Tampa Bay Tech football coach C.C. Culpepper says he has received threatening text messages and calls to his personal cell phone. Culpepper said the caller only identified himself as “The Spoto Boys,” but he does the phone number of the caller and has turned it and the messages over to Spoto High’s athletic director, Cornelius Bobo.

The Titans play host to Spoto on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Last season, the TBT suffered a 21-18 loss to the Spartans

Culpepper said he first started receiving text messages around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. He said the messages threatened him and his players, including Titans quarterback Angel Rodriguez, the offensive line, running back Maurice Hagens and defensive back Khayri McCray, who last season played for Spoto. Culpepper continued receiving texts throughout the evening and, later, got a phone call from someone who did not identify themselves. From the style of the messages and sound of the voice of the caller, Culpepper believes it was a student.

The calls continued until nearly 12:45 a.m. Thursday morning, Culpepper said. During a brief conversation with the caller, Culpepper said he told them “Do you know you’re talking to the head coach?” The caller, Culpeppper says, replied “I don’t give a ---- who you are. You let your boys know the Spoto boys are coming for their ---, including that switch-out, McCray.”

“They said things like ‘We’re coming for you’ and ‘You better be on point’ and that we better pray that Hagens is able to play,” said Culpepper, who expects Hagens to be able to play following a knee sprain last week. “It was the tone that bothered me. It was threatening. They weren’t joking around. I’m a father of three and I don’t want this carrying over into my family and personal life and to me, that’s what this did.”

As a result of the calls and texts, Culpepper said he was forced to change cell phone numbers Thursday.