Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Harriott speaks out on sanction
Coach: ‘There’s no crime in watching a student’s film’
FORT LAUDERDALE — Coach Roger Harriott knows what many people say about him and St. Thomas Aquinas football, and he knows many people assume he and his staff recruit players.
Those suspicions seemed to be confirmed last week when news broke that Harriott, assistant coach Torrian Wilson and the school itself received sanctions for Wilson’s improper communication with a Dwyer player. Harriott appealed his sanction and lost.
But Harriott, who has coached the perennial powerhouse program since 2015, said his sanction is based on circumstantial evidence and that he did not have knowledge of Wilson’s text messages that violated Florida High School Athletic Association rules.
“In fairness to the FHSAA, they have a difficult job managing and investigating these types of allegations,” Harriott said. “My particular ruling was a result of an unusual circumstance based on their perception and not reality.”
Wilson began talking to the Dwyer player after the Dwyer player texted him, and the two spoke at length about the team and the school, as shown in the textmessage conversation provided to the Sun Sentinel by the FHSAA.
The FHSAA ruled that his conversation constituted improper contact, and Wilson did not appeal his sanction.
“As a first-year high school coach, I didn’t know the extent of the rules and what to do and what not to do,” Wilson said during Harriott’s appeal.
The FHSAA sanctioned Harriott for being aware of Wilson’s conversations with the Dwyer player.
Harriott said Wilson told him the player was interested in coming to St. Thomas Aquinas and that a relative of the player wanted to speak with him. Harriott said he spoke briefly to the relative, directing her to the school’s admissions department.
One text message from the player to Wilson said Harriott was “rude” when speaking to the player’s relative, which Harriott said was because the conversation was short, and all he did was direct the relative to admissions.
Harriott said he didn’t see the text-message conversation between Wilson and the player until athletic director George Smith showed him the texts after the school received the allegation from the FHSAA.
“Coach Wilson didn’t share his text messages with me, he didn’t show me his text messages, he didn’t tell me he was texting the young man,” Harriott said. “And as a result of it, I was deemed in violation on the policy about supporting enticement.”
During the text-message conversation with the Dwyer player, Wilson said he was with Harriott and said, “we just watched your film.” That text came up during Harriott’s appeal, and Wilson said he watched the film alone.
“The way it read, [the FHSAA] felt we were watching the film together,” Harriott said. “We didn’t. We don’t share the same office. Our working area in the school is different. He works in the cafeteria area, I work in athletics. I think just the wording gave them the assumption that we were together and that I knew he was texting.
“There’s no crime in watching a student’s film. If I’m watching a player’s film, that doesn’t mean I know he’s texting the player directly. I didn’t have any idea they were texting back and forth.”
Harriott said the FHSAA’s rules could be confusing because of legal jargon in some policies, and it takes time for new coaches to learn them.
“Maybe it would be more beneficial or advantageous to have more workshops or some sort of signature — maybe a signature, like a handbook signature — that indicates [understanding],” Harriot said. “But there are so many policies that you’ve got to adhere to.”