PALESTINE, Texas — An East Texas high school football coach has been suspended for the remainder of the 2024 season after the University Interscholastic League (UIL) found he violated rules set forth by the state's public school extra-curricular activities governing body.
During a meeting of the UIL State Executive Committee on Thursday, Westwood ISD head coach Richard Bishop was suspended from all football-related activities and placed on probation for the remainder of the 2024-25 school year. He was also publicly reprimanded.
Another Westwood ISD staffer, Donald McCoy. was suspended from all UIL activities for the rest of the academic year and was also issued a public reprimand.
The UIL determined McCoy was caught filming Teague vs. Fairfield, on Oct. 11. The UIL said McCoy claimed to have been sending the videos to his girlfriend in Virginia without Bishop's knowledge. The UIL was not convinced of McCoy's claims and after further investigation, they found multiple videos of specific plays. Officials also say they don't believe Bishop wasn't aware of McCoy's actions.
Teague head football coach Zack Linscomb says he was unsure of what to think when he first learned of the allegations.
"My first thoughts were, if it was true, obviously we had an issue on our hands," Linscomb said. "I've never had anything like that brought to me before. As the evidence was presented in the DEC, I felt like, as a coach, we have a code, we have ethics, and we all know what we can and can't do, and I knew there were some infractions there."
The UIL voted against Westwood having to forfeit their so far-undefeated season. They're set to host Teague Friday night, followed by Fairfield next week.
"I thought the DEC did what they thought was fair, and I don't think their point was to punish the kids," said Linscomb. "They have the ability to lessen or uphold different aspects of the ruling. And, I think that's why the system is what it is, and I think the system worked."
Linscomb also said there's no hostility on their end going into Friday's game against Westwood and he knows the Panthers will be more fired up now. He doesn't believe losing their head coach this late in the season should affect them much because they're a solid team regardless. Linscomb also doesn't question the integrity of Westwood's 7-0 season.
Brandon Ogden, sports writer for the Tyler Morning Telegraph sat through the meeting and also believes the ruling is fair. While he thinks the UIL made the right call, he doesn't believe there was any malice on McCoy and Bishop's end.
"I think they ultimately made the right decision for the kids, and now it's just about playing football," Ogden said. "Teague is really good, Fairfield is really good, and Westwood's really good. Westwood has a path to district championship, but they've got to go win these next three games against Teague, Fairfield, and Huntington then go to the playoffs and see what happens there."
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