Middle School Football Coach Fired for Buying Championship Rings for His Players

A North Carolina middle school football coach said he was fired for buying championship rings for his team after they won their first championship. 

Former coach Keith Rhodes, who was also Southwest Middle School's athletic director, said that he came to work on Thursday and was told by principal Melissa Knick that he could no longer coach. 

"The principal decided that because I purchased some rings for the kids and I had the parents to pay me, that I was in violation of receiving funds and the funds not going through the school," Rhodes said. "I just feel like if anything they should have just written me up, but I don't feel like I did anything wrong to even be written up."

Rhodes said he bought the rings at a discounted rate and allowed parents to pay him for the them if they were able. Parents who couldn't afford the rings didn't have to pay him. 

"I just paid it all and told them to pay me back. This new principal that we have did not like that idea. She said that I shouldn't be receiving money from parents because I'm a coach," he said. "By me paying for it, that way if a family can't afford it, the kid will still get the ring…I'm willing to do it just to make sure every kid gets one."

Rhodes, who has been at Southwest for three years, said this is the third year he's purchased the championship rings for his students. Rhodes was told that he could continue to teach health and physical education, but after students held a protest on Monday, his employment was suspend. 

Gastonia City Council member Donyel Barber said Rhodes has been asset at Southwest after she worked with him on setting up volunteer communities in the community. 

"I quickly learned that the program Coach Rhodes was building and leading was about much more than football, basketball or baseball," she said. "But it's about the fact that he takes his role as a role model and advocate for our students very seriously... To ever lose him, especially over nonsense in this capacity, would be a disservice to our children." 

Rhodes said he is hoping that the Board of Education will that his intention were good and give him his job back. 

"Actually the intent was to uplift the spirits and give these kids a token of appreciation for winning," he said. "The parents and I created this small token to give the kids to take home so they could remember that 'hey, years ago I was the county champion. That was the whole intent.' "