Pahokee kicks out Tennessee football coaches, insists Lane Kiffin apologize in person
By JASON LIESER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 11, 2009
PAHOKEE — What does Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin need to do to fully make amends in Pahokee?
Hop on a plane, Principal Ariel Alejo said Monday.
Three months after Kiffin insulted the school and community while talking to Tennessee boosters, a new controversy was sparked last week.
Tennessee assistant coach Eddie Gran, who helped swing star receiver Nu'Keese Richardson from Florida to the Volunteers, arrived at Pahokee's campus last week to offer junior Antonio Ford a scholarship.
Upset that Kiffin has yet to directly apologize to the school and the community for implying they are inept, Alejo told Gran no one from Tennessee is permitted on school grounds until Kiffin satisfies that demand.
Kiffin apologized to Blue Devils coach Blaze Thompson publicly and privately, but Alejo and Pahokee Chamber of Commerce President Lewis Pope III want Kiffin to attend an open meeting in Pahokee to clear the matter with the community and school.
"Coach Kiffin publicly apologized to Blaze Thompson ... but I'm still waiting, and the community is as well," Alejo said. "It's what I think he owes the community of Pahokee and what he owes this school. His comments were made public, so now he needs to go publicly and retract those comments."
Alejo suggested Kiffin fly down and attend tonight's city commission session or the school's Student Advisory Council meeting May 19.
"If I were him, I would consider (going)," Alejo said. "If it was me, that's what I would do."
Pope added, "He needs to come face the people."
The day after Richardson signed with Tennessee, Kiffin accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of cheating and said he could not trust officials at Pahokee High with handling Richardson's paperwork.
"Someone at the school was going to screw it up," Kiffin said Feb. 5. "The fax machine wouldn't work, or they would have changed the signatures - all the things that go on in Pahokee."
In addition to that remark, Pope's written complaint to Tennessee Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek cited an article in the Gainesville Sun that quoted Kiffin as saying, "For those of you who haven't been to Pahokee, there ain't much going on. You take that hour drive up from South Florida, there ain't a gas station that works. Nobody's got enough money to even have shoes or a shirt on."
Kiffin spoke with Thompson on Monday and also left a message with Alejo's secretary. Kiffin declined a request for comment from The Post.
"I look forward to this being over," Thompson said. "Our main priority is getting kids into colleges."
Ford, a highly recruited defensive tackle/offensive lineman, is one of six Blue Devil seniors-to-be with scholarship offers from the Volunteers.
Ford was angered by Kiffin's initial remarks, but credited him for apologizing and said he is "OK" with the situation now. He did not expect the issue to drag on this long and result in a college recruiter being barred from the school, though he understood the rationale behind Alejo's action.
"I was shocked that that happened," Ford said. "I really like that team. I'm very interested in Tennessee. "It was the principal defending the students. The principal just did that to show we're not a school to be played with. You can't just say stuff like that."
De'Joshua Johnson, one of the area's top recruits at wide receiver, told The Post in February he was "open" to playing at Tennessee as well.
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By JASON LIESER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 11, 2009
PAHOKEE — What does Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin need to do to fully make amends in Pahokee?
Hop on a plane, Principal Ariel Alejo said Monday.
Three months after Kiffin insulted the school and community while talking to Tennessee boosters, a new controversy was sparked last week.
Tennessee assistant coach Eddie Gran, who helped swing star receiver Nu'Keese Richardson from Florida to the Volunteers, arrived at Pahokee's campus last week to offer junior Antonio Ford a scholarship.
Upset that Kiffin has yet to directly apologize to the school and the community for implying they are inept, Alejo told Gran no one from Tennessee is permitted on school grounds until Kiffin satisfies that demand.
Kiffin apologized to Blue Devils coach Blaze Thompson publicly and privately, but Alejo and Pahokee Chamber of Commerce President Lewis Pope III want Kiffin to attend an open meeting in Pahokee to clear the matter with the community and school.
"Coach Kiffin publicly apologized to Blaze Thompson ... but I'm still waiting, and the community is as well," Alejo said. "It's what I think he owes the community of Pahokee and what he owes this school. His comments were made public, so now he needs to go publicly and retract those comments."
Alejo suggested Kiffin fly down and attend tonight's city commission session or the school's Student Advisory Council meeting May 19.
"If I were him, I would consider (going)," Alejo said. "If it was me, that's what I would do."
Pope added, "He needs to come face the people."
The day after Richardson signed with Tennessee, Kiffin accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of cheating and said he could not trust officials at Pahokee High with handling Richardson's paperwork.
"Someone at the school was going to screw it up," Kiffin said Feb. 5. "The fax machine wouldn't work, or they would have changed the signatures - all the things that go on in Pahokee."
In addition to that remark, Pope's written complaint to Tennessee Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek cited an article in the Gainesville Sun that quoted Kiffin as saying, "For those of you who haven't been to Pahokee, there ain't much going on. You take that hour drive up from South Florida, there ain't a gas station that works. Nobody's got enough money to even have shoes or a shirt on."
Kiffin spoke with Thompson on Monday and also left a message with Alejo's secretary. Kiffin declined a request for comment from The Post.
"I look forward to this being over," Thompson said. "Our main priority is getting kids into colleges."
Ford, a highly recruited defensive tackle/offensive lineman, is one of six Blue Devil seniors-to-be with scholarship offers from the Volunteers.
Ford was angered by Kiffin's initial remarks, but credited him for apologizing and said he is "OK" with the situation now. He did not expect the issue to drag on this long and result in a college recruiter being barred from the school, though he understood the rationale behind Alejo's action.
"I was shocked that that happened," Ford said. "I really like that team. I'm very interested in Tennessee. "It was the principal defending the students. The principal just did that to show we're not a school to be played with. You can't just say stuff like that."
De'Joshua Johnson, one of the area's top recruits at wide receiver, told The Post in February he was "open" to playing at Tennessee as well.
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