Mack Breed, an assistant coach at John Jay High School in Texas, reportedly told the school's principal after a game in which two of his players intentionally targeted a referee, that he ordered the attack out of anger over racially charged remarks the official had made earlier in the game, according to ESPN.
"In a signed statement detailing his interactions with the head coach after the game, John Jay High School principal Robert Harris says the team's secondary coach, Mack Breed, admitted he 'directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls,'" ESPN reports.
Per ESPN's report, Robert Watts, the official in question, used the "N-word" twice, and also used "language offensive to Hispanics."
The players involved in the incident, 17-year-old Michael Moreno and 15-year-old Victor Rojas, are set to attend disciplinary hearings on Wednesday. Breed has been placed on leave and will attend a hearing of the University Interscholastic League on Thursday in Round Rock, Texas, at which he and the school should be sanctioned.
As part of his statement, Harris revealed that John Jay head coach Gary Gutierrez called him "several times" as the John Jay team made their way back from the game against Marble Falls. The pair met in Harris' car in the school parking lot, at which point Gutierrez revealed to Harris that Breed had directed the players to strike the referee. During a later meeting between Harris, Breed and Gutierrez, Breed reportedly admitted that he directed the students to "make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls.
"He wanted to take full responsibility for his actions," Harris wrote, per ESPN. "Mr. Breed at one point during our conversation stated that he should have handled the referee himself."
Watts has denied, via his lawyer Alan Goldberger, using racial slurs.
While the incident involving John Jay continues to reverberate, the issue of player violence against refs has been raised elsewhere. Malcolm Easley, a player for Glencliff High School in Tennessee has been suspended after a collision with a referee during a game last week. According to a report from the Gallatin News, the referee, Kyle Gill, had spoken with Easley about his positioning only the play prior to the incident, which you can see below.
"I had spoken to the player on the play before and he told me that I was in his way," Gill told the News. "I asked him how long he'd been playing football and he had to realize that the referees are part of the field. I told him that he should have to avoid me and not the other way around. On the very next play, you saw what happened."
The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association has announced it will not assess any further punishment against Easley, but the boy's father, Brand Easley, who also happens to be the Glencliff head coach, was adamant that his son will face punishment.
