Perspective

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

No disrespect to any of the other teams on Lakeland's schedule, but this early-season stretch of games could either propel the 'Naughts to another state championship or completely demoralize them:
Aug. 29: at De La Salle (California)
Sep. 5: vs. Lake Mary
Sep. 19: at Miami Booker T. Washington

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.

I think the argument is this:  if 'free adults are allowed to give gifts to poor kids who happen to be good at sports,' we move from an amateur environment into a professional environment.   Historically, high school sports, college sports and even the Olympics were reserved solely for amateur athletes.  Within the last couple of decades, the barriers for professionals started to erode for the Olympics.   You may recall that Jim Thorpe won gold medals in track in the 1912 Olympics, but was stripped of those medals because he had played minor league (or "semipro") baseball prior to participating in the Olympics.   Ultimately, those medals were restored a few years ago.  The USA Olympic basketball team used to be comprised only of college players.  Now, it's all pros (with one or two college stars). 
Within the last 5-10 years, NIL changes have permitted college athletes to receive compensation. Before then, the rules in place for decades allowed college student-athletes to receive room, board and tuition.  The $100 post-game handshakes from alums in the locker room and brown paper bags filled with money - although they happened everywhere - were illegal (and arguably still are; they just don't happen as much because the athletes can receive money legally through NIL).
The NIL world is quickly filtering down to the high school level.  However, the rules in most all states, and certainly in Florida, are rooted in the concept that only amateur athletes can compete in high school sports.   And if you allow athletes to receive gifts, or otherwise compensate them or their families, such athletes are no longer considered amateurs.   Simply put, the rules has always been that if you get compensated to do play a sport, you are considered a professional.  And professionals cannot participate in amateur sports. 
Again, the rules in place (FHSAA Rules) are rooted in a clear distinction between amateur sports and professional sports.  There was a clear line that is slowly becoming more and more blurred.
If you want the argument as to why the rule makes sense, I think it is this:   there is a certain beauty in amateur sports, knowing that everyone who is playing is playing for the love of the game and not for money.  Everything changes once you start compensating athletes.  As I have stated before, the concept of compensation is a slippery slope.  What do you allow and what don't you?   FHSAA rules prohibiting impermissible benefits were written before Uber even existed. But the rule is pretty clear:  if you give something to football players that you don't give to all other students, that's an impermissible benefit - especially if the benefit is given to entice a kid to come to your school.  
If you allow schools/coaches/alums to compensate kids to play sports, then you take away the somewhat-level playing field.  And, over time, certain schools will dominate high school sports because they will have the financial wherewithal to attract the most talented athletes.  While this might be good for the handful of select, talented athletes, everyone else suffers.   I guess the real question is whether we just want to eliminate the distinction between amateur athletics and professional athletics altogether and simply allow the free-market system to play out for all athletes and all schools?  If you're inclined to answer this question with a "yes," I have only six words for you:  be careful what you wish for. 
 

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.  

If Bridgewater does get 'taken down,' I'd like to see him take a whole bunch of other guys down with him.  No reason why he should be the singular sacrificial lamb. 

If Bridgewater does get 'taken down,' I'd like to see him take a whole bunch of other guys down with him.  No reason why he should be the singular sacrificial lamb. 

Yes, the free market should be allowed to draw the lines between amateurism and professionalism. The beauty of playing strictly for the love of the game will certainly be allowed to persist. And, kids and adults alike play A LOT of games for fun as it is. See adult rec leagues, intramurals etc. This includes those who've been able to become wealthy through playing the sport as well! 
I think that, eventually, people like most all of us are going to recognize that it is preposterous to have teenagers getting paid to play high school sports, and/or get a free college education along with the extra compensation. Most of us have been fans of the game and of the school, not the "star" athletes. In the long run, I don't think there will be much of a market for paid teenager athletes. But, if someone is willing to part with their $ to allow a kid to be less poor, and that means that School A easily crushes the competition, I don't think that's a bad thing. It IS a thing that will cause a great many people to lose interest. And that will in turn diminish the market, which will of course mean kids aren't making any money anyway.
At issue, as I keep harping on, is the fact that the "big time" sports world where NIL money is available is an entirely different, beast of an animal that K-12 schools and even universities are not equipped to manage. Nor should they be. Big time, for profit sports should be separated from schools. The mission of the two entities is competely misaligned. 

I think the argument is this:  if 'free adults are allowed to give gifts to poor kids who happen to be good at sports,' we move from an amateur environment into a professional environment.   Historically, high school sports, college sports and even the Olympics were reserved solely for amateur athletes.  Within the last couple of decades, the barriers for professionals started to erode for the Olympics.   You may recall that Jim Thorpe won gold medals in track in the 1912 Olympics, but was stripped of those medals because he had played minor league (or "semipro") baseball prior to participating in the Olympics.   Ultimately, those medals were restored a few years ago.  The USA Olympic basketball team used to be comprised only of college players.  Now, it's all pros (with one or two college stars). 
Within the last 5-10 years, NIL changes have permitted college athletes to receive compensation. Before then, the rules in place for decades allowed college student-athletes to receive room, board and tuition.  The $100 post-game handshakes from alums in the locker room and brown paper bags filled with money - although they happened everywhere - were illegal (and arguably still are; they just don't happen as much because the athletes can receive money legally through NIL).
The NIL world is quickly filtering down to the high school level.  However, the rules in most all states, and certainly in Florida, are rooted in the concept that only amateur athletes can compete in high school sports.   And if you allow athletes to receive gifts, or otherwise compensate them or their families, such athletes are no longer considered amateurs.   Simply put, the rules has always been that if you get compensated to do play a sport, you are considered a professional.  And professionals cannot participate in amateur sports. 
Again, the rules in place (FHSAA Rules) are rooted in a clear distinction between amateur sports and professional sports.  There was a clear line that is slowly becoming more and more blurred.
If you want the argument as to why the rule makes sense, I think it is this:   there is a certain beauty in amateur sports, knowing that everyone who is playing is playing for the love of the game and not for money.  Everything changes once you start compensating athletes.  As I have stated before, the concept of compensation is a slippery slope.  What do you allow and what don't you?   FHSAA rules prohibiting impermissible benefits were written before Uber even existed. But the rule is pretty clear:  if you give something to football players that you don't give to all other students, that's an impermissible benefit - especially if the benefit is given to entice a kid to come to your school.  
If you allow schools/coaches/alums to compensate kids to play sports, then you take away the somewhat-level playing field.  And, over time, certain schools will dominate high school sports because they will have the financial wherewithal to attract the most talented athletes.  While this might be good for the handful of select, talented athletes, everyone else suffers.   I guess the real question is whether we just want to eliminate the distinction between amateur athletics and professional athletics altogether and simply allow the free-market system to play out for all athletes and all schools?  If you're inclined to answer this question with a "yes," I have only six words for you:  be careful what you wish for. 
 

ESPN quotes Bridgewater's Facebook post as follows: 
"The suspension came from MNW and it's impossible to suspend someone who doesn't work for you.  So if im suspended from MNW im free to go to another school of my choice but IM NOT GOING ANYWHERE.
"And if it comes down to it, I will volunteer from the bleachers like I used to in 2018 and 2019 when no one had a problem."
Honestly, it seems like the guy has a bit of 'the rules don't apply to me' or 'I don't have to follow the rules' mentality. 

For clarity, it appears that Northwestern, not the FHSAA, administered the suspension.  Not sure that does, or does not, render the arguments here moot, but one could argue that the school is trying to get out ahead of this.  

Nolebull,
You are making a good argument for what the rule ought to be or why the rule ought to be changed.   I'm telling you what the rule is.  Interestingly, I witnessed first hand the FHSAA deal with a case that was very similar to the (presumably, hypothetical) one you just described.  A family provided a kid with a bed for the night because that kid had an unfortunate family situation that would have left him homeless for the night had a teammate's family not stepped up and given him a place to stay for the night.  Yep, you got it, impermissible benefit.  Coach and school penalized. 
The difficulty is coming up with rules that can't be taken advantage of.  Where do you draw the line?   If paying for an Uber is OK, why can't you just buy the kid a car instead?  More convenient for all parties.  If you can buy a kid a meal, why can't you take his family grocery shopping and let them stock up?  Or, better yet, just give then a gift card and let them spend the money as they please.  What do you do when one school offers up a $1,000 gift card, but another school is willing to give the kid a $2,000 gift card?  Do we really want to turn high school sports into professional sports?

Say what you want, justify it however you want, wish the rules weren't what they are, but there is no question that a coach or other school representative paying for Uber rides for kids playing sports is a violation of the existing FHSAA rules.  Period. 
And Teddy Bridgewater may be or have been an elite athlete, may be or become an excellent high school football coach, and/or may have his heart in the right place, but tweeting out a message to the world that you have done something that undoubtedly constitutes a violation of the rules is just plain stupid. 

A heat index of 104 at kickoff, followed by a massive thunderstorm around halftime. 

Made a second pass through Maxpreps for all 576 (11-man teams). Yes, it takes a while.  Here's what I've come up with through this morning:
265 Schedules are complete (assumes 10 game regular season beginning either Week 0 for SSAA or Week 1 for everyone else, unless out of state opponent.
311 Schedules have problems.
Here's the breakdown:
218 schedules reflect less than 10 games
88 schedules are impacted by conflicts. ie. Team having more than one opponent on the same day- or- scheduled opponent has more than one opponent on that day.
5 teams have 11 games scheduled.
Seems like there's a lot of information to be gathered and rectified over the next few weeks.    

I remember back in 1907 when Lakeland got hosed by Bartow. Score was 53-0 but it was closer to all of us in attendance that day. The forward pass was invented in 1906 and Lakeland was trying it for the first time. I think the refs thought they were cheating. 
 
Anyways. Top win in Bartow history 

I'm thinking this might be too far of a trip for that Lakeland guy who wears a boat on his head.   

I'm thinking this might be too far of a trip for that Lakeland guy who wears a boat on his head.   

So, is this going to be a situation where Dillard will have a fantastic regular season, going 10-0 or 9-1, and then falter in the playoffs because they didn't play anyone challenging in the regular season?

So, is this going to be a situation where Dillard will have a fantastic regular season, going 10-0 or 9-1, and then falter in the playoffs because they didn't play anyone challenging in the regular season?

No the same thing is gonna happen to them that happens to every other team. They are forced to face a recruited up all star transfer team full of 4 and 5 star guys at every position and lose by 35. Just as nature intended 

Respectfully, this just isn't the way that high school sports are supposed to work. 

Respectfully, this just isn't the way that high school sports are supposed to work. 

Respectfully, this just isn't the way that high school sports are supposed to work. 

Respectfully, this just isn't the way that high school sports are supposed to work.