The Rhea County (Tenn.) High School suspended assistant football coach, Jon Lovingood, last Friday was told by administrators not to be on school property, including the football stadium. However, at Friday night’s game, he was arrested for trespassing and public drunkenness.
According to News Channel 9, Lovingood was arrested after spectators and principal Ansley Massengill reported a man making a disturbance on the visitors’ side of the stadium. Lovingood was being very loud as he paced behind the band and visitors’ bleachers.
When police approached him, Lovingood reportedly admitted to having consumed alcohol and the drug Suboxone earlier that evening. In the arresting officer’s report, he wrote that Lovingood “appeared unsteady on his feet and, on multiple occasions, had to place his hands on his knees as if trying to catch his breath."
Rhea County officers took Lovingood to the county jail, where he made bond and was released.
In a statement to police, school administrators confirmed that Lovingood “had been explicitly instructed not to be on school property until a scheduled meeting the following week.” That report continued, “Mr. Lovingood had been previously warned by school officials earlier that day not to return to the football field, yet he was found again in the visitor section, apparently attempting to avoid detection.”
School officials have not publicly stated why Lovingood had been suspended earlier that day.
