Four Manatee County football coaches suspended for recruiting violations, schools fined
The Florida High School Athletic Association has suspended and fined the head football coaches at Lakewood Ranch, Manatee and Palmetto high schools after an investigation of potential recruiting violations.
According to the FHSAA report on Monday, the coaches and the three schools violated various bylaws and policies in connection with visits in the summer of 2019 by Lincoln Memorial Academy football players and coaches.
According to the FHSAA:
- Manatee High head coach Yusuf Shakir was suspended for eight games, including the 2020 spring game and fall classic, and must forfeit $5,000 of his salary. He was also reprimanded and placed on administrative probation through June 30, 2021. The report states, Shakir “presented urging, enticing or pressuring statements/acts (approximately 20) to the Lincoln Academy students during a scheduled athletic tour of the school’s football facilities.”
- Dennis Stallard, the longtime special teams coach at Manatee High, was suspended for six games and must forfeit $5,000 for making approximately four “urging, enticing or pressuring statements/acts,” to the Lincoln students.
- Palmetto High head coach Dave Marino was hit with the same penalties as Shakir for the same action. The school was fined $2,500 because no assistant coaches were found in violation.
- Lakewood Ranch head coach Rashad West was suspended for six games, including four regular-season games, with the same monetary penalty as Shakir and Marino. According to the FHSAA report, “West scheduled and conducted an athletic tour to the Lincoln Academy students.” Lakewood Ranch High was placed on probation and fined $2,500.
“The School District of Manatee County has a storied history of high school football and in all areas of athletics,” the county’s athletic director Jason Montgomery said in a press release. “A big part of that history is maintaining the integrity of our programs and abiding by the rules. With over 4,000 student athletes and more than 400 coaches participating in our athletic programs this school year alone, our commitment to the integrity of our athletic programs remains resolute and ultimately led to the self-reporting that resulted in today’s announcement.”
All FHSAA sports are currently on hold due to the COVID-19 crisis. The global coronavirus pandemic forced professional sports leagues and college sports to suspend their seasons as well as forcing students to go through virtual learning for the time being.
In each school’s self-report, this is what the FHSAA found:
- All three coaches were contacted by Lincoln Memorial Academy coaches about showing their students what it takes to play at the next level. Lincoln coaches contacted five high schools within Manatee County about the same thing.
- FHSAA findings from Facebook Live videos showed at least 30 Lincoln students, according to the FHSAA report, who visited Manatee, Palmetto and Lakewood Ranch for tours of their football facilities.
- The video for Manatee is approximately 58 minutes long, it’s approximately 57 minutes long for Palmetto and video of the Lakewood Ranch visit is approximately two minutes long, according to the FHSAA report.
- All three schools’ principals and athletic directors were unaware of the visits until Montgomery reported it to them.
- A Lincoln staff member recorded videos of each visit, and “was asked to cut the video,” after students headed into the weight room after meeting West at Lakewood Ranch, according to the FHSAA.
- Shakir, Stallard and Marino were found to have made statements/acts “that urge, entice or pressure a student to attend,” their respective schools.
Manatee hired Shakir in May 2017. He previously won a state championship and went 68-31 from 2009-17 at his alma mater, Lincoln High in Tallahassee. At Manatee, he’s led the Hurricanes to the playoffs in his three seasons, which included winning a district title and reaching a region championship game in Class 7A.
Marino is the county’s longest-tenured head coach. After being a longtime assistant at various area high school programs, Marino became Palmetto High’s head coach after Raymond Woodie left to join Willie Taggart’s staff at Western Kentucky.
Marino has guided the Tigers to two state semifinal appearances, multiple playoff berths and district titles since 2010. Last season, Palmetto reached the Class 6A state semifinals where they lost 34-30, loss to Miami Central.
West was in his first season at Lakewood Ranch High in 2019, leading the Mustangs to the program’s first six-win season since 2014. Previously, he was the head coach at his alma mater, Southeast High.
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 1:00 PM.
