The Blue Board

This is the story from the Pensacola local newspaper.

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012310240032&gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

Darius Paige case bringing NCAA to Pensacola
Washington officials to be interviewed this week concerning former player's transfer
11:27 PM, Oct 23, 2012

Things have calmed down for former Washington High defensive tackle Darius Paige over the past few months. But that might not last very long.

Sources close to the situation have confirmed to the News Journal that NCAA associate director of enforcement Renee Gomila will be in Pensacola this week to interview Washington officials about Paige. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing NCAA investigation.

Paige’s transfer to Foley (Ala.) High School made national headlines when Washington High defensive coordinator George Schellang — who was the Wildcats’ interim head coach after Mike Smith’s resignation over the summer — alleged University of Alabama assistant coach Jeremy Pruitt forced the move.

After meeting with the Alabama High School Athletic Association, Paige — who has verbally committed to the defending national champion Crimson Tide — was deemed eligible, cleared to play and has become an integral part of the Lions’ defensive line.

But while the situation didn’t prevent Paige from seeing the playing field, the transfer has launched the investigation and caused a local investigation into Washington High School’s handling of the move.

Washington's Faucheaux investigated
The Escambia County School District launched an investigation into possible Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) violations by Schellang and Washington High dean and athletic director Troy Faucheaux. That investigation now is complete.

According to documents obtained by the News Journal through the Florida Public Records Act, both Schellang and Faucheaux were issued official letters of reprimand. Both educators continue in their current roles and neither was suspended by the district.

The investigation was launched after Brad Lowery, who is identified in documents as Bud Lowery, contacted the Escambia County School District alleging Faucheaux violated FERPA while posting on the website secrant.com, using the alias “tigerbait65.”

According to the report, Lowery contacted the school district because he felt Faucheaux was attempting to steer Paige to LSU. He also felt Faucheaux and Schellang were “bashing” Paige in the media.

Lowery’s complaint pointed to a post in which Faucheaux ranted against Alabama’s Pruitt, calling the Crimson Tide “cheating SOBs.” Later in the same post, Faucheaux makes one reference to Paige’s academics, though he does not reveal any information about Paige’s grades.

“He then proceeded to tell me that at Foley HS Darius could make up 7 core classes in one year,” the post said, referring to Pruitt.

The only other academic information in any post by Faucheaux came in 2009 when Trent Richardson signed with Alabama. In the post, Faucheaux said Richardson had “taken the ACT 5 times, and his highest score is a 16.”

Faucheaux told investigator John Hobbs, who conducted the school district’s investigation, that he did not access Richardson’s grade through school district computers. He said he collected the information through recruiting websites, such as rivals.com.

An examination of Faucheaux’s school computer showed numerous visits to college football recruiting sites, especially those dedicated to LSU and the Southeastern Conference. It also showed four different email addresses used by Faucheaux which began in “tigerbait.”

Other sites, such as an espn.com webpage highlighting ESPN the Magazine’s “Body Issue”, also were accessed. Hobbs noted that access to the site could violate the school district’s Internet usage policy.

Faucheaux admitted accessing the site, but said he clicked out of the webpage as soon as he saw its content and never accessed the page again.

Despite Faucheaux’s frequent visits to the college football websites, the Washington athletic director never directly mentions Paige’s grades, test scores or credits needed to graduate. A core grade point average of 1.66 is mentioned in the report, but is attributed to Alabama’s Pruitt, not Faucheaux.

According to the documents, Faucheaux told investigators one of the reasons Pruitt wanted Paige to transfer to Foley was he believed the senior’s core GPA to be a 1.66.

Schellang investigation
Schellang was investigated because of a story written by the News Journal’s Brady Aymond. In the story, Aymond reported that Paige was academically ineligible, and the school district believed it was possible that Schellang revealed Paige’s grades to the reporter.

But Aymond’s information came from Paige himself during Washington’s spring football game.

“Yeah, I was ineligible,” Paige said in May of the spring semester.

“I’m getting it back on,” Paige added. “It’s a lot better than last year, and I’ll be back in the fall.”

A review of Schellang’s email and Internet usage also was conducted. The investigation “did not indicate excessive or voluminous access to Internet-based content during the electronic resource period examined,” according to the documents.

Funderburk included
The school district also questioned Faucheaux and Schellang about any communication they had about former Washington athlete Dejon Funderburk, who enrolled at Milton prior to this, his senior season.

The documents show that Schellang only answered that he “could not recall any interview with the media regarding (Dejon Funderburk), nor had any communications about (Funderburk’s) transfer to another school with a member of the media.”

Faucheaux, though, had contact with the FHSAA over Funderburk’s departure because he was concerned about the student-athlete’s eligibility at Milton.

According to the documents, Faucheaux contacted the FHSAA’s Denarvise Thornton Jr., because he believed Funderburk worked out with the Wildcats during the summer. Faucheaux wanted to know if the transfer was in violation of the FHSAA’s eligibility standard.

Faucheaux also said in the report that he believed Funderburk practiced at Milton during the first day of fall workouts without the necessary medical clearances on hand at Milton High School.

Funderburk never has been suspended and has played in every game for the Panthers this season.

Reasons for suspicion
Schellang said during the investigation that his suspicions about Pruitt’s motives behind transferring Paige to Foley peaked when Paige told him he wasn’t going to take the ACT, a college entrance test, as planned during the summer.

According to the report, Paige told Schellang that Pruitt advised him not to take the test until he got to Foley.

Schellang and Faucheaux both said during the investigation that Pruitt said Foley could “take care of Paige academically.” Both were concerned the statement meant Foley would give the necessary grades for graduation regardless of whether Paige earned them.

Schellang’s concern increased when Paige told him in a text message that he didn’t want to go to Foley.

“I don’t want to go but I hav (sic) to,” Paige said in a text.

He added that he was concerned he wouldn’t qualify if he stayed at Washington, noting Alabama does not have the FCAT (Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test) and “some other stuff.”

According to the report, Pruitt said he advised the player to go to Foley because he could take seven core credits during the normal school day during his senior year.

Paige’s plan to graduate and qualify academically at Washington would have included after school classes in Florida’s Virtual School.