Kevin Mawae Departs Lipscomb Academy Following TSSAA Playoff Ban

Kevin Mawae is out at Lipscomb Academy after the Pro Football Hall of Famer agreed to part ways seven days after the TSSAA banned the school from the TSSAA football playoffs.

The TSSAA will hear Lipscomb’s steps to fix things in a closed-door Board meeting on Nov. 16. TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves said the association would consider reducing the playoff ban to one year depending on the school’s athletic compliance changes.

Lipscomb Academy will now begin to seek its third coach in three years.

Mawae’s departure capped a whirlwind week for the Nashville private school. It lost an appeal to the TSSAA’s Board of Control to remain in the playoffs on Monday. The school then threaten a court injunction, which could have forced the team in the playoffs before deciding against filing on Wednesday to focus on fixing its athletic program so similar TSSAA violations don’t occur in the future.

“This afternoon, Lipscomb Academy and head football coach Kevin Mawae mutually agreed to part ways,” Lipscomb Academy headmaster Brad Schultz wrote in a statement sent to The Tennessean. “We appreciate Kevin’s service as head of the coaching staff and for leading the Mustang football team as it transitioned into a higher level of competition this season.

“We are proud of our team for its resolve to finish the season strong and know the future is bright for the Mustang football program. We wish Kevin well in his future professional endeavors.”

More: TSSAA football brackets for 2023 playoffs. See the first-round pairings here

More: Lipscomb Academy’s arrogance got the best of it, leading to this astonishing playoff ban

A message to Mawae was not returned to The Tennessean.

The Mustangs finished the season 4-6 in Mawae’s lone season and the school’s first year competing in Division II-AAA. Mawae arrived after back-to-back DII-AA state championships under former Super Bowl winning quarterback Trent Dilfer, who resigned in December after accepting the UAB football head coach position. Mawae, a former Tennessee Titan and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, brought in a staff full of NFL playing experience.

But what caught up with the program were multiple TSSAA violations from the season. The worst was what the TSSAA ruled as a violation of its Recruiting Rule. The rule states a violation occurs when there is a use of influence on a student or the parents or guardians of the student, by anyone directly or indirectly associated with the school to “secure or retain a student for athletic purposes.”

Reeves ruled the school violated that rule through text messages with a former parent at the school.

The messages from the coach to parent included: “Also we have donors who feel called to help… Im [sic] glad to intercede but don’t want to interfere.” In another text the staffer wrote: “I literally had 3hr [sic] lunch today with a guy paying the difference for several guys…”

Reeves wrote in a letter to Schultz: “You have indicated that coach (staff member) was making a short-hand reference to a donor to the Good Samaritan Fund at Lipscomb Academy. Our reading of this communication suggests that Coach (staff member) was offering to ‘intercede’ with donors to help secure financial assistance for the family.”

The TSSAA also ruled two athletes — four-star quarterback and Notre Dame commit Deuce Knight and his cousin, three-star prospect Kohl Bradley — did not have a bona fide change of address when they moved to Mississippi and played three games with the Mustangs. The school was forced to forfeit a win over Briarcrest because of that.

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or [email protected] and on the X platform, formerly Twitter @Kreager.

2023-11-03 22:58:01
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