High School Football Coach Who Told Players to 'Take Out' Referee Pleads Guilty to Assault
— -- A former Texas football coach was arrested for and pleaded guilty to assault today for telling two of his players to tackle a referee in September -- an incident that garnered national attention after it was captured on video, according to the Burnet County Attorney’s Office.
Mack Breed, an assistant coach at John Jay High School in San Antonio, allegedly told the players to “take out” the referee during a game on Sept. 4. Breed resigned from the coaching position but maintained that the referee used a racial epithet against one of the players, according to a statement made in September by his lawyer, James Reeves.
Breed turned himself in Monday to the Marble Falls Police Department to face charges of misdemeanor assault.
Later in the day, he appeared before a judge and entered a guilty plea. He was sentenced to a year in jail and a $3,500 fine, but under a plea agreement, that was reduced to 18 months of probation.
He was also ordered to serve 120 hours of community service and ordered to pay restitution to referee Robert Watts, who has vehemently denied using racial slurs.
Breed must also permanently forfeit his Texas teaching certificate and attend anger management sessions, the county attorney's office said.
According to a signed statement released in September by John Jay High School principal Robert Harris, Breed allegedly told the team’s coach, Gary Gutierrez, that he had “directed the players to strike the referee.”
"As a black male, nothing offended Mack Breed more than being called a racial epithet except someone in a position of authority calling his players racial epithets," Reeves wrote. "The slur was heard by multiple players, some of whom were not involved in the hit."
The investigation against the two students involved, Michael Moreno and a minor whose name ABC News is withholding, is ongoing and charges are expected, the county attorney's office said. Since Moreno is older than 17, any charges against him will be addressed in the adult criminal system, the release stated. The other boy's case will be handled in juvenile court.
“You put your trust into this grown-up, this guardian, your coach, who’s been there for me,” Moreno said on “Good Morning America” in September. ”I trust him. I did what I was told.”
Calls made by ABC News’ to reach Reeves and the Burnet County Attorney’s Office for comment went unanswered.
