High school coach Mack Breed admitted he told players to attack referee

John Jay (Texas) High School assistant football coach Mack Breed has reportedly admitted that he instructed players to attack a defenseless referee during a game earlier this month.

A letter written by John Jay principal Robert Harris, which was obtained by ESPN’s Outside the Lines, detailed interactions he had with coaches after the game. In the letter, Harris wrote that Breed admitted he “directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls.”

The two players who hit official Robert Watts, senior Michael Moreno and sophomore Victor Rojas, recently claimed that Watts made racist remarks toward one African American player and one Hispanic player on their team. Moreno and Rojas said Breed told them Watts needed to “pay the price” for his racist comments and several “unjustified calls.”

If you have not seen the video of the students attacking Watts, you can watch it here.

Harris, who attended the game but said he did not see Moreno and Rojas hit the official, spoke with John Jay head coach Gary Gutierrez after the game.

“(Gutierrez) informed me that Coach Breed had disclosed to him that he directed the players to take out the referee,” Harris wrote in his letter. “(Gutierrez) stated that Coach Breed initially asked him what was going to happen to the players during their ride home from the game. After Coach Gutierrez informed him that the players would be removed from the team, he informed Coach Gutierrez that he directed the players to strike the referee.”

Harris later spoke with Breed, who allegedly admitted he ordered the players to attack Watts.

“I later met with Coach Breed at John Jay High School … in my office in the presence of Coach Gutierrez,” Harris wrote. “Coach Breed told me that he directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls. He wanted to take full responsibility for his actions. Mr. Breed at one point during our conversation stated that he should have handled the referee himself.”

A “sideline source” and four John Jay players told Outside the Lines that Watts used the N-word twice during the game — once before being hit by the players and once after. Watts’ attorney, Alan Goldberger, said his client has denied acting in a racist manner in any way.

Moreno and Rojas were both suspended from school for three days and banned from the football team for the remainder of the year. They are scheduled to attend disciplinary hearings on Wednesday.