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Strawberry Crest football coach Gerold Dickens suspended

Posted Oct 30, 2011 by Eddie Daniels

Updated Oct 30, 2011 at 06:05 PM

First-year Strawberry Crest football coach Gerold Dickens was suspended following an internal investigation and was not on the field for Friday night’s Homecoming game against Sickles.

According to Strawberry Crest principal David Brown, the school conducted an investigation after it was reported by a parent that Dickens, during a football practice roughly three weeks ago, allegedly used a racially sensitive phrase.

In an email to The Tampa Tribune, Strawberry Crest principal David Brown wrote: “We have completed our investigation with this incident and it was discovered that there was inappropriate behavior….a decision was made on a consequence for this lapse in judgment…..however, much like with students, it would not be appropriate for me to discuss a teacher’s discipline with others.”

When reached by phone, Dickens said he made the comment and apologized to the parents, but didn’t want to go in depth on the matter.

“It was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time and I apologized for it to the parents,” Dickens said. “Really, I don’t want to go any further into it.”

A meeting was held Oct. 17 with the football coaching staff, school administration and parents. According to both Brown and Dickens, the meeting was to assure parents the program was headed in the right direction.

“We moved forward as an organization,” Dickens said of the meeting. “As a program, our parents are very involved and when you’re going through losses, then you’re going to have those situations come up. Everyone has a play, they all have the cures and all the fixes.

“It’s just best to address and reassure and let people know where your program is actually heading. And that’s one of those situations. Nobody likes to lose and everything is magnified 10 fold when it comes to stuff like that and we just felt that we needed to go ahead and address certain things to ensure that we’re heading in the right direction with out program. … We have strong parent (support) and we’re very, very proud of that.”

Brown said the meeting had nothing to do with the phrase and was more to allow the parents to give their thoughts and have the administration and coaching staff hear the concerns and respond. He said approximately 35 parents were there for the 1.5 hour long meeting.

“It wasn’t (a scene) out of Hoosiers where we’re going to have a town meeting and we’re going to get rid of our coach,” Brown said. “I would get an email from one parent that would say well, my son’s just not having fun and maybe you’d get another email that says, all they’re doing is cursing at the kids.

“The parents aren’t there, the ones at the practices are obviously their sons and in the games are their sons and the coaching staff and I wanted them to hear from the coaching staff (about) what goes on at practice, how is it organized, what they do. They go to study hall and then they go to the weight room and then we run through plays. So they kind of got a better understanding of what was going on.”

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Reader Comments

Por (louis gorrasi) on October 31, 2011 (Suggest removal)

I WAS AT THE MEETING AND THE MAIN THEME OF THIS MEETING WAS NOT TO ASSURE THE PARENTS THAT THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM WAS HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. THE MAIN ISSUE AT HAND WAS THE POOR CHOICE OF WORDS USED BY EX COACH GEROLD DICKENS. THIS PERSON IS A TERRIBLE ROLE MODEL FOR OUR CHILDREN AND HAS NO RESPECT FOR HIS PLAYERS. YOU HAVE A ATHLETHIC DIRECTOR BY THE NAME OF MELVIN WILLIAMS WHO TOLD OF THIS POOR CHOICE OF WORDS BY A FELLOW FOOTBALL PLAYER AND MR. WILLIAMS TOOK NO ACTION TO CORRECT THIS PROBLEM. THE ONLY REASONS WHY MR. BROWN TOOK ACTION AND SUSPENED GEROLD DICKENS WAS BECAUSE MS.KIPLEY FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS WAS NOTIFIED. . I FEEL MR. BROWN SHOULD STOP BEING A SPINLESS PRINCIPAL AND TAKE CHARGE