Details about how messed up the Bishop Sycamore attempt to run a school and football program have been pouring out over the past 48 hours since the program was exposed in a 58-0 loss to IMG Academy on Sunday.
We’re learning details such as how much in debt the people leading the school are; how the school and program don’t have actual addresses; how they talked kids and parents into joining them but failed to deliver; and how they conned their way into a big-time high school football schedule, including a Sunday appearance on ESPN.
On Tuesday, Complex published an interview with two anonymous former Bishop Sycamore players. The players detailed some of the unprofessional activity going on with the school/program.
They revealed the constant fights among the players; evictions from living quarters due to failed payments; how classes did not start until months after practices; how they didn’t even practice regularly during the season; and how the coaches allegedly got their football plays off the “Madden” videogame.
One of the former players alleged that coach Roy Johnson even authorized the beating of a homeless man one day.
All of that is disturbing, but so is another detail.
On Sunday, it was Bishop Sycamore’s 58-0 loss against national power IMG Academy that drew attention. The teams actually met last year at IMG Academy in a game IMG won 56-6.
According to The Athletic, Johnson started a similar program called Christians of Faith Academy that was supposed to play IMG in 2018. The game did not happen after IMG was concerned when their opponents wanted payment upfront to cover the costs of traveling to the game.
One of the former Bishop Sycamore players told Complex that they could not fly from Ohio to play IMG Academy in Florida because Bishop Sycamore had people who had arrest warrants preventing them from flying.
“We took a dude on the team that was straight out of jail and put him on the team when he graduated in 2019. Straight out of the cell. We couldn’t fly on the plane to IMG Academy because people had warrants for their arrest,” the anonymous former player alleged to Complex.
It’s unclear if that took place last year for the game they lost 56-6 in Bradenton, Fla. in 2020. Other reports have said that coach Roy Johnson has an active warrant for his arrest. It’s unclear whether the person or persons who could not fly included Johnson.
Two days after being called out on ESPN, Bishop Sycamore is now finally being exposed for the fraud that it is. Bishop Sycamore reportedly has fired Roy Johnson, but it’s hard to believe that is the case.
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