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I have 3 good friends that are retired from Hillsborough High. Ken Weiss, former track head coach and Charlie & Georgene Diaz. Charlie, aka as Carlos, was the college compliance counselor and PA guy for the football games. All three have always spoken highly of Earl and consider him a good friend. I have a few Terrier football shirts that they have given me over the years.

Short term it's too late and players on this team are too invested to leave now. If it's just Teddy getting suspended, it'll probably be similar to what TFA will deal with. If anything, the team might play with more of a chip on their shoulders. LonI don't think many felt Teddy would be there a long time, anyway. How they fare long term depends on how things go at places like Central, Mater Academy and the other Dade schools. If one of those pops off and has an awesome year, they may get more of the talent in the future, so MNW may go back down to what they were before last season.

57 teams per class is a travesty. What an embarrassment.

With all the off-season discussion, don't forget the FHSAA regular season kicks off in 5 weeks. Last year, 460 teams competed in the 8 FHSAA championship classifications. This year, 458 teams are competing in the FHSAA. Not exactly the mass exodus that some were hoping for or predicting, but maybe it is coming down the road. Or not. In case you forgot your team's district or region foes, here are the 2025-26 FHSAA classifications: https://fhsaa.com/sports/2020/1/28/FB_classifications.aspx Information on the SSAA football season can be found here: https://www.sunshinestateathletics.com/page/show/5114520-football

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/high-schools/2025/07/17/another-coaching-milestone-awaits-hillsborough-highs-earl-garcia/

The sport of football has been tainted by this nonsense from a competitive standpoint on both the hs and college levels. It is completely inorganic and is no longer interesting. Hired guns on all levels. A truly sad state of affairs.

If Lakeland gets through this schedule undefeated they’ll deserve a very high national ranking

What remains to be seen are the short and long-term ramifications. It goes without saying that at the very least there might be some kind of sanction(s) levied against the coach and players. I hope this doesn't completely implode the program.

Just hard to take him seriously when he knew what he was getting himself into when all those kids transferred. And then to self-incriminate while asking for money. You made your bed, lay in it.

Someone isn't a Teddy fan

Teddy knows what he's doing by pulling on the heart strings of those that don't know the rules or the situation any better than him. I still think it's comical how he thinks he can't be fired because he is a volunteer. Complete lack of awareness on his part but the "bleeding hearts" will say that he is the victim here.

You are absolutely wrong here. Only communists buy into Karl Marx. Anyway, it sounds like your heels are set in on this so I will let it go. Back to football.

I agree. If you start to define equity to someone, communism immediately comes to mind. There’s no way possible to achieve equity in any regard. Everyone can’t be tied for first. Hell you can have 3 siblings raised in the same house their entire life by the same 2 parents given the same exact resources and all 3 will have vastly different outcomes when they become adults. So if you can’t achieve equity in the simplest formula possible, then there is no way to achieve it. It only acts as a guise to punish merit by incompetent people with way too much power

this x1 million. he could have just donated his cash to the school, even as a volunteer head coach, and the school could have purchased all of it, to no issue. the uber rides is literally the main issue( at least I think). uber picks up a kid 30 miles away, 3 miles away, 1 mile away and he is technically zoned for another school.....thats a problem. as far as tfa and what they did, it was this part, the uber rides, but the non school employee that rhymes with soffit, not only did he pay for the ubers, but they got those same kids on the field in spring and summer and they were not enrolled at the school.....yet....and he ubered them there for that too! all over orlando sports pages, teddy broke the rules, he is a school employee, even tho he says hes not. hes the head football coach, wether paid or not, he had to do background checks and etc....making him and employee of the school district. he broke the rules, which Im sure every coach in this poorly funded state has done same or similar, he went public with it. asking for donations, fine, dont spill the tea on what you been doing!

In "equity" ideology, if ALL kids can't have the benefit, then NONE of the kids should get the benefit. A world where everyone is forced to eat shit sandwiches is seen as vastly superior to a world where many kids get to eat well but others don't eat as well. And, for the most part, nobody is standing up and directly challenging the "equity" push. The reason, other than apathy or cowardice, is confusion around what "equity" really means. The dictionary, and most people, say it means "fairness". Who could be opposed to fairness??? The problem is it's been hijacked to mean "engineered equivalent outcomes for all." Many still have not caught on, so they stay silent. Programs who've won lots of championships have "enrticements" which most other schools don't have. Perhaps they should have to be forced to have smaller roster sizes etc to balance the "enticement not available to all"? The better approach is to step up and oppose the equity monsters.

Question for you all. If Teddy is suspended for the season and I'm only speculating but how will Northwestern fair out this season.

That’s the crazy thing to me. A rich family member says let’s go on a vacation how is that not an impermissible benefit? It is a gift that is not attainable by any other student or athlete. And if the reasoning is its family, then how close of a family member does it have to be to be “legal”? I really don’t know how you can police what is permissible and impermissible

This the FHSAA definition for the issue at hand: An “impermissible benefit” is any arrangement, assistance or benefit that is not offered or generally made available to all students and/or their families who apply to or attend a school, or that otherwise is prohibited by FHSAA rules. Receipt of a benefit by a student-athlete or his/her family is not a violation of FHSAA rules if it is demonstrated that the same benefit is generally available to the school’s students or family members and is not based in any way on athletic interest, potential or performance. A student who is found to have accepted an impermissible benefit will be ineligible for interscholastic athletic competition for one or more years at the school to which the student accepted the impermissible benefit and may be declared ineligible for interscholastic athletic competition at all member schools for one or more years. Specific examples are listed here: https://fhsaa.com/documents/2020/4/14//Policy_37_2_2.pdf?id=71 There is no mention of the impact of blood relations, nor am I familiar with the NCAA regulations during Marcus Vick's career from 2002-2005. But these are the regulations that apply in this case.

When Marcus Vick was at Virginia Tech, his brother Michael Vick was making tens of millions of dollars in the NFL. Being his brother, Marcus was showered with luxury cars, jewelry and housing. How is this not impermissible benefits? Because they share blood? And if so, how much blood is enough? What if it was a step dad who was loaded? Is he allowed to give you all the money you want as a student athlete? What about a family friend? A friend of your parent who was friends with the family before you were born? Is he allowed to shower you with gifts? How detached from the athlete does the person have to be for it be considered “impermissible benefits”????

I think public sentiment has shifted to where most think the rules should be changed so all schools are allowed to offer such benefits to the best of their ability. I also think it's worth noting that, after being hammered by the FHSAA, The First Academy has continued recruiting and simply scheduled an extremely ambitious national schedule, while forgetting about the watered down FHSAA playoffs. We're going to see more programs go this route. Eventually, there will be enough such programs that a new league, operating under an entirely different (and capitalist!) set of rules, is formed and will feature the top programs. This will bring about the "separate playoffs for schools who recruit" idea many here have clamored for. Again, at the root of all of this is the fact that big time, for-profit sports programs have grown beyond what school systems are equipped to deal with. The schools need to see their way out of big time sports. And the big time sports can market themselves on a regional/geographic basis instead of the old "cheer for the alma mater" approach.

yep, see my post below yours and above this one...

As I understand it, Teddy is in trouble, not because he donated out of his own pocket, but because he gave it directly to the football program. The powers that be wanted that money to go to the school admin and/or Dade county schools. And those entities then would distribute equal shares of that money across the entire school and/or district (after squandering a large share for themselves). The spirit or ideology driving that process is "equity", which, by an overwhelmingly gaping margin, is THE biggest focal point of education today. This isn't a secret, or a "conspiracy theory" : they tell us all this themselves. Things like learning to read, do math, operate a business etc are all tertiary in importance now. Primarily and secondarily, the focus is "equity". From Kindergarten through PHD programs in ALL fields (yes, including quantum physics). And, "equity" is measured in outcomes: only when everyone- to borrow the phrase of the former Vice President- ends up in the same place with the same stuff will we have "equity". When Teddy opens up his wallet and gives to the football program, the refrain of "equity" monsters is "but what about the girls tennis team" or "what about the football program at Miami Springs?" Teddy's helping MNW football exclusively means unequal or "inequitable" outcomes, and this is sharply opposed in education at all levels today. When Northwestern beat Jackson 48-6 last year, the "equity" monsters in education likely spiraled into deep depression. Pooling the gate among all schools in a district, instead of keeping it between the teams who actually played, is an example of "equity" ideology fouling things up. Like you said, the top few programs end up propping up the moribund programs, a la "Weekend at Bernies". The number one philosopher in academia and within the "equity" movement is Karl Marx. There's always been semantic games played around socialism/communism/Leninism/Marxism/Maoism. What they all have in common is hatred for capitalism and worship of Marx. And Marx conceded that socialism inevitably leads to communism. The ultimate, overarching goal, is the abolition of the state into a classless society free of private property, international borders, police, jails and, yes, market-based economies. Socialism is understood to be a transitionary phase to communism which often appeals to dimwits. To be an admin in a public school system, one must go through extensive graduate level education programming. These programs are currently DOMINATED by socialists/communists/Marxists...throughout academia everywhere in the world. Therefore, we can be certain that the overwhelming majority of administrators witin Dade County schools are socialists/communists/Marxists. That's what Teddy is running up against. The school and district want all money and benefits distributed equally and Teddy didn't play by those rules.

because they are cheating. They should suspend the entire program and not allow them in the playoffs for two years. It's one thing to give a kid a ride home from practice that lives in your zone and its another to be paying for rides for kids that don't live in your zone and wouldn't be coming to your school if you were not paying for them to get there. This was the pattern and not just a random occurrence. The physical therapy and paying for personal training is also enticement. There is a reason they got 60 recruits errrr transfers over the last two years. The school suspended him because the fhsaa is about to hammer them. Bridgewater will get a minimum 6 games suspension and a $5k fine from the fhsaa. The next time he will be suspended from ever coaching in Florida. The school is facing harsh penalties and they are trying to avoid them. The other stuff pride packs, team meals, field paint, camps could have been paid for by the school. He could have just donated the money to the school and paid for it. I'm not sure how to feel in this case. I'm sure Teddy loves Northwestern and loves those kids but he was either oblivious to the rules or didn't care to follow them.

So if your a person who wants to give a donation no matter the amount how do you do it. Obviously if you played football you want your donations going towards the football team which is what Teddy is doing as the coach and now wants help. But now what about Cheerleading, Basketball, Baseball, Track & Field Soccer and other sports teams.

Wow this has my head spinning. I will reel this in and avoid the political stuff rather than hijack this thread. I am, though, confused about what you mean by Bridgewater donating his money directly to MNW versus giving it to a wealth redistribution process? What exact process are you referring to? Are you talking about shared gate receipts? I have never liked this policy and have always preferred the home team doing a 60-40 share of their gate with the visiting team rather than donating to a large pool that is divided up evenly. Here in Pinellas County we pool our gate and there are just a few teams propping up everyone else. There has to be a better way. By the way, you might be confusing communism with socialism. The processes you describe are socialist as well as the mayors you are referring to. Socialism is very different than communism despite similar concepts of sharing. Communism is bad all around. Socialism isn't so bad and there are no purely capitalist societies out there as they all have some forms of socialism, including the USA. Try not to get caught up in the anger baiting headlines and just read up on where everyone stands. I am not a fan of the NY mayor elect but my reasoning is he is too far on the left. Extremism is bad no matter which side you align with. Oops, I did go there, my bad.