Police are investigating an altercation between buses at Sunlake High

Two of Sunlake High’s assistant football coaches are no longer with the program, and first-year head coach BJ Hall has been placed on leave after a physical altercation between two assistants Monday during practice.

The Pasco County School District was unable to release the names of the assistants, but Sunlake offensive coordinator Connor Ferst told the Tampa Bay Times that another assistant coach blindsided him during an offense-on-defense drill that heated up and resulted in injuries that required medical attention.

Ferst said he was resigning on the spot and plans to press charges against the second aide, whose name authorities have not released.

I turned my back, and when I turned my back, 10 seconds later (another deputy) came over and hit me and jumped on the back of my head, Ferst said.

He grabbed my hoodie around my head like a hockey stick so I couldn’t see. He then punched me in the head, behind the ear and punched me several times on all my ribs. When he hit me in the head, he split my head open.

Seventy kids saw it.

The case remains under investigation and no arrests have been made, Pasco County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Amanda Hunter said.

School district spokesman Steve Hegarty said it was in front of students playing football.

Ferst said she works for the county as one of its substitute teachers, who Hegarty said are assigned through a third party. Ferst could potentially continue working in the classroom as a substitute if the investigation finds he was not at fault in Monday’s incident.

The other coach is no longer in contact with the school district, Hegarty said.

Hegarty said the school district notified the players’ parents the next day. Hall remains on leave while the school district investigates how he handled the incident.

We want to make sure he handled it properly because he was there at the time,” Hegarty said. And when two adults have a physical argument, I think you have a number of different ways to handle it, some more appropriate than others.

Ferst, a former student assistant at Temple University who also served as the offensive coordinator at Webber International University (an NAIA program) in eastern Polk County, said the incident stemmed from an intense two-minute drill between Sunlake’s offensive and defensive units on Monday. .

In drills, defense and offense we talk trash, everything, so on and so forth. Its competition, its football, Ferst said.

But on Monday night, the trash talk got out of hand when the offense and defense went at it. We did a two-minute drill, and the offense scored in a two-minute drill, and (another assistant) went and turned up his trash talk, saying, Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself in front of a bunch of kids. .

So I went to (the assistant) and said, Are you kidding me? We have 14- and 15-year-old children here. Do the right thing, grow up.

At that point, Ferst said, another aide jumped him from behind. Ferst said his girlfriend took him to a nearby urgent care. He suffered a head wound, a contusion behind his left ear, cuts and scratches on his face, back and stomach, and several bruises on his ribs.

Monday’s event marked the official start of spring football practice at Florida high schools, although some requested (and received) permission to start a week earlier.

It also continued the volatile run of the Seahawks program with its third coach after the start of the 2022 season. Allen Suber was fired two games into last season and replaced by interim coach John Gilmore after Sunlake finished 1-9. Hall, who played professionally in the Arena Football League, was hired in December after three seasons as an assistant at Zephyrhills Christian.

Contact Joey Knight at [email protected]. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls