FHSAA suspends Ransom Everglades football coach; school appealing decision
Ransom Everglades football coach Jake Caron has been suspended by the Florida High School Athletic Association, which said he had improper communication with a prospective player before the player was enrolled in the school.
Caron has been suspended for six weeks — one of those weeks being the team’s spring game and the other five weeks beginning with the preseason of the 2024 season — and also has to forfeit $5,000 of his salary.
The FHSAA also assessed a $2,500 fine against Ransom Everglades and placed the school on administrative probation for one year.
In a letter Ransom Everglades sent out Tuesday, the school said it disagrees with and is appealing the decision.
“We take this matter very seriously,” the letter read in part. “Our athletic program will continue to follow the association’s rules and regulations and our student-athletes will continue to have a fantastic experience grounded in The RE Way. We will continue to uphold the high standards we set for ourselves and that are articulated in our core values.”
Caron has been Ransom Everglades’ head coach for two seasons, with the Raiders going 14-4 in that time. Ransom Everglades went 6-3 in 2022 and 8-1 in 2023.
According to the FHSAA’s findings, which were obtained by the Miami Herald, Ransom Everglades hosted a prospective student-athlete on a campus for an admissions tour on Jan. 31, 2023. The student met Caron during the tour and they exchanged phone numbers.
The findings then say Caron “texted the student-athlete later that afternoon thanking the student for visiting and requesting the student’s 7v7 schedule for an upcoming tournament. The student-athlete was not accepted to the school until March 3, 2023.”
This goes against FHSAA Policy 37.1.1 in regard to improper contact and impermissible benefits, which states that “No school employee, athletic department staff member, representative of the school’s athletic interests or third parties, such as an independent person, business or organization, may make contact, either in person or through any form of written or electronic communication or through any third party, with a student, or any member of the student’s family, in an effort to pressure, urge or entice the student to attend a different school for the purpose of participating in interscholastic athletics.”
“We disagree with the determination and are appealing, but we appreciate the extensive investigation that the FHSAA conducted to ensure that Ransom Everglades is in compliance with its procedures and policies,” the school’s letter read. “The infraction consisted solely of the exchange of electronic communication. We provided the FHSAA with all the documentation requested and expect all of our coaches to follow FHSAA policy.”