Report finds troubles in Hoover (Ala.) program

[KFDM COOP]

Report finds troubles in Hoover (Ala.) program

 

Forget the TV show Two-a-Days. There's a more intriguing script — the 68-page report about academic and athletic improprieties at Hoover (Ala.) High.

It mentions grade changes for star athletes without a teacher's consent, a football coach with a second family and even spying.

"This has all the makings of a miniseries," said Hoover city councilman Gene Smith. "You can't make this kind of stuff up."

Concurs Earl Cooper, parent of a Hoover student: "It's a sinister situation made for television. I don't believe this is over yet. There are a few other dormant issues."

REPORT: Results of Hoover investigation (PDF)

Hoover is 5-1 this season and has been a consistent national power. It was No. 1 in USA TODAY's Super 25 preseason rankings last year. The Buccaneers have six state titles in football since 1993 and had won four in a row until last season, when they fell to Prattville in the title game.

The school's football success led MTV to set Two-a-Days at Hoover, and the cable channel followed the team through the 2005 and '06 seasons.

Most of the $151,000 report, done by retired federal judge Sam Pointer Jr., centers on administrators changing grades without a teacher's consent and pressuring teachers to improve football players' grades or give them special treatment. It also highlights the activities of coach Rush Propst.

Many incidents involved efforts by Hoover assistant principal Carol Martin and counselor Terri Borie to help one player. Though not named in the report, he was identified as Kerry Murphy by The Birmingham News. He signed with the University of Alabama but did not qualify.

The investigation also said the school needed greater control over Propst's outside income. In addition to a $93,000 salary — which he gets solely for coaching the team; he is not a teacher — he has used the school's facilities for free to operate his for-pay football camps.

The report said Propst asked an assistant coach who was a teacher to change an athlete's grade from failed to incomplete.

Propst and former principal Richard Bishop were chided for not promptly reporting two infractions to the Alabama High School Athletics Association. The first came when an assistant coach spied on a practice by rival Vestavia Hills and the other when two Hoover players were allowed to play in a junior varsity game although ineligible.

The probe even delved into an allegation regarding Propst — that he had a second family, saying bank records showed he supported a family in Pell City, Ala., and that while the report had not fully explored the allegations, "from what we have learned from several reliable sources, we believe they are true."

Since the investigation began in late June, Bishop was fired and athletics director Jerry Browning stepped down.

"I am disappointed yet not surprised by the findings," Smith said. "I believe our board of education will use this as a tool to move quickly to reinstitute the integrity of our educational system."

[whiplash]

Hey Coop. I need some help. With this new format if a post has multiple pages how do you go up or down the pages.