CANTON, Ohio (AP) — The head football coach at an Ohio high school and six other coaches there have been ousted after a football player said he was forced him to eat pork in violation of his religious beliefs for missing a voluntary workout.
The Canton City Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to not renew the coaching contracts of Canton McKinley head football coach Marcus Wattley, two of his assistants and an assistant baseball coach, The Canton Repository reported. With the same vote, the board also deemed three other assistant football coaches as ineligible for future coaching positions.
The district had suspended the coaches last week after the 17-year-old player reported what happened to him on May 24. Another coach was also suspended but he will remain as an assistant coach because the evidence did not show that he performed in the same manner as the other coaches, officials said.
A lawyer for the teen player’s family has announced plans to sue the school district. The player and his family are members of the Hebrew Israeli religious faith and do not eat pork.
District Superintendent Jeff Talbert said surveillance video gave administrators the information they needed to warrant their recommendations to the board. However, he declined to provide details of what happened and said the video would not be publicly released due to federal student privacy regulations.
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