A Florida high school football coach is out of his role leading the team after complaints about a form of hazing in the team’s locker room spilled out and led to pressure on the program.
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As reported by Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV, the Oviedo (Fla.) football program became engulfed in controversy over locker room physical interactions the student athletes called “code reds”, where veteran players targeted younger members of the team and forcibly touched them, sometimes holding them down and penetrating them.
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While three football players were suspended earlier in the football season for their role in the incidents, that only scratched the surface of a series of interactions for which school administrators interviewed more than 100 players.
In the aftermath of the investigation, Oviedo football coach Matt Dixon was not retained, though he is expected to remain as a teacher in the district.
The investigation into code reds was not Dixon’s first brush with administrative scorn; he and his assistants were allegedly issued warnings for their prolific use of foul language in front of players, the lone substantiated claim against the coach after one of his players accused Dixon and an assistant of bullying.
Now Dixon’s football future will have to come elsewhere if he hopes to continue coaching at the high school level.