Months after being named 2019 ALL-USA Football Coach of the Year, Duncanville head football coach Reginald Samples was suspended for one game after violating a UIL rule on employment.
It was reported Wednesday morning in a tweet from Dallas Morning News’ Joseph Hoyt that the USA Today’s 2019 National Coach of the Year would be suspended from the first game of the 2020 season while the program will face a one-year probation by UIL.
BREAKING: Duncanville head coach Reginald Samples has been suspended for the first game of next season by the UIL for violating a rule on employment of coaches. He and the Duncanville football program are also placed on one-year probation. Story coming soon @SportsDayHS.
— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) February 12, 2020
The UIL Committee met Wednesday morning with five main points on the agenda; the most anticipated being the allegations against Duncanville regarding violations of Section 1202(a)(1), Employment of Coaches in the UIL Constitution. The rule states:
(1) Full-Time Employees. A school is not eligible for UIL competition in an athletic activity unless the head coach and assistant high school coaches are full-time employees of the school board of the school which the team represents.
This violation was first presented during a District 8-6A executive committee meeting at the end of the 2019 season. The committee was unable to come to a decision regarding the allegations and referred the situation to UIL.
Samples helped to lead Duncanville to their second-consecutive state title appearances. The Panthers have only lost two games in the last two seasons, both of which came to current title holder Galena Park North Shore.
This probation does not remove Duncanville from 2020 playoff hopes and is more of a warning than anything. The program will be under an extremely watchful UIL eye for the next season.
This story is still developing.
