In the past year, several D.C.-area high school football teams have been slapped with postseason bans, coach suspensions or have been forced to forfeit games after investigations concluded they recruited ineligible players. On Thursday, DuVal High School in Lanham, Maryland, became the latest.
According to Prince George’s County Public Schools, the district was alerted on Oct. 9 to an eligibility concern with DuVal’s football team, and a formal investigation determined multiple ineligible players participated in varsity football games.
As a result, head coach Darian McKinney has been suspended for the remainder of the year.
DuVal also must forfeit all games in which ineligible players participated, though the school system did not specify how many games that is.
“Reasons for ineligibility include: insufficient academic standing, participation in both junior varsity and varsity contests within the same week, and a transfer student never listed on the eligibility team roster submitted to the Office of Interscholastic Athletics,” the school system said in the statement.
In a letter to its families, DuVal said coach Warren Gibbs will serve as interim head coach.
“We will maintain the same high expectations for safety, sportsmanship, and effort,” DuVal Principal Denice Nabinett wrote in the letter. “We know this news is disappointing and may feel unsettling. Please know we see and honor the hard work, dedication, and heart our players and families have poured into this season.”
DuVal’s punishment comes just two days after Prince George’s County Public Schools announced the same consequences for another of its schools, Charles H. Flowers High School.
Flowers’ head coach, Dameon Powell, was also suspended after an investigation found the Jaguars used an “ineligible freshman player” during varsity games. Flowers also must forfeit all games that player participated in.
Not long before that, Fairfax High School’s football team was banned from the playoffs after Fairfax County Public Schools determined the Northern Virginia school’s program violated recruiting policies.
Perhaps most notably, Hayfield Secondary School‘s recruiting scandal last year made headlines for weeks, as an appeals process dragged into the playoffs and ended in the team withdrawing from postseason play.
In its statement announcing DuVal’s punishment, Prince George’s County Public Schools said it’s now trying to get ahead of any potential future eligibility violations.
“PGCPS will convene a mandatory meeting and training session for all athletic directors, coaches and school principals to reinforce the district’s zero-tolerance stance on violations of athletic eligibility and participation policies,” the statement reads.
The school system is asking staff and students to “self-report” any eligibility concerns before violations can be discovered.
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