A high school football coach told another to commit suicide

By Antonia Noori Farzan | The Washington Post

A football coach from Palatka High School in Florida resigned from his job and was permanently banned from teaching after several students accused him of abusive behavior.

According to an administrative complaint from the Florida Department of Education, Randell Gene Owens told a student that he was not a good football player and that he had to commit suicide. In another case, he allegedly assaulted a 16-year-old student. According to another accusation, Mr. Owens "plugged one nostril and forced the mucus to free himself from his other nostril" against a 15-year-old student. Then the coach would have stood on a toilet seat and glanced over the bathroom stall while a 16-year-old student was using the bathroom. All four incidents occurred during the 2017-2018 school year.

Owens refused to challenge the charges and refused a public hearing, according to the complaint. He has also voluntarily surrendered his teaching certificate, which has been revoked permanently.

Owens was a dean and a physical education teacher as well as the assistant football coach at Palatka High School before resigning in December 2017, according to First Coast News. The Palatka Daily News newspaper announced it was hired in April 2015. Owens' teaching license was revoked in June.

Concerns about Owens' behavior had been raised as early as 2016, reported First Coast News. Previously, he was accused of keeping coaches separate, playing favorite games and telling students with health problems to "go out and play". In November 2016, parents were informed of an ongoing investigation into the school's sports program. Bobby Humphries, the football coach and sports director of the school, resigned from his position in the fall of 2017, a few months before Owens resigned.

"All the red flags were there to take the authority to make sure that a guy like that does not come into the school system," a parent told First Coast News. She described the coach as "a real danger not only to my son, but also to other school children."

In 2013, Owens resigned from his former football coaching post in Georgia six days after being charged with a single battery during a student-related incident, the station reported. The charges were dropped and Putnam County, Florida superintendent Rick Surrency, told First Coast News that "there was no reason not to hire him."

"With any employee who reports an arrest as he has done on his request, as long as there has been no conviction and that he reports it and Check it out, I understand that the record has been cleared, "said Surrency this week. .

Owens, whose LinkedIn profile indicates he has coached football for over 30 years, has not spoken publicly about these accusations. His lawyer declined to comment when he was contacted by First Coast News.

Several NFL players have graduated from Palatka High School and have played for teams such as the Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins, Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers. The school is located one hour south of Jacksonville.

The charges against Owens come at a time when football coaches of all levels are increasingly being watched. At the University of Maryland, the death of Jordan McNair, 19, who died in June after a heat stroke during a workout, prompted current and former players to make allegations of intimidation and of abusive behavior. allegedly toxic culture of the school's football program. Maryland Head Coach DJ Durkin was put on administrative leave.