A varsity high school football coach in Florida has been dismissed after an investigation found he manipulated his school’s “credit-recovery program,” which is designed to help players retain eligibility if they miss out on classwork.
As reported by Tampa Bay ABC affiliate WFTS, Booker High School (Sarasota, Fla.) football coach Dumaka Atkins has been suspended indefinitely following an investigation into the coach’s math course. According to WFTS, the ruling on Atkins’ teaching held that the eight students who were in his class either couldn’t prove they had completed the coursework for the class or failed to show, “a mastery of the content based on tests conducted by the district’s Research and Evaluation team.”
Essentially, Atkins was suspended because he allegedly falsified players’ grades to maintain their eligibility, as reported by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
And while Atkins is technically only suspended from his position, there’s virtually no chance that he returns after he already resigned from his teaching position at the school in the middle of the investigation. He’s since moved on to another job at a charter school, though he had previously retained his coaching position.
Not any more.
Whether Atkins returns to coaching remains to be seen, but he does have the college pedigree that might engender another chance behind a bench; he was a four-year football player at Florida State, where he eventually became a starting offensive lineman for the Seminoles.
