Northwestern (Fla.) players plead to Miami-Dade school board to reinstate Teddy Bridgewater

According to a Miami Herald report, Northwestern (Fla.) football players are coming to the aid of their suspended head football coach Teddy Bridgewater.

Per the report, football players from the Bulls spoke in front of the Miami-Dade school board during the public forum portion in a Wednesday meeting, pleading to reinstate Bridgewater ahead of high school football practices beginning on Monday, July 28.

Rivals followed up with the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) on Thursday morning and the Gainesville-based governing body confirmed they were still looking into an allegation regarding Bridgewater.

“He didn’t just coach football. He taught us about manhood, discipline and character,” Miami Northwestern senior offensive tackle Anthony Bell said in front of the Miami-Dade school board according to the report.

“He gave us rides when we didn’t have no way to get to practice and the way going back home. He made sure we had meals. He connected us with colleges we never thought we’d have access to. He’s gone above and beyond. Not because he had to but because he wanted to. He used his platform as a former NFL player to shine a spotlight on our team and because of that we are finally being seen. Please don’t take away one of the few people that cares about our future.”

According to a CBS Miami report, a rally has been organized in support of Bridgewater and will be held in front of Miami Northwestern today at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Florida Department of Educations pens public letter to the FHSAA

Earlier this week, Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas posted a letter on X, formerly known as Twitter, addressed to the Florida High School Athletic Association’s (FHSAA) Executive Director Craig Damon, but did not refer to Bridgewater by name in his message.

Kamoutsas addresses Damon in the letter that the FHSAA should review all governing body’s policies regarding “a volunteer coach” being suspended for providing impermissible benefits to students in violation of FHSAA Administrative Policy.

It has been brought to my attention that a volunteer coach was recently suspended for providing impermissible benefits to students in violation of Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA)
Administrative Policy. Let us use this instance to reflect on FHSAA policies on the whole and whether they are serving the needs of student athletes.

Bridgewater still suspended despite being a volunteer coach

Bridgewater acknowledged in a Facebook post over a week ago that he had been suspended by his alma mater Miami Northwestern.

The school-mandated suspension had come just days after the FHSAA begun looking into an allegation that Bridgewater provided impermissible benefits to his players.

The policy that Bridgewater is in question falls under the FHSAA’s Policy 37 listed ‘Improper Contact and Impermissible Benefits.’

Bridgewater had mentioned in a previous social media post of providing Uber rides ($700/week), athletic recovery services ($1,300/week) and pre-game meals ($2,200/week), among other things, bring into question FHSAA policy 37.2.1 General Regulation. Here is the policy according to the FHSAA Handbook from the 2024-2025 school year:

37.2.1: No school employee, athletic department staff member, representative of the school’s athletic interests or third parties, such as an independent person, business, or organization, may be involved, directly or indirectly, in giving an impermissible benefit to any student or any member of his/her family for the purpose of participating in interscholastic athletics, or to any student-athlete who already attends a school.