Family Wants Records About Kathleen High Football Coach in Abuse Incident

Kathleen High School Head Coach Irving Strickland coaches his team against Auburndale High School's during the first half of their game at Kathleen High School in Lakeland Friday night.

Buy Photo MICHAEL WILSON | THE LEDGER

Published: Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 9:36 p.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 9:36 p.m.

The family of a Kathleen High School football player has retained a Tampa-based lawyer to investigate accusations the school's head football coach, Irving Strickland, abused his authority in twisting a teen's nipple to the point of bruising.

A letter delivered this week by the high school senior's lawyer to the Polk County School Board requested all available documents about the pinching, and the internal investigation into the coach accused of doing it.

The records request comesmore than three months after Devarus Robinson, 19, reported Strickland twisted his nipple as punishment for cursing, and then again after Robinson asked for football equipment. In the letter written by Tampa attorney Warren Hope Dawson, the Sept. 23 twisting was described using a riot of adjectives, including "painful," "insulting," and "criminal."

The accusation follows an intense year of prep sports drama, one that saw the arrest of George Jenkins High School head football coach Matt Thompson on charges he had sex with a minor, and the scolding of a Mulberry High School wrestling coach for using inappropriate tactics to discipline his players.

Robinson said Thursday he initially spoke about the bruising to his aunt, who suggested he tell Kathleen High School Athletic Director Gary Lineberger. The complaints spurred an inquiry by school officials, according to an email by Chuck Smith, a personnel investigator for the School District.

When reached by phone for comments about the accusations aimed at him, Strickland declined and referred all questions to his superiors. Lineberger and Kathleen High School Principal Cecil McClellan Jr. did not return phone calls.

"It is my understanding that the investigation revealed Coach Strickland did pinch the student as described and that he did this with the intention of getting the student's attention while speaking to him about making sure he kept his grades up," Smith wrote.

Robinson said the second time Strickland pinched him, the twisting lasted between 15 and 20 seconds.

"When I got home, it was all bruised up," he said. "I tried to take a shower and it just started burning."

Strickland later apologized to the student for his actions and conceded they were inappropriate, Smith wrote. The principal also issued a written reprimand to Strickland in early December, records show.

"I believe Mr. McClellan and Mr. Lineberger felt that the parent of the student was satisfied with this outcome," he wrote.

Not so.

In a Thursday conversation with Dawson, the lawyer decried the twisting as an abuse of power.

"You cross a boundary anytime you strike or hit another person," he said, "and if you do it to a student and you are in a position of authority over the student."

The lawyer said he has acquired photos of the bruising, but doubts they conveyed the pain Robinson may have felt.

Robinson said other players on his team have also experienced nipple twisting at the hands of the coach, but those pinches did not produce as much bruising as he experienced.

Polk County Athletic Director Don Bridges said Thursday the public records request would likely go through Monday, once school staff had returned from the holiday break.

[ Solange Reyner contributed to this report. Chase Purdy can be reached at chase.purdy@theledger.com or 863-802-7516. Follow him on Twitter: @chasepurdy ]

Source: http://www.theledger.com/article/20111229/news/111229265

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