It's really come to this.Last week, a Florida high school principal, Ariel Alejo (like the Little Mermaid, how cute), refused to allow a Tennessee assistant coach to enter campus and extend a scholarship offer to one of his students. Why? Because he's still upset over comments Lane Kiffin made last February after signing another Pahokee student, Nu'Keese Richardson.
Why might Principal Alejo (right) be upset? I don't know, it could have something to do with the fact that his public profile page for Pahokee High School features a Florida Gator at the bottom [Now replaced with the Pahokee High seal. Alejo's e-mail address has also been removed.] Alongside this quote, "I would also like for every student to graduate and go to college." What needs to be added to the end of the quote is this, "Unless they go to Tennessee." No matter which school you support, I think we can all agree, this is ridiculous and colossal misplacement of school time, energy and focus.
The average SAT at Pahokee is 780, the average ACT is 16.3, the school is below average in every major statistical computation used for testing students. Yet the principal of this school is trying to keep students from receiving scholarship offers from one particular college. Something, to be honest, he doesn't have the actual authority to do. A public high school principal can't ban one particular college -- his rival no less -- from recruiting athletes. Put simply, he doesn't have the authority to single them out. All he does is make overworked educators look out of touch, petty, and unintelligent.
Where did all this begin?
The day after Richardson signed with the Vols, Kiffin appeared at a booster rally and said that Richardson's papers were faxed from outside the high school. "Someone at the school was going to screw it up. The fax machine wouldn't work, or they would have changed the signatures - all the things that go on in Pahokee."
The implication was clear, that Pahokee administrators steer their football players, and they produce a ton of talent, to Florida. Only Richardson went to Tennessee. In the wake of those comments Kiffin apologized to Blaze Thompson, the head coach of the state champion football team.
He also apologized to the Pahokee community-at-large several months ago, "If I offended anybody in Pahokee or [anyone who] has to do with Pahokee or in the schools, I apologize; and I want to make sure it's understood that is not what was meant by it [the comments] at all, It was just an energetic breakfast with some of our donors."
But those apologies aren't enough for Principal Alejo. What does he want? According to the Palm Beach Post:
"Coach Kiffin publicly apologized to Blaze Thompson ... but I'm still waiting, and the community is as well," Alejo said. "It's what I think he owes the community of Pahokee and what he owes this school. His comments were made public, so now he needs to go publicly and retract those comments."
Alejo suggested Kiffin fly down and attend tonight's city commission session or the school's Student Advisory Council meeting May 19.
"If I were him, I would consider [going]," Alejo said. "If it was me, that's what I would do."
Yep, he wants Kiffin to attend a city council meeting. Until then the university is banned from campus.
Seriously, are you kidding me?
Principal Alejo is trying to hold a public university hostage until they meet his particular apology demands? I know we've entered a politically correct era that demands everyone be treated with kid gloves, but, come on, this is ludicrous and embarrassing to everyone associated with public education.
Here's what should happen instead, Principal Alejo should be fired. Right now. Immediately. Whoever is in charge of Florida's high schools should issue a statement. It should read as follows: "We're happy whenever any of our students receive scholarship offers to attend college. Particularly when those offers arrive for students from comparatively disadvantaged background who have to work twice as hard to achieve their college dreams. Principal Alejo showed not just bad judgment, but his actions were the anti-thesis of the principles we support in Florida schools. He's been reassigned to janitorial duties in Miami."
That's it. Ballgame.
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And the same result should hold true for any public school principal who feels compelled to step outside of the academic universe and attempt to dictate where and how kids can go to college to play sports. Do we really want to live in a country where the individuals in charge of shepherding teenagers to adulthood aren't adult enough to accept kids going to their rival colleges? Of course we don't.
By taking his idiotic stand, all that Principal Alejo has done is prove that he's not decent enough to sport the Gator logo on his principal web page. The University of Florida ought to contact him and ask him to take down the logo. He's giving them a bad name, and doing what once seemed impossible: Making Lane Kiffin look level-headed.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-13-2009 @ 2:04PM
Doug B said...
I don't think this deal would bother Travis a bit .... except for the fact that he's a Tennessee boy! Kiffin is a loudmouth yahoo. He can't keep his piehole shut. He insulted the people of Pahokee and now he pays the price I have no problem with the HS locking out his people.
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5-13-2009 @ 2:23PM
Steven said...
Spoken like a true Gators fan..YEAH right whatever...Its just punishment to the rest of the students who might have had an opportunity to attend college.. That principal shouldnt be in charge of garbage pick-up....He's only harming the students he should be looking out for.. Times are hard.. Free college is Free college...
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5-13-2009 @ 9:08PM
Al said...
This guy should be fired. VOLUNTEER FANS...FAX A LETTER OF YOUR OPINION TO 850-245-9667. Florida Department of Education. Let's get the little mermaid put out to sea. The guy's an idiot. He should be happy that one of his kids even got a scholarship offer, let alone one to an SEC powerhouse like Tennessee. School doen't matter, the "ride" does.
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5-13-2009 @ 2:35PM
Jacob said...
Great article Clay...this makes Kiffin look even smarter for making sure that the LOI was faxed from somewhere other than little mermaid's high school.
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5-13-2009 @ 2:34PM
rlbrooks726 said...
I thought they quit hiring ignorant red necks as school administrators in Florida.
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5-13-2009 @ 3:03PM
wbbadge571 said...
If your going to report a story you shold tell all the facts,such as another student was supposed to get a scholarship also,and it was recinded but kiffin never called the kid he recruited and after being taken to task,had an assistant make the notification.
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5-13-2009 @ 3:05PM
Roger said...
Someone needs to remind Clay of the rest of the story....the part where Lane's true character comes out.....the part about Lane and his dishonest recruiting plans that involved having Ku'Neese lie for him...
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5-13-2009 @ 3:07PM
Barry Willette said...
This is the typical Gator Mentality that is why I am PROUD TO BE A GATOR HATER
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5-13-2009 @ 3:25PM
buffum1989 said...
lane kiffen is not level headed, he's a 'hot dog'. tennessee will regret his hiring.
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5-13-2009 @ 4:08PM
tncsf said...
With such abismal standardized test scores I don't think any of these students should even be considering college. They are lucky they even made it into high school.
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5-13-2009 @ 4:15PM
sccapitalmgt said...
Never use the phrase "football scholarship" in the same sentence. It's an oxymoron. When I went to college in the 70's an SAT score of 780 and ACT score of 16.3 meant you were intellectually brain dead. Even the local community college would reject you.
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5-13-2009 @ 4:51PM
Georgia Girl said...
UF has been notorious for this kind of thing for many years. Makes one wonder if maybe the high school administrators get some kind of payback?
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5-13-2009 @ 5:02PM
geezerearl said...
Wouldnt b surprised if Alejo turned out 2 b on
Floridas payroll. Why else would he care where
his student attend school.
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5-13-2009 @ 5:05PM
gswingrover said...
Clay Travis is a Jackass
Reply
5-13-2009 @ 5:27PM
mrbongo850 said...
recruiting should be done at the home of the students not at their school. end of problem
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5-13-2009 @ 5:35PM
g8rtj said...
Try a little research before you go off on a misguided rant. When Janoris Jenkins signed with Florida in 2008, he was the FIRST Pahokee player in 30 YEARS to do so. There's no evil conspiracy going on. Maybe Lane Kiffen has been in this guy's ear, and he would never tell a lie would he?
It's good to see someone at Pahokee letting Kiffen know he should try keeping his mouth shut.
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5-13-2009 @ 5:47PM
papam11 said...
A principal, huh? With his thinking and pettiness, perhaps he's be better suited for one of those "Housewives of" shows.
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5-13-2009 @ 7:00PM
cris said...
Scary that Al Davis looks smarter everyday!
Kiffin just needs to apologize. Pahokee's principal is not preventing his students from going to college. He is just protecting his students from a coach that has shown no respect for the student athelete's community or school. Believe you and me if Tennesse is offering a scholarship to a Pahokee student there is 100 more scholarship offers on the table for that student. The only looser in this scenario will be Tennesse Footbal.
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5-13-2009 @ 6:39PM
jander8122 said...
As I remember the prelude to this story, the Pahokee student/athlete (Richardson) previously signed by UT and not yet graduated, was induced by the UT coach to lie to his high school coach, lie to the newspaper, lie to the school officials and to lie to the Univ. of Fla about his signing intentions. If I was a principal of this school, I would be a little leery of having UT coaches on campus when they could just as easily meet the athlete at home. This is not the kind of behavior I would want adult leaders to instill in my students, especially on campus, giving the impression this type behavior is acceptable to me or the school. The Pahokee principal invited the UT coach to come down and get things right. Why wouldn't the coach want to do that? I have always found that difficulties, talked out, lead to much stronger and better relationships. Of course, this requires all parties to be true to their word.
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5-13-2009 @ 7:10PM
morphyslaw said...
The rest of the SEC is going to wipe their shoes with Kiffin's UT. This isn't the PAC 10 Lane...4 head coaches in the SEC have won national championships. I give him 3 years before the good folks in Knoxville run him out of town.
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