A Florida high school has self-reported a violation of improper contact with another Florida High School Athletics Association member school.
According to a letter obtained by FloridaHSFootball.com that communicated the self-reported incident from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale to the FHSAA, assistant football coach Torrian Wilson made improper contact with a student not enrolled at the Fort Lauderdale school that transpired from an allegation received by the FHSAA and forwarded to the school.
The improper contact was with a student-athlete who attends rival school Dwyer High School and could cost two coaches some of their salary, monetary penalties and sanctions through the 2020-2021 school year.
Wilson wasn’t the only coach at St. Thomas Aquinas who knew about the improper contact and as such, the FHSAA found the school to be in violation of a number of different policies, including:
• Policy 36.1.2 Scope of School’s Responsibility states, a school’s responsibility for the conduct of its interscholastic athletic program includes responsibility for:
• Policy 36.1.2.1 state, the acts of any employee or athletic department staff member;
• Policy 36.1.2.2 states, the acts of third parties, such as an independent person, business or organization, that is a representative of the school’s athletic interests when a member of the school’s administration or athletic department staff knows or should know that the person, business or organization is promoting the school’s interscholastic athletic program; and
• Policy 36.1.2.3 states, the acts of any other third parties, such as an independent person, business or organization, acting at the request, direction, or otherwise on behalf of any employee or representative of the school’s athletic interests.
• Policy 36.1.2.4 states, the acts of any other third parties, such as an independent person, business or organization, acting on behalf of any student athlete.
St. Thomas Aquinas will be placing Wilson on suspension from football activities for six weeks. The school will also have to pay a $2,500 fine and will be placed on administrative probation, among a number of other conditions levied by the FHSAA as part of the disciplinary action.
Wilson and Head Coach Roger Harriot will both have to forfeit $5,000 of their salaries.
