting West at Lakewood Ranch, according to the FHSAA.
• Shakir, Stallard and Marino were found to have made statements/acts “that urge, entice or pressure a student to attend,” their respective schools."
  
  Read more here: https://www.bradenton.com/sports/article241800461.html#storylink=cpy

Silver,

What does it explain to you?
*That not one of those schools had an established policy regarding group visits on campus?
*That not one school AD exhibited any type of oversight with regards to its schools sports program or on campus activity with this situation?
* That not one school AD was held to any standard of accountability, and/or for his/her lack of institutional control of a on campus activity?
* What kind of training record does the school system have for any of these coaches or the FHSAA with regards to recruiting as it relates to groups on campus visits initiated by outside school groups?


Just curious what it explains to you? I'm not saying these guys may/may have not crossed a line during the visit..............but in a group setting, I don't see how what happen is any different than what a middle school kid see's during the games at Manatee with Manatee's huge video screen with its blatantly huge pro manatee videos during the game breaks......or pro Manatee HS football media developed and published online on Youtube that a middle school kid can see...its all pure PR plain and simple!.....I just feel the one's that should have shared the burden for this situation (school AD's), appeared to have skated and it happen right under there noses! The entire situation wasn't a attempt to recruit but more of a PR attempt by the coaches to possibly sway a kid sitting in the group of +20. Doesn't deserve a 8 game suspension or loss of wages, and the AD's should have been held accountable for this happening on campus if its sooooooooooo wrong!

Here an article a 2 minute video excerpt from the Manatee and Palmetto visits
https://www.bradenton.com/sports/high-school/prep-football/article241800461.html

Go Canes Go!

 

[gatorman001]

Here's an example and I can find much the same from other area schools in the Sarasota and Manatee county


Go Canes Go!

 

[gatorman001]

These videos play on the schools huge video screen and its intent is nothing more than pure PR, that any middle school kid sitting in the stands is going to see or can go to online



Go Canes Go!

 

[Silver King]

gatorman, I'm not going to argue how FHSAA interprets words, how they levy fines, and particularly not equity ( Cause I'll always go right to Immokalee and Tebow's team to show equity isn't important when lawyers get involved), because they're always hard to figure out. I'll even say that it's confusing, particularly since the State legislature started HS football down this road.

But, working in a school system in these times of gates, fences, extra SROs and security, the thing that flew off that page at me was none of the ADs or Principals were aware of it. Wow! To me, that and the fact one school told them to stop videoing, shows they probably had a good idea they shouldn't be doing it. As did the ultimate whistle blower.

I guarantee our coaches and staff would have talked about it with our AD and Principal before it happened, guarantee it. I'm guessing those guys didn't ask permission and were hoping forgiveness would enter the picture if it went bad.

You just don't schedule school events without the bosses knowing about it. There are other issues then sports involved the School board might be very concerned in addition to security like insurance and liability.

To me that leads to intent, knew it was wrong, hoped it would just slide by.

 

[gatorman001]

Perhaps Silver, had hoped to talk to the Manatee AD to hopefully fill in some blanks. She called and left me a message, but haven't been able to have our paths cross yet. I agree with you that a tour like this happening on campus, without the AD or someone with administrative authority knowing about it.....is very disturbing......I will say I thought I read somewhere about a June 2019 date......not sure if that's when it came to light or when the tours took place? In as far as the recruiting aspect of all this, in a group setting I believe as I stated earlier, a good advocate might be able to get the suspensions reduced.....using a ignorance argument from a recruiting rules standpoint......as I wouldn't be surprised to learn the rules may not even address group settings like this situation or at the very least be possibly vague or required interpretation.

As someone yesterday stated on another site "the FHSAA is left with a set of rules (or, at a minimum, the remnants of a set of rules) that were crafted well before the legislative changes went into effect -- the legislative changes that essentially allow any kid to go to whatever school he or she wants. In other words, the legislature is the group that supports school choice and the FHSAA is the one enforcing old rules designed to prevent schools from selling themselves (because it looks too much like targeted recruiting)"

Go Canes Go!

 

[Silver King]

In a group setting and if it was just football or athletics, it is unusual. Just has a more recruiting feel to it showing off facilities State Title trophies, etc. Now schools have summer camps for little kids, that is the traditional way a lot of kids get exposed

Two things. As the unofficial CHS historian, a few times a year I get asked to do tours on weekends by alumni groups in town for reunions (School was rebuilt after Hurricane Charley).

I also maintain an exhibit at CHS dedicated to the 138 Vietnam Vets who attended the school. I get individuals and groups like Gulf-coast Chapter of VN Vets ask to come in and see it on occasion.

Those incidents; whether its a single individual or a group of 50, have to be cleared - not only with the Principal but also the Vice Principal of Facilities (when the school isn't in session you have to arrange for openings, gates and alarms switched on and off, etc).

If schools in session, they have to come through the gated front doors and each has to show ID at the front desk and be issued a sticker ID for their shirt. Then they are escorted through the locked doors to their destination. That's a district policy.

I'm guessing Manatee, operating under the same post Parkland mandates the state of Florida handed down, has similar requirements. So this is either what they say it is, or a breech of district security protocol.

Gosh I'm desperate for football...

 

[Neutral 0bserver]

​

 

[Silver King]

 

[CoachMacho]

Manatee County HS football is so damn petty. All yall do over there is snitch on each other and participate in Twitter wars. In the 2 years I spent coaching over there I saw more petty behavior from grown men than I ever saw in my 12 years of coaching in Broward and Dade.

 

[Silver King]

Yeah, Sarasota County too. There's an element of Gotcha that usually gets started when one team can't compete on the field and perceives injustice in the system.

Not sure if you were here when North Port and Venice were videotaping and crying foul. That made for some interesting sports reporting.

 

[Neutral 0bserver]

Forget about variables. Let's talk about constants.

Every game has a set of rules. The rules for each type of game (e.g., football, horse racing, poker, etc,) are predetermined and set forth on paper. Thus, you can't name a game that doesn't have a corresponding rule book. This way, everyone concerned can understand the rules and competition can be conducted fairly.

Right? No problem? Actually this is not the case.

That's because there have always been two basic categories of participants involved in every game/sport: (1) People who respect the rules and are more or less bound by their own personal moral compass to "play fair" and (2) people who consider rules meaningless or unfair and thus, reason that penalties for violation should not apply to them. Such people would laugh in your face if you axed them about their "personal moral compass".

Wiff this extablished, are rule breakers a new concept in the US? Nope. Nu'Trelle would suggest to you that there was probably at least one cardsharp aboard the Mayflower.So "no", cheaters are nothing new. Cheaters are as old as sports themselves.

Cut to 2020. In certain sports (H.S. football in many U.S. states being an outstanding example) the pendulum has swung so far to the side of "unfairness" that fair-minded people would be best advised to throw in the towel and pick out another form of competition.

With this being said, Nu'Trelle yield the balance of his time to those who are currently looting and burning down Minneapolis in the name of "social justice".

 

[Silver King]

As a card-carrying Sailing Master, I have to tell you the rules aboard the Mayflower came from one source; The Captain. One of America's greatest writers, Herman Melville reminded us of this in Moby Dick when Ahab proclaimed, 'There is one God that is Lord over the earth, and one captain that is lord over the Pequod.' It's a dictatorship on a ship.

With that said we tacitly set up the, "If you're not cheating, you're not competing" mentality, particularly in spots. How about one example: MLB benefiting by looking on with a wink and nod on the spitball, steroids saving the game during Sosa/McGuire era, or a video-assisted sign stealing operation to help win a World Series?

You know better than anyone the FHSAA private/public, and free agency in high school helped some move the dial on their moral compass. There will always be those who follow rules, and those who don't - just look at this pandemic. We're humans and we are a flawed-species.

Fact is we live in a market economy where everyone is rewarded for being at the top of the food chain (Well, except commercial fishermen, unlike farmers who get paid not to plant when they grow too much, commercial fisherman catch too much and just get laws that put them out of business).

And, like it or not, some might say those people burning and looting in the streets are reacting to a set of rules they feel still aren't being applied equally. They long ago adopted other rule books to cope. Today, they're not using the MLK rule book, but rather dusted off the old Malcolm X / Stokley Carmichael rule book.

Everybody has their rules and can justify/rationalize how they apply them, and still live with themsleves.

 

[Neutral 0bserver]

SK: I'll limit myself to one comment. If and when protestors decided to burn my property to the ground and steal my possessions, living with themselves would be no problem. I'd take no prisoners. Until I ran out of ammunition, there be no such thing as a survivor. Take it to the bank.

 

[CoachMacho]

Yeah, Sarasota County too. There's an element of Gotcha that usually gets started when one team can't compete on the field and perceives injustice in the system.

Not sure if you were here when North Port and Venice were videotaping and crying foul. That made for some interesting sports reporting.

Yes, I remember that! lol

I also had a buddy on the Braden River staff during the whole BR/Venice social media war.

Then there was Peacock (and his parents) crying after losing to STA that one year.

There was some Southeast/Palmetto back-and-forth around 2017.

Now you got this going on.
There was always something over there. SMH

And why are people worried about what Lakwood Ranch is doing?!

 

[Silver King]

Well, The Herald-Tribune covers that Suncoast area and a couple of their sports guys have been at it for a while, with well developed sources - and those sources feed them on the reg. But it gets pretty public too. The BR/Venice thing was painful to watch - and all the turns.

In the end, it's all about match-ups - the competition/rival they need to eliminate from their district. Venice and BR are in different Classifications now. BR and Palmetto dropped to 6A with us, Charlotte. I expect they'll develop a few issues soon enough.

So you not coaching anymore?

 

[CoachMacho]

Well, The Herald-Tribune covers that Suncoast area and a couple of their sports guys have been at it for a while, with well developed sources - and those sources feed them on the reg. But it gets pretty public too. The BR/Venice thing was painful to watch - and all the turns.

In the end, it's all about match-ups - the competition/rival they need to eliminate from their district. Venice and BR are in different Classifications now. BR and Palmetto dropped to 6A with us, Charlotte. I expect they'll develop a few issues soon enough.

So you not coaching anymore?

Yeah I'm at Deerfield Beach now. I was on that Southeast staff that went 8-1 and got canned. LOL

In 13+ years of coaching I've never encountered more drama than I did in my 2 years around Manatee County. From rumors to lying to internet beef to recruiting blah blah blah. You would think a smaller town/county would have more unity and pride, but there's more drama in that area than we have down here in a major city. Craziness.

I still got much love for the West coast though.

 

[Silver King]

Good seeing you over on CIS every now and then. Hopeful for this upcoming Hurricane Season.

 

[CoachMacho]

Good seeing you over on CIS every now and then. Hopeful for this upcoming Hurricane Season.

Yessir! I'm cautiously optimist!