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'I'm the dirtiest, baddest motherf***er on this earth': High school basketball coach calls a player 'r*****ed' and threatens to send him back to his home in Haiti in a profane rant
- Mike Woodbury – the owner of Port Saint Lucie's Nation Christian Academy, where he coaches boys basketball – was recorded threatening the player
- During the recording, Woodbury can be heard saying that he 'control[s] transcripts,' seemingly implying he could control the player's GPA
- When the player received his transcripts, he had a 1.4 grade-point average (GPA). He asserts that Woodbury changed his grades to harm his future
- Woodbury denied the accusation and attributed the lower numbers to an 'error'
- The rant seems to be in response to the player's decision to transfer schools
- In the statement, Woodbury claims the foreign student actually lived with him
- The player and a teammate claim they found a damaging conversation between Woodbury and a woman, which spurred him to ask for a request to transfer
- Players coached by Woodbury in Maine claimed he verbally abused them
A basketball coach who owns a private academy in Florida has admitted to a profanity-laced tirade in which he called a player 'r*****ed' while threatening to send him back to his home country of Haiti after the student told him he was transferring to another school.After a recording of the profane tirade was released on YouTube, Mike Woodbury – the owner of Port Saint Lucie's Nation Christian Academy – admitted to the rant in a school statement.
Woodbury said the full conversation lasted 20 minutes. The YouTube clip is about three minutes long, but contains a litany of derogatory terms aimed at the player, who was seemingly telling the coach he intended to transfer.
In speaking with Stadium, the player said he left Nation Christian Academy two days after the
'Just get out of my face,' Woodbury said at the start of the clip. 'Take your broke asses – I'll say it again – your broke asses back to the garage. I don't want to hear from you. The bottom line … get the f*** out. Just walk the f*** out. I don't give a shit. I control transcripts. I control where you go next. It could be back to Haiti, mother****er. That's how easy it is for me.'
According to Stadium, that player and a teammate claim they found a damaging conversation between Woodbury and a woman, which spurred the player to ask Nation Christian's head of school for a release and transfer.
When the player, who is reportedly being recruited by McNeese State, Louisiana Tech and other mid-majors, received his transcripts, he had a 1.4 grade-point average (GPA). He asserts that Woodbury changed his grades, but Woodbury denied the accusation and attributed the lower numbers to an 'error in calculation.'
During the recording, Woodbury can be heard saying that he 'control[s] transcripts,' seemingly implying he could control the player's GPA.
Woodbury alleged to Stadium that the player had attempted to extort school leadership.
The player, who was in his second season at the school after moving over from Haiti at 15, allegedly skipped school, which, as Woodbury told Stadium, was the final straw.
The player denied many of the specific charges made against him by Woodbury to Stadium, and insists he was not trying to extort anyone.
Rather, the player claimed, he was worried the school would be shut down and he wanted to transfer before that happened.
He claims Woodbury's efforts to misrepresent his GPA negatively impacted his chances to transfer: 'I’ve already had two schools close down on me. I was afraid this one would be shut down also, so I wanted to get out of there.'
Multiple players coached by Woodbury in Maine told Stadium they witnessed verbal abuse from him. The private school league in which Nation Academy was a member of, Sunshine Independent Athletic Association, told Stadium it parted ways with the institution.
Woodbury released a statement Wednesday: 'First, I want to apologize for the vulgar language that was used in the video that has been circulating around. I have had this particular student for a year. He is like family and sometimes family arguments get blown out of proportion.
'I am in no way justifying the language, however, there are two sides to every story. This conversation did not take place at school, I do not coach the team. Without indicting the child too much, there were multiple conduct issues while this student was attending school and living in my home with my wife and son. One issue was criminal in nature, that was not pursed as the intentions are not to cause lifelong damage to this student.
'Also, this particular student was asked to leave the school and we arranged for it to be done so amicably. The timeline on this "conversation" is deceiving as this was on 10/17/2018 with 4 other students and another coach present. This conversation was in regards to the several conduct issues and lasted 35 minutes, the particular clip was dubbed to 3 minutes. I am readily available for comment.'
The rant went viral after former Kentucky Wildcats star and journeyman NBA guard Rex Chapman posted the YouTube link on Twitter.
'Sickening,' Chapman wrote. 'Please pay attention to the people "coaching" your kids. This is Nation Christian Academy Head Basketball Coach Mike Woodbury reacting to a player transferring. He was recorded. This is not coaching. Or teaching...'
By Alex Raskin Sports News Editor For Dailymail.com and Associated Press | October 31, 2018See full video below - Warning: Graphic content
Congresswoman Frederica Wilson Leads Bipartisan Bill to Extend Temporary Protected Status for Haitian Nationals
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Frederica Wilson has introduced a bipartisan resolution to extend Temporary Protected Status to Haitian nationals until Haiti has demonstrably recovered from a series of natural and manmade disasters. The designation is set to expire in January 2018, but the island nation is still struggling to rebuild in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, a cholera epidemic, Hurricane Matthew and other adverse events. H.Con.Res. 88, which has 36 co-sponsors, would extend TPS for Haitians by 18 months.The text of the legislation is available here.“Haiti is enmeshed in a long and extremely challenging process of rebuilding its infrastructure and economy. While it is impossible to predict how long that will take, there is no question that the country is in absolutely no position to absorb and aid tens of thousands of people forced to return to Haiti,” said Congresswoman Wilson.In January 2010, an earthquake displaced more than 1,500,000 people and caused $14,000,000,000 in damages. The level of suffering was exacerbated by a cholera outbreak started by United Nations peacekeepers who engaged in unsanitary practices while there to help with earthquake recovery efforts. Hurricane Matthew made matters even worse, leaving in its aftermath nearly $3 billion in additional damages and 1,400,000 more people in need of humanitarian assistance.According to the World Bank, Haiti’s economic growth has contracted to less than one percent and its unemployment rate is at 40 percent. In addition, 60 percent of Haitians live well below the nation’s shockingly low poverty line of $2.42 per day. Haitian TPS holders contribute a significant share of the $1,300,000,000 that their community in the U.S. sends back home through remittances that help boost Haiti’s economy and support the care of up to 500,000 relatives.“It would be both cruel and heartless of the United States to unnecessarily sentence nearly 60,000 people who have been living and working in the United States to lives of uncertainty and abject despair,” said Congresswoman Wilson. “In addition, such a move also will have an injurious impact on the American economy.”Deporting Haitian TPS holders would cost the United States nearly a half-billion dollars to send them home; more than $2,700,000,000 in GDP; and $428,000,000 in Social Security and Medicare contributions over 10 years.“Having toured the country and viewed first-hand the extreme devastation, I strongly urge Department of Homeland Security officials to travel to Haiti see it for themselves,” the Florida lawmaker adds. “It is the only way they will be able to make a fair and informed decision and I am confident that after doing so they will do the right thing and extend TPS for Haitian nationals.”Congresswoman Frederica Wilson | November 6, 3017
In Little Haiti, 'Everyone Has Opened Their Hearts' Since Irma
MIAMI, Fla. – In the days since Hurricane Irma knocked out his family’s electricity, Adrian Knowles (pictured above) learned that the floor is a cooler place to sleep than a bed when it’s 90 degrees and there’s no air conditioning.“You feel kind of helpless,” he said as he ate a meal of chicken and rice on Friday afternoon - a break from the cookies and chips on which he had been subsisting during the preceding 3 days. “This is very comforting.”Knowles and more than 500 other people had gathered in the courtyard of Miami’s Little Haiti Cultural Center on Friday afternoon for a free cookout in conjunction with the Sounds of Little Haiti, a monthly concert series.“It’s been a week and most people have no electricity still,” said Sandy DorSainvil, executive producer of Sounds of Little Haiti. “Something like (the hurricane) can totally put people’s world upside down.”Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida on September 10 after breaking records as the most powerful Category 5 storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, with sustained winds of 185 mph. By the time Irma reached Florida on Sept. 10, it had been downgraded to a Category 4 storm, packing winds of around 130 mph.While Miami was spared the brunt of the storm, widespread damage and other disruptions have been reported, including some 2.6 million people who were left without power in the immediate aftermath of the storm. One woman in Little Haiti reportedly delivered a baby in her home the day of the storm, as rescue crews were unable to reach her.Damage estimates in Florida are in the billions, while the death toll stands at 34.Friday’s event was one of several organized by local groups in the Little Haiti community since the storm. Nearly one week after the hurricane, most of Little Haiti still did not have electricity, and residents were struggling with downed trees, damage to their homes and spoiled food in the midst of Miami’s unrelenting heat.Food is in fact one of the biggest challenges for storm victims. With power out and no refrigeration, most people are forced to eat out if they can afford it or rely on local charities.In addition to the cookouts, community groups that included The Haitian American Relief Effort and Make the Homeless Smile had delivered hundreds of meals to elderly residents in their homes in Little Haiti and other nearby neighborhoods. DorSainvil estimated that the groups had fed 1500 people on Friday alone, with private donations.“We started being proactive before Irma,” said Francois Alexandre, a community organizer with New Florida Majority, who together with other volunteers has been going door to door in Little Haiti, installing and then removing plywood over windows and clearing branches and fallen trees off of houses and cars. “People don’t want to go to the authorities. Everybody has opened up their hearts but our community has not recovered as much as the state says.”President Trump approved disaster relief funds for Florida soon after Irma, though reports note more will be needed in the weeks and months to come.NPR reported that residents of Little Haiti say relief efforts there are proceeding slower than other parts of the city. Francesca Menes with the Florida Immigrant Coalition says even before the storm parts of the neighborhood were already food deserts without options for fresh food. “That's why there are organizations like ours who stepped up. Because if we're not doing it, we don't know who else is going to do it for them,” she told reporters.Alexandre echoed that sentiment. “We’re going to have these events until the lights come on,” he said, but added, “How can we sustain people for the next two or three months so that we can get our community back?”Despite the hardship, DorSainvil said that many in the neighborhood were relieved that the storm hadn’t been worse. “This is almost celebratory,” she said of the cookout. “People are uncomfortable, but no one’s grieving.”By Erin Marcus | Sep 19, 2017