A former Central High School football player has filed a lawsuit against head football coach Marvin Dantzler, accusing him of bullying and harassing him and making him walk half a mile in his underwear.
According to the lawsuit, Dantzler tried to put the student in a game against duPont Manual High School on Aug. 17 when there was just a minute left in the game. The student told the coach that he didn’t want to do it.
The teen later told his parents that he was concerned about Dantzler’s coaching style and wasn’t sure if he could commit to playing football at Central.
On Aug. 22, the student and his father had a meeting with the coach about him wanting to quit the team. The teen, however, quickly changed his mind and Dantzler and his father walked away talking and smiling.
Things turned sour two days later. Right before the football team played Western High School, Dantzler removed the student from warmups. When he asked the coach why he was doing this, Dantzler told him it was because he didn’t enter the Manual game the prior week. The teen proceeded to ask the coach why he was acting “shady.”
Dantzler responded, “I do not have to tell you anything, I don’t have to answer to nobody, you see that woman (pointing to a woman sitting in the stands) that is my wife, I do not have to tell her anything. You know what! Take my s— off, call you parents, and tell them to come and get you and take your a– home.”
The student then removed his equipment and was just in his undershirt and underwear. When he told the coach that he needed a key to the locker room to get dressed, the coach told him that someone would let him in the locker room.
Two female students walked the teen a half a mile to the main football locker room.
The lawsuit accuses Dantzler of retaliating against the student and damaging his mental health, reputation and a chance for a college scholarship. The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages and to prevent school administrators from making “further disparaging or negative comments” about the student.
For more information about personal injury claims, visit Cohen & Cohen
