John Niyo

No winners in Melvindale football's racist slur scandal

Melvindale

It was a scene stolen from a Hollywood script. A high school auditorium packed full of parents riled up over the fate of the football coach, who sat silent while a school board decided his future. There were quivering, angry voices. Emotional pleas from family members. One speaker even mentioned pitchforks and torches.

Then the coach's players -- undefeated and bound for the state playoffs -- marched up on stage, en masse, and threw down their jerseys: If coach goes, we go.

And here's the worst part: The board then did what they always do in the movies. They caved to the pressure, and took the easy way out.

Phil Howard will coach his Melvindale team in the playoffs, hosting Dearborn Divine Child (5-4) in a Division 3 first-round game. And while Melvindale (9-0) is favored to win tonight -- and perhaps make a serious run at a state title -- you can't help but wonder if the kids haven't already lost.

Two weeks ago, Howard and his coaching staff got caught up in a truly idiotic stunt. Assistant coach Denny Howard, Phil's brother, circulated a flyer to players that included racist slurs attributed to Wyandotte coach Ron Adams, including "I will take my big Polish kids over your little fast (n-words) any day." Melvindale proceeded to trounce Wyandotte, 35-0, that night, clinching the inaugural Downriver League championship.

Adams vehemently denies making such comments, while Melvindale coaches insist he did in their presence at a coaches' clinic in Battle Creek last winter. But using racial slurs, fabricated or not, as motivation for teenagers? Well now, that's a fine idea, isn't it?

"We're not a bunch of crazy idiots," Phil Howard said. "I have a couple college degrees. Most of my coaches are teachers who are smart men. We made a mistake."

'Absolute embarrassment'

And in the ensuing fallout, Denny Howard -- purportedly the only coach involved with posting the flyers -- was fired by a 6-0 vote at Monday night's board of education meeting. School board secretary Vivian Howard, the mother of the two coaches, abstained from that vote, but later cast what amounted to the deciding yea on a motion that allows Phil Howard to finish the season, then to conduct a full investigation into the incident.

The motion passed by a 4-3 margin. And if you find that appalling, you're not alone.

"My understanding is the board of education is supposed to represent the people of Melvindale," Adams said. "Apparently, the people in Melvindale think that this type of behavior is acceptable. I mean, anybody in their right mind knows there was more than one person that was involved in this. And I think it's an absolute embarrassment to allow this to go on the way that they have. You've basically told kids -- the message you've sent is -- that it's OK to do something like this. Why? Because you're more concerned about winning."

Of course, it's more complicated than that. Phil Howard said he has agreed to submit a letter of resignation after the season, and he fully expects it will be accepted, though he hopes to stay as an assistant principal at Strong Middle School. He addressed his players Monday and "we talked about being accountable for your actions," which begs the question I asked him Wednesday after practice: Why not resign immediately?

"Did I think about stepping down? Absolutely," he said. "But I didn't think it was the right thing to do for these kids. That's why I said I'll be more than willing to put my letter in after the season. The year that we've had, the success that we've had here, I think it's important that we maintain as many coaches as we can for their sake. And when it's over, I'm gonna move on."

'It's real life'

As for the show of support Monday, it might have been scripted, but not by the coaches. The players spoke to reporters prior to the meeting and expressed their feelings. Senior Wayne Pettus, a Division I prospect as a running back and cornerback, called Phil Howard "a father figure" that has meant "everything to me." Justin Thomas told WXYZ-TV, "The school board should just let him be."

But that's exactly what you'd expect from a bunch of high school kids, isn't it? From the adults, we expect more, especially the educators. As Howard put it, "They're still just kids. We're the adults. We've got to make sure we do things the right way."

Mind you, there's plenty more at play here than just a stupid "mistake." There was a well-publicized hazing lawsuit involving Melvindale's team back in 2003, and Vivian Howard made reference to a "witch hunt" at Monday's meeting. Grumbling in the coaching fraternity about Melvindale is rampant, too. Parents at rival schools -- and let's just call them fans, why don't we? -- gripe about the influx of "school-of-choice kids" from Detroit on the Melvindale roster.

Racial tension, as we all should know by now, knows no boundaries.

"But, you know, we don't talk about racism because it's not an issue here," insisted Howard, whose lone black assistant, Willie Delbridge, also spoke in his defense at Monday night's board meeting. "This is the first time, really, that it's been brought up in our locker room. Because we just don't talk about it. It's a melting pot here. We have every walk of life, and that's the beauty of it. Because it's real -- it's real life."

'I didn't do it'

Someone probably should've told his players the real-life truth about that scene in the movie "Rudy," where the Notre Dame players dropped their jerseys on coach Dan Devine's desk as a sign of solidarity. It was a fabrication, and Devine later said he'd have angrily called the players' bluff.

Howard, for what it's worth, said he'd have demanded his kids go on without him.

"I would not allow them to not play," he said. "They would've played regardless this week. I appreciate the gesture, and I think it's awesome that they did that. But they earned the right to play. So they would've played. ... They should be in their glory right now. They shouldn't be worrying about this stuff. I regret it every day."

Regrets? Yeah, we've got more than a few here. Consider the case of Adams, honored by the Rotary Club of Wyandotte as 2008 teacher of the year.

"Do you know what it's like to teach current events," he said Wednesday, after another sleepless night, "and you walk in to class and you are the current event?"

Again, he is asked, did he say what he's accused of saying?

"I'm telling you right now, I didn't do it," said Adams, a former Melvindale assistant whose now-severed friendship with the Howards dates back nearly 20 years. "If I would've done it, I'd apologize in a minute for it."

He says he's worried how this incident will tarnish his reputation going forward, and asked if he'll take legal action, he replies, "It's something that I'm considering."

But he adds, "The damage is done. It's not gonna go away. It doesn't matter."

No, it matters. But he's right: The damage is done.

john.niyo@detnews.com (313) 982-3810 twitter.com/JohnNiyo