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Worlds Apart

Nearly a year after an alleged altercation, two UNM football coaches are

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By Isaac Avilucea | New Mexico Daily Lobo
Last updated: 08/23/10 8:42am

Whether they’re aware of it, they both wear them — scarlet letters reminding the duo of the day everything changed.
Somewhere buried in the rubble are the now ancient remains of a crumbled friendship forged on the pillars of coaching bonds. Once close, J.B. Gerald and Mike Locksley have become embittered adversaries, stung by the same set of unyielding emotions.
Some 11 months after the now infamous dust-up between him and Locksley, Gerald’s emotional wounds are still as fresh as the laceration he received to his upper lip Sept. 20.

“I feel it every day,” Gerald said.

The day-in-day-out pain became so intense that Gerald packed his bags and jetted back to Maryland, where he has since landed a job teaching underprivileged students at a Washington, D.C., charter school.

When the season was still in swing, Gerald watched the team every Saturday from afar. During weeks that the team traveled, Gerald invited some players that didn’t make the trip to eat wings and watch the game at a local establishment. Yet throughout, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of emptiness.

“You work all year to get up to that point,” Gerald said. “The season is like a coach’s reward. You put all that hard work — blood, sweat, tears — into preparing for a season. It’s like watching it all kind of, I don’t want to say go down the drain, but kind of that way.”
And in his own way, Gerald said, he was robbed of the joys of coaching.

“I never thought I’d be on the receiving end of those types of explosions,” Gerald said.
Especially not from a friend.

Thin line between love and hate
To this day, Gerald has fond memories of Locksley.

Throughout Gerald’s high school career, Locksley was known in the Maryland area as a recruiting juggernaut. The two became more acquainted when Locksley, the up-and-coming assistant at Maryland University, snagged one of Gerald’s best friends, Madieu Williams, to play for the Terps.

After Gerald’s collegiate playing days at Colgate University ended, he served as a graduate assistant at Penn State for three years. There, while under the direct tutelage of legendary coach Joe Paterno, Gerald said he and Locksley crossed paths on a number of occasions, including at coaching conventions.

While Locksley was at Illinois, Gerald came to a professional crossroad.
More than anything, Gerald longed for professional stability and security. So before Penn State’s 2008 season began, Gerald took one of the biggest gambles of his life. He informed Paterno he was leaving Penn State to pursue other coaching endeavors.
Shortly thereafter, Gerald joined Locksley at Illinois, where he served as the offensive quality control coach, while Locksley was the offensive coordinator. At best, Gerald’s decision was a

lateral career move because he took a pay cut at Illinois. But, he was convinced that the “probability of turnover” and the opportunity to make other coaching contacts outweighed his choice to leave Penn’s program.

No more than five months later, Gerald’s decision paid off, and Locksley accepted the head coaching gig at New Mexico, taking the young assistant with him. Gerald’s career seemed primed to take off. In such short time, he and Locksley built a strong rapport at Illinois, both professionally and personally.

Even now, after all that’s happened, Gerald said Locksley was the “life of the party” at cookouts and functions. When it came time to punch the clock, though, Gerald remembered Locksley was a studious workaholic, possessed by the craft. They’d work demanding schedules, sometimes 16 hours a day. On several occasions, after an eventful, nonstop day at the office, Gerald said the two unwound by grabbing a bite to eat.
All that would soon come to a halt.

Little by little, things deteriorated. Not long before Gerald and Locksley were involved in a Aug. 13 verbal spat, in which the former wide receivers coach said Locksley threatened to slap him, the two’s relationship soured.

In early August, Gerald missed a mandatory weekend coaches’ retreat. Gerald said he told Locksley he would be unable to attend on Friday because his fiancée, who just started work that week, couldn’t get Friday off. He said the two planned to leave first thing Saturday morning.
Since it was about a 40-minute trip, Gerald said it didn’t make sense for him to go up Friday, come back for his fiancée Saturday and head back to the retreat. He said he and his fiancée took another assistant coach’s spouse with them, because she was also working Friday. Apparently, Locksley took issue with Gerald’s decision.

Still, Gerald could’ve never predicted what was to come.
Falling out
Almost as quickly as it began, Locksley’s head coaching honeymoon ended.
First, news broke of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint by one of the first-year coach’s administrative assistants, in which she alleged that Locksley fired her to replace her with younger, more attractive workers in an effort to entice recruits.
Then on Aug. 13, Gerald and Locksley were involved in a heated exchange after practice. Gerald said during practice Locksley directed a profanity-laced tirade toward him because the wide receivers weren’t lined up properly. The former wide receivers coach admitted firing back: “Well, get them (expletive) lined up, then.”

The quarrel picked up again after practice as fans and members of the media looked on. Eventually, the two went separate ways, and Gerald stormed off in the opposite direction toward the Lobos’ facilities.

At the time, what appeared to be a minor quibble among coaches became the bedrock to the Sept. 20 confrontation, as Gerald later claimed it forever altered his relationship with Locksley.

Whatever the case, as the losses mounted, frustration grew within the program as fan morale steadily dipped. Behind closed doors, the tension was building.

With the team’s continued struggles came murmurs from fans and local media, many second-guessing Locksley’s offensive ingenuity.
Before anything could change, Locksley once again found himself embroiled in controversy, and suddenly, the Lobos’ on-the-field struggles became postscript to off-the-field controversy.

During a coaches’ meeting Sept. 20, Gerald claimed Locksley punched and choked him. To this day, details remain murky, with Locksley and Krebs vehemently denying that Locksley punched or choked Gerald, findings that were later verified by a UNM Human Resources probe.
More than once after the incident, Locksley contacted Gerald, but Gerald said he couldn’t muster the nerve to have an effective dialogue, still angered by what has transpired.

“In my heart, yeah, I forgive the guy,” Gerald said. “I don’t bad talk him. I don’t wish ill will on him. I want the team to be successful, but that still doesn’t excuse his (behavior).”

It seems safe to say that neither Locksley nor Gerald have fully recovered from the incident. While undoubtedly there are staunch Locks supporters, much of the UNM community hasn’t forgotten about his indiscretions.
Locksley declined to comment, but in a separate interview during the Lobos’ 2010 spring practices, Locksley said his reputation has been marred by selective public memory.

“A good majority of my career, I’ve been touted as a guy that does things the right way, a guy that was climbing the food chain in this profession,” he said.

Gerald, on the other hand, seeks closure.

As Locksley looks to start anew, Gerald’s litigation will serve as a constant reminder until it’s remedied.
Inasmuch, Dennis Montoya, the New Mexico-based attorney representing Gerald, refuses to let the embers of a dormant-but-not dead issue burn out. Recently, Montoya filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque against Locksley and UNM’s Board of Regents, alleging that the ex-wide receivers coach was assaulted, discriminated and retaliated against.

Gerald said he wasn’t given an alternative. The administration, he said, is fraught with a lack of leadership. Without naming names, Gerald said the situation was gravely mishandled.

“I don’t want to point fingers, but it’s pretty hard not to know what went down when you had coaches there that broke it down,” Gerald said. “… All I can say is if that was me who threw a punch at another coach … I would have been terminated.”
And if it were up to Locksley, and he had a another chance, that would have been the outcome for Gerald before everything spiraled out of control.

Looking back, Locksley said he should have dismissed Gerald.
“Maybe as a first-time head coach, I was more likely to work through it,” Locksley told the Associated Press. “I was more willing to stand by guys when certain things happened. Maybe I should have been more willing to pull the plug and say, ‘We’re going in another direction.’”
Instead the course has been set, the scarlet letters forever singed.

But cover the mark as Gerald will, the pang of it will never burn out.
“I’m not going to look away from him,” Gerald said. “It’s a situation two adults have to deal with. Unfortunately, it had to go this route. But it’s something that has to be done. So we’re going to do it.”

Published August 23, 2010 in News

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55 comments

Writngs on the wall for Locks!

August 23, 2010 at 5:45 AM
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Locksley JUST DOESN’T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES to be a D-1 College Head Football Coach Period! Having been a strong LOBO Football Supporter for over 25 years , I’m not buying season tickets this year, I’m not donating to the LOBO CLUB or the UNM Foundation either. The ONLY Football game that I will attend this year at University Stadium will be Locksley’s last game as the Head Football Coach for UNM and that will be against TCU . The Lobos at best will go 2-10 and all I need to know is that the son of the strength and conditioning director for UNM Athletics, who by the way has held that position at UNM for over 20 years pulled his own son (Jesse Paulson) from the UNM Football program to attend and play at the University of Oklahoma who is a native New Mexico son having grown up around Lobo Football and played his High School ball at Manzano TELLS ME ALL I NEED TO KNOW!!!! Jesse Paulson made the OU Football Team as a “Walk On” ! That’s right ! You can’t tell me that UNM Football is so “Talent RICH” that they can just allow someone good enough to play football at OU to just leave the program!
The “foul stinch” that is UNM Football needs to be cleaned up before I will invest any time or money into supporting a program that is SO AWFUL! UNM will never win a NCAA National Championship in football or ever play in a BCS BOWL game for that matter but, UNM should be at least competitive with the likes of SDSU , UNLV Colorado State, Wyoming , UTEP and the hated NMSU!
I was in Ruidoso this last weekend and I can’t explain to everyone what a joke the Lobo football program is! It’s just pathetic.
These kids are going to be completely demoralized after getting their *sses handed to them by Oregon and then getting thoroughly wipped by both Texas Tech & UTAH! The Lobos will be 0-3 to start the season … I don’t see them winning one single home game this year ! Even UTEP will score 35-40 points on them here when they play. I am so disgusted with Schmidly , Krebs , Locksley , Gonzales , Garbiso and the whole situation . JUST PAY GERALD a MILLION DOLLAR Settlement and let’s all get on with life!

Way Too Many Problems with Locksley

August 23, 2010 at 6:02 AM
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At first I was buying all that Locksley was selling! Not anymore. just like the poster above , I’m not buying any football season tickets for my family either this year and I will go to the TCU game also just to see the Horned Frogs and I will sit in the east stands as well! Call me a traiter if you will but, the real traiters are the UNM Administration and Board of Regents that make me embarrassed to say that I am a UNM Graduate and former Lobo Club supporter . I am ashamed to have supported Krebs and Locksley. J.B. Gerald is a fine young man and I hope he gets whatever financial reparations he deserves.
And Why is Locksley’s son listed on the UNM Football Roster? and Jesse Paulson isn’t? Roger Paulson must really be proud of his son making the team at OU! When can this nightmare end?

He's a Recruiter

August 23, 2010 at 6:22 AM
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He’s a Recruiter! A Carnival Balker! A Self Promoter! An inner city surrogate father!
He’s not a Head Football Coach unless he’s in New Mexico. The Land of Enchantment!

Where's RudyC?

August 23, 2010 at 6:32 AM
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Where’s all the RED MENACE to come to the aid of their Demi-God Locksley? There has already been several comments on this story and no warriors for the defense of the almighty and powerful 1-11 Mike Locksley Lobo football legacy!
I know , I know !!! Just wait and Michael Locksley and his son Meiko Locksley will be leading the UNM Lobos to Football Glory and a BCS Bowl game in 3 more years! RIGHT!
Save your strength guys so you can help Mike & Kia & Meiko Locksley load up their U-Haul truck this December for their return trip to Illinois or Maryland or Ohio or wherever else Meiko decided he didn’t want to play football on a scholarship so he could come back to Albuquerque and save Daddy’s career at UNM !

Feel Sorry for Locksley

August 23, 2010 at 6:45 AM
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2nd year coach needs a chance to prove himself ! 2 lawsuits , one settlement already ! A very bad choice in hiring Stephen Reaves to assist in the weight room only to get charged with a DWI ! Running from the media scrutiny and hiding out in Ruidoso when Gerald filed lawsuit , quietly bringing his “Youngstown State” football scholarship “quitting” receiving son onto the UNM football team this year and letting a good solid local New Mexico young man like Jesse Paulson (whose father works in the Athletic Dept. at UNM!) go to OU to play football.
I just don’t think that for $750K a year Locksley has really had the opportunity to prove his worth yet here at UNM!

MyKidplaysatUNM

August 23, 2010 at 7:02 AM
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Got off the phone with my son last night and felt miserable at what I was told by him. Camp? Drills? Meetings? or “whatever” else you wanna call what happened down in Ruidosa these last couple of weeks was told to me by my son as a “Big waste of time” . My son said that Locksley is trying to make this UNM football team a family like thing but, that Locksley gives obvious preference to his own recruits from the east coast and that all of the east coast kids segregate themselves with each other and that team morale is ownly slightly better than last year because the team hadn’t played any games yet and lossed and that the coaching staff hasn’t even really named most of the starters and there is only 7 practices left before the team leaves for the first game in Oregon. I will support my son and his teammates but this Locksley character is something else. These kids know that their team isn’t really very good but the lingering prospect of the coaching uncertainty is really wearing the kids on the team down they know there’s a good chance that coach locks won’t be here after this season and it’s affecting all their attitudes . I hope that coach locks can really turn thing around but i’ve been around and I know he can’t.

Jesse & Meiko?

August 23, 2010 at 7:12 AM
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Jesse Paulson was supposed to be a big contributor to the defensive backfield this year at UNM and with the untimely dismissal from the team of two DB’s by Locksley , one can only wonder if we will be seeing Locksley’s own son playing in the defensive backfield this year at UNM?
One things for certain! JB’s getting PAID!

Isaacsstilldigginaway

August 23, 2010 at 7:25 AM
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Isaac, really dude? How much more of this garbage is there? Are you going to be the “sketch artist” at the Locksley and Gerald trial?
The UNM administration is never going to give you your University Degree!
We all know that Locksley punched Gerald! We all know that UNM did their best to quiet it down and cover it up. Any NEW NEWS? about this mess? Formal Legal response by UNM to Lawsuit charges? Discovery timeline? When are all the coaches and UNM staff to be Deposed? Have you got a girlfriend yet so we don’t have to wonder about your sexual orientation anymore?
UNM Football season win loss predictions?
How about explaining to the readers how Meiko Locksley made his way to UNM to unite with his Dad? Something?

UNM news

August 23, 2010 at 8:05 AM
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Unfortunately, this type of news is UNM’s news. The Locksley situation is similar to the one in the English Dept. There are three lawsuits against UNM on that, after UNM gave Prof. Lisa Chavez a free pass, after Chavez did all the s m sex work with students, posting photos of herself acting out sexual violence on a student, so Chavez could make some extra money. That’s just part of it, but it’s really really crazy. The students and professors who complained about this are the ones who keep being harmed. And UNM took zero action against Chavez. How can that story go away until UNM does something to fix the mess it created when it pretended to investigate Chavez. Just like with Locksley.

A.A.

August 23, 2010 at 12:24 PM
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Of course Locksley favors his hired thugs from back esat. Of course these jerks posing as coaches will continue to be overpaid and held accountable for NOTHING! It’s the history of UNM football. A joke. A joke that the UNM administration continues to perpatrate decade after decade. Scholes Hall is filled with failed and/or wannabe jocks and will allow this nonesense to continue forever.
Lame.

Locksrecruit

August 23, 2010 at 4:57 PM
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Locksrecruit: I just want to play football. My team mates just want to play football. This all really sucks! I would have never come to NM if I had really knew how this program really is. We are suposed to be ALL IN but that aint really the case . Its like pee wee football when the coachs son gets to much credit and aint really that good. Meiko is a cool guy but hes not a bigtime college football player. Hes quick but not really fast and hes not big enough to play at this level. Im glad I got my most of school work done for this year cause I reelized yesterday when we got her in Riodosa that this is all a really bad joke . The hotel is nice but the facilitys are awful. Somebodies gonna get hurt bad on these feilds were practissing on. Somebody has to tell the real truth .we are all really trying hard to be postive but we all relly no that coach locks probly won’t be at NM next year were just want to play football. we know that were gonna get killed at Orgon and that we can’t play with TT maybe we can win a cuple with just heart. Some of my team mates wuold say that I am a trater for writeing this but we all no why it is this way . Coach locks should not be here coaching for what he did last year .

Ditto

August 23, 2010 at 5:02 PM
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Ditto:

Writngs on the wall for Locks! Locksley JUST DOESN’T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES to be a D-1 College Head Football Coach Period! Having been a strong LOBO Football Supporter for over 25 years , I’m not buying season tickets this year, I’m not donating to the LOBO CLUB or the UNM Foundation either. The ONLY Football game that I will attend this year at University Stadium will be Locksley’s last game as the Head Football Coach for UNM and that will be against TCU . The Lobos at best will go 2-10 and all I need to know is that the son of the strength and conditioning director for UNM Athletics, who by the way has held that position at UNM for over 20 years pulled his own son (Jesse Paulson) from the UNM Football program to attend and play at the University of Oklahoma who is a native New Mexico son having grown up around Lobo Football and played his High School ball at Manzano TELLS ME ALL I NEED TO KNOW!!!! Jesse Paulson made the OU Football Team as a “Walk On” ! That’s right ! You can’t tell me that UNM Football is so “Talent RICH” that they can just allow someone good enough to play football at OU to just leave the program!
The “foul stinch” that is UNM Football needs to be cleaned up before I will invest any time or money into supporting a program that is SO AWFUL! UNM will never win a NCAA National Championship in football or ever play in a BCS BOWL game for that matter but, UNM should be at least competitive with the likes of SDSU , UNLV Colorado State, Wyoming , UTEP and the hated NMSU!
I was in Ruidoso this last weekend and I can’t explain to everyone what a joke the Lobo football program is! It’s just pathetic.
These kids are going to be completely demoralized after getting their *sses handed to them by Oregon and then getting thoroughly wipped by both Texas Tech & UTAH! The Lobos will be 0-3 to start the season … I don’t see them winning one single home game this year ! Even UTEP will score 35-40 points on them here when they play. I am so disgusted with Schmidly , Krebs , Locksley , Gonzales , Garbiso and the whole situation . JUST PAY GERALD a MILLION DOLLAR Settlement and let’s all get on with life!

Transfer2OU

August 23, 2010 at 5:03 PM
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Transfer2OU: If my Dad wasn’t still employed in the AD dept. UNM I would have been alot more vocal about how bad the football situation UNM really is. Hardcore UNM Football followers (all 20 or so of ‘em) will know exactly who I am . It’s a real disgrace at UNM ! Coach Locks fed us this whole heap of “self accountability” , “honor” , “character” & “integrity” BS last year but, I guess $750,000.00 a year that he makes is too hard for him to walk away from in spite of all of his phoney church going “integrity” crap . A REAL MAN WITH REAL CHARACTER DOESN’T PUT THE COLLEGE KIDS HE COACHES THROUGH THIS KIND OF CRAP! OR LET HIS OWN SON QUIT ANOTHER COLLEGE FOOTBALL PROGRAM AND THEN PIGGY BACK ON UNM ! I now am proud to be a part of a REAL D-1 College Football Program !BOOMER SOONERS!
I do wish all my former teammates ALL THE BEST and I hope that they can somehow find a way to enjoy playing football at UNM . For all of the recent recruits like the one that has already talked (Locksrecruit) about the problems , get used to it , IT AIN“T GOING TO CHANGE! People don’t know how much crap and sh*ttalk UNM players have to deal with on the playing field from other teams because of Locks and the poor team that is at UNM.
Grateful to be in OK! JP

Whalen

August 23, 2010 at 5:27 PM
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Coach Thugsley could never be in the same category as Coach Joe Paterno.

Hilarious

August 23, 2010 at 5:37 PM
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Hilarious, Locks wouldn’t know “self accountability”, “honor”, “character” & “integrity” if it crawled up his fat @ and took a bit out of it.

Profess

August 23, 2010 at 5:45 PM
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I do agree this coach Locksley has no idea what “honor, character and integrity means. This is evident in the way his own players perceive him.

UNM Admin Corrupt

August 23, 2010 at 5:48 PM
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A “Changing of the Guards” should happen ASAP in UNM Admin there is so much corruption.

Noaccountability

August 23, 2010 at 6:04 PM
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Sick and tired of the lack of accountability from top UNM officials like Schmidly, Krebs, VP HR Gonzales and Locksley. I will not support Lobo football until this has been rectified.

LL

August 23, 2010 at 6:55 PM
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These kids recognize Locks as a phony. Too bad Gerald couldn’t see it.

Alumnus

August 23, 2010 at 7:08 PM
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Parents, students, faculty and taxpayers see you AD-Paul Krebs, HR VP Helen Gonzales, President David Schmidly and Coach Mike Locksley; for the worthless, incompetent, despicable, piece of crap that you truly are; from the day that Mike Locksley assaulted Coach J.B. Gerald the cover up started.

Locksley lied and ran to Krebs; together they decided to tell more lies; down play the assault sweep it under the rug. “No Punch was thrown, or I did not hit J.B. Gerald.” “Have Gerald give a statement and tell people it did not happen.”
(Gerald refused to lie) “Tell the other assistance coaches to shut up and not speak the truth.” (They told the truth; as was shown on ESPN OutSide the Lines and other News stations) “There is a leak, said Krebs”

Read more …

UNM administrators even destroyed some of the documents pertaining to the investigation; regarding the assault without much success (some of the documents are still surfacing.) ESPN OutSide the Lines was able to retrieve a few of the documents and in their interview with the assistant coach J.B. Gerald his version of the assault was confirmed; which was also validated by assistant coach Degory and two other assistant coaches; who witnessed the attack on coach Gerald by Locksley.

UNM administrators told the news stations that there weren’t any notes; the video below is from KRQE News 13 which reveals more of the deeply rooted corruption that exists at the UNM administration. Now we have these emails which further confirms what Coach Gerald said; that Krebs asked him to “give a statement to defuse (appease) not throw fuel on this damage control” (to lie) to which Krebs said he did not remember.

They fear Isaac Avilucea because of his unbiased and fair reporting’s. They fear Coach J.B. Gerald because he would not allow their lack of integrity and dishonesty to warp his values. Gerald was a graduate assistant for the legendary Joe Paterno at Penn State for three seasons from 2005-07. Do you think Joe Paterno would chock and punch his assistant? NO.

Whatever trust we had in the UNM’s athletic department and the administration is gone forever; they lied to everyone! They want us to ignore all their immoral, dishonest and incompetent acts; it will not happen! This is a national embarrassment and is devastating for our university. GPSA should address the corruption that plagues our university; Gerald should be compensated for these vicious acts against him; Locksley should be fired however, he should not be alone; others in the UNM athletics department and the UNM administration should go with him.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/sports/sports_blog/sportsblog_krqe_albuquerque_sports_office_short_locksley_and_otl_200911012043

Keep digging Isaac

August 23, 2010 at 7:13 PM
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Keep digging Isaac, you are doing a great job! Expose this corrupt administration for what they are Liars. We want to hear more about those destroyed documents pertaining to the investigation.

Gia

August 23, 2010 at 7:29 PM
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Shocking, this isn’t the first time this guy has lost his temper. ESPN OutSide the Lines revealed this coaches past violent uncontrollable behavior.

Student

August 23, 2010 at 7:37 PM
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Fool should have been fired when he raised his hand to strike or choke anyone. The assistant should have filed charges and had him arrested it is assault.

On-looker

August 23, 2010 at 7:43 PM
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What has Mike Locksley done? He’s never been a successful Division 1 Head Football Coach eventhough he is paid like one!

simplyput

August 23, 2010 at 7:45 PM
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Locksley is NOT A LEADER!

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